I was surprised to read this news about child workers rescued from embroidery factory. You see child workers everywhere in restaurants. If you go to villages you see child workers working on 'giti' to brick factories. Why the sudden need to glamorize this police operation?

 

Nepali police rescue 124 child workers from sari embroidery factories in Kathmandu Valley

 

July 6, 2012

 

On July 4^th, Nepali police rescued 124 child workers from sari embroidery factories [alternately called Zari or Jari factories – see below] in the Kathmandu Valley. The children were below the age of 14.

 

46 sari embroidery factories in the tourist town of Bhaktapur were raided, with the help of Bhaktapur District Administration Office, Bhaktapur Metropolitan Police Range, UNICEF, CIWIN, Concern Nepal, Save the Children, Child Extraction Network and the Children Development Society.

 

According to Jubraj Roka, a researcher at the Chile Development Society (CDS), there are “more than 80 embroidery factories in the Kathmandu Valley that employ more than 500 children, mostly below 14 years of age.”

 

The children have been taken to Lalitpur-based Carnet Nepal following their health check-up. Police have handed proprietors of 39 embroidery factories over to the labor office. Other sari embroidery factory owners managed to flee.

 

Bhaktapur Chief District Officer (CDO) Jitendra Bahadur Bhandari said the rescued children will be handed over to their parents in a month. “Preliminary investigation shows that most of the children had been forced into the job due to poor financial status of their families. So, we will see if we could do anything to help these families,” said Bhandari, adding that the rescue campaign was launched after non-government organizations working for child rights pledged to extend their support.

 

 

 

In late June, police summoned the factory operators and warned them not to employ children under 14 years of age and to run their businesses only after getting them duly registered. Today’s crackdown followed after the embroidery factories paid no heed to the warning.

 

Programme Officer at The Children Development Society Yubraj Roka said out of 320 children working at the 46 sari embroidery factories, 260 were under 14. “Most of them are 7 to 10 years of age and they are forced to work for 10-17 hours a day,” said Roka.

 

The Children Development Society had been studying sari embroidery factories in the Madhyapur Thimi area for the last two years.

 

ZARI (or JARI) FACTORIES

 

Zari is a brocade of tinsel thread meant for weaving and embroidery. It is manufactured by winding or wrapping (covering) a flattened metallic strip made from pure gold, silver or slitted metalized polyester film, on a core yarn, usually of pure silk, art silk, viscose, cotton, nylon, polyester, P.P., mono/multi filament, wire, etc. Nowadays, it is broadly divided into 3 types: “real zari” made of pure gold & silver; “imitation zari” made of silver electroplated (thinly) copper wire: and “metallic zari” made of slitted polyester metalized film.

 

 

 

 

 

CHILD LABOR IN NEPAL TODAY

 

There are an estimated 1.5 million Nepali child workers between 5-17 years. Even though the minimum legal age of employment in Nepal is 14, children as young as six can be seen working in roadside restaurants, factories, offices, and even in homes.

 

"Poverty and lack of opportunities are driving many families to use children as safety nets and sending them out to earn without caring about the physical and psychological dangers involved," says Helen Sherpa of World Education, which has been working on educational projects to combat child labour in Nepal.

 

Although the number of child workers under-14 has dropped from 2.6 million ten years ago, surveys show there has been an alarming rise in the number of children working in hazardous environments like mines, brick kilns, factories and “entertainment” industries.

 

Factories that make zari, dance bars, massage parlors and cabin restaurants have become new hotspots for the exploitation and abuse of child workers in Nepal.

 

"Eleven to twelve year old girls are working in dance bars and restaurants," says Pramesh Pradhan of Change Nepal, which works with women and children in the 'entertainment business'. "These days Nepali girls are smuggled not just to India but also within the country. There has been a surge of young girls forced into commercial sex work."

 

After the clampdown on zari factories in India, many young Indian boys and girls have been found in fabric factories across Nepal. Children as young as five are forced to work up to 14 hours a day because they are docile and have nimble fingers.

 

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These  children are from Tarai . May be from India? Who knows?

What is going to happen to those children now? No one knows.

Can you see anything positive?

Instead of appreciating for few being rescued, you are lamenting for it.

Kam ta ramrai ho.Tar malai, Nepal ka NGO haru le bideshi lai samachar dekhayer dollar lyaune dau le gareko jasto lagcha. Yo bhanda worse child labour cha nepal ma.

Nepcha,

I am not lamenting nor appreciating.

When you hear about big American companies like GAP hiring people in underdeveloped countries and paying them less money, you know it's not a big deal because at least the people working are making some money. They have some option as opposed to no option. Same thing with child labor in Nepal. Lot of their families depend on the meager money made by these kids because they have no other options. Laborers under 14 are very bad and we wish no such children have to work, but the reality of the situation is that they would have no other options if not for these jobs. So do we punish these companies for abusing these kids or do we support these companies for giving these poor kids an opportunity to make a few bucks?

 It's true that there is worse child labor than this in Nepal and there is corruption in NGOs. But the fact is that these children were saved and hopefully they get the shelter. I don't understand why that is not good news?

Rethink,
When you hear about big American companies like GAP hiring people in underdeveloped countries and paying them less money, you know it's not a big deal because at least the people working are making some money. They have some option as opposed to no option. Same thing with child labor in Nepal. Lot of their families depend on the meager money made by these kids because they have no other options. Laborers under 14 are very bad and we wish no such children have to work, but the reality of the situation is that they would have no other options if not for these jobs. So do we punish these companies for abusing these kids or do we support these companies for giving these poor kids an opportunity to make a few bucks? 

-> your rhetoric is an example that the problems in our country is not only because of politicians but also because of social problems, and it is more challenging to convince educated people like you.

Are you trying to say that americans are doing this, so this MUST be good?
Why do you think that child labor laws exist even in country like Nepal ?

So, you think that the NGOs which rescued them should be lamented and didn't do any social service. Instead, we should appreciate the GREAT social service of these companies?

My take on child labor is always NO; this is why:
- these children are often abused at their workplaces. You can imagine the life/struggle/future of these abused children.
- these children are often under-paid or many of them are not paid at all. If you don't believe, look for youtube videos on children working in hotels in Nepal.
- Even when children are paid, it is only a small fraction of family's income. It has been found many times for "kamlari cases", father of these kamlaris were spending these money in alcohols rather than feeding their family. 
- These companies are not doing any SOCIAL service, they were doing it for PROFIT because they don't have to pay these children, and they can't speak for themselves.
- when we think that we are rescuing these poor families by child labor, we are living in a great illusion. Instead, we are only driving them into a cycle of poverty without giving them any means to escape. When the child goes to work instead of school, what they do when they grow old? These illiterate/uneducated children and their families get even poorer and get trapped into the same vicious circle of poverty.

Nepcha

I agree that any workplace should not abuse children mentally or physically and that they should pay them a decent amount of money.

I do not agree that a workplace should not hire children just because they are under 14. A lot of these children get into many bad habits and have a potential to be abused in many different ways, and it may even be better for them to be working rather than wait around doing nothing. Most of these kids parents cannot afford to send them to school anyways.

Rethink:

Did you even read the full news? These kids are 7-10 years old and they are forced to work 10-17 hours a day with a small needle. I cannot imagine the physical toil these kids might be going through, just brings tears to my eyes, why is this not a big news? Happy that they are doing this and do not care for whatever reasons, even for a month if thesekids can eat and sleep and be normal, for me it would be worth it. This is such an abuse...

Do you think these were the homeless kids?

I would say it's lot better for kids to be doing nothing, rather they should be at the school; secondary education is free in Nepal (as far as I know it). So it doesn't add a big burden to their family. Even if they get into bad habits, they learn through that; they get chance to play and mingle with their peers. They don't deserve the harsh work and abuse they're getting. Companies weren't doing any charity works, they were doing it for more profit because kids work longer hours and get paid less or none.

How many hours do you think these kids were/are working? They work much longer hours than we do. As I said, most of them don't get salary or very minimal if they get it at all. Your argument is not justified.

CHILDREN should not be working. Period.

 I'd like to echo the sentiments of those who think child labor should be abolished. I always dreaded the sight of kids my age who were 'hired' as domestic helpers getting up and 5 am to sweep and 'mop' the marble floors during the winter. 

Didn't the Nepalese govt. make an amendment in the rules that barred industries and businesses from hiring child workers? 

It's all about $$$$$$$$$$$