Fact Sheets

Forms of Child Labour in Nepal

Many different forms of child labour are present in Nepal. Fifteen main areas of work have been identified, as follows (source; Ending Child Labour, A Briefing Kit on Child Labour in Nepal, CWIN).

1. Factory/industry

Carpet- mostly child migrants work in this area. The children work an average of 15 hours a day, with only one hours' break, 7 days a weeks. The conditions in which the children work are usually poor. Damage to health and injuries are commonplace. Trafficking of children to work in carpet factories in India also occurs. Other forms in this category include: garments/textiles, handicrafts, printing press, welding, confectionery, bread making, making matches, pottery and brick kilns.

2. Mines and quarry

This includes children working in stone quarries and coal mines, as well as in the mining of magnetite.

3. Plantation

Children are involved planting a variety of different substances, such as sugar cane, tea, tobacco, millet, maize and rice.

4. Domestic service

Children do various domestic tasks, including; fetching water, collecting fuels and fodder, caring for younger siblings, working in the kitchen and cleaning. Other tasks include washing the dishes and doing the laundry. Domestic service, being invisible compared to other works makes children more vulnerable to abuse.

5. Shop keeper/service

This includes the selling of sweets, working in teashops and in restaurants and bars.

6. Transportation

Work such as conductors, ticket collectors on buses and tempos, as well as rickshaw drivers. Children from outskirts of urban areas are attracted to becoming conductors in tempos or micro buses.

7. Porters

Including street porters, tourist or trekking porters, and domestic porters. There are generally 2 types of porters, as identified by IPEC; long-distance porters who carry loads rurally, and short-distance porters who work mainly in urban areas such as in bus parks.

8. Construction work

Children work to build roads, houses, bridges, and sewerage systems.

9. Street work

Street vendors of newspapers and other items, rag pickers, beggars, street singers, shoe shiners/makers. Street children are more prone to becoming drug addicts, to contracting HIV/AIDS, as well as to becoming exposed to a world of crime.

10. Commercial Sexual Exploitation

This includes child prostitution, middlemen or contractors/pimps, work in massage parlors, cabin restaurants and dance bars. Many children are trafficked from Nepal to India, to work in the commercial sex industry.

11. Bonded labour

However the Kamaiya system, is abolished in July 2000, the bonded labour continues to influence many children's lives. There are also many debt-bonded labourers, who tend to work in places like carpet factories, households, restaurants, brick kilns, and so on.

12. Migrant child labour

Often, children migrate from rural to urban centres such as Kathmandu, Biratnagar or Narayanghat with the aim of finding employment. Children sometimes migrate from India to work in Nepal.

13. Refugee children

Children of Tibetan refugees often work in carpet factories, frequently in Tibetan areas of the country or capital city, such as in Katmandu's Bouddha and Lalitpur's Ekantakuna. Many Bhutanese refugee children try to find work in Eastern Nepal.

14. Circuses/music industry

Many children work in circuses. A new phenomenon is the trafficking of children to work in circuses in India. Children also work in puppet or magic shows, or in commercial music programmes.

15. Publicity and advertising

Such as in TV advertisements, radio programs, newspapers, and magazines.