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Child labor dilemma in Nepal

Bhuwan Thapaliya - 10/12/2009

Nepalese politicians never abstain from talking about making Nepal the most prosperous nation in the world but in reality their ever diminishing ethics are making the mockery of the ordinary Nepalese destiny. For instance, for all the money and attention devoted to the child laborers in Nepal , no one has yet worked out, where they are and what it has done to ameliorate the child laborer syndrome.

That is to say, plopping the whole lot into a subject called “Child Labor” is convenient, but it falls foul of reason and fairness as 45.2% of Nepali children are economically active according to the International Labor Organization. Child labor is a common phenomenon in Nepal and ILO report states that 127,000 children are trapped in the "worst forms of child labor" in Nepal .

The hallmark of the modern economy has been the consumer’s sovereignty. Yet, some economists, such as John Kenneth Galbraith in The New Industrial State, point out that consumer are uninformed or misinformed about the thousands of goods and services among which they choose, and can be easily pressured by advertising. Even so, consumers seek cheaper goods, no matter who makes them and where they are being made, favoring little or no government intervention in the economy, on either the demand side or the supply side. Thus, competitive international economy and consumer behavior has fueled the dynamics of the child labor expansion.

It has been reported by the International Labor Organization that the total population of children in Nepal is around 6,225,000, out of which 1,660,000 children are economically active whereas, 279,000 are wage child labors. But historically, Nepal is not the only haven for child labor. In 1851, which was around the time of industrial revolution, in England and Wales , 37 percent of boys ages 10-14 worked, as did 20 percent of the girls in the same age group. So this is not only a contemporary problem, but one that has been marginally addressed throughout history.

Poor children need the work. It is a rationale repeated even by some renowned economists. They claim that there is no alternative for them because they are helpless, malnourished and illiterate. Still, the argument that poor children need the work has extremely dangerous social implications though the child’s entry into the labor force is triggered by poverty. Thus, helping the children break away from child labor is breaking the cycle of poverty, and breaking the cycle of poverty helps children break away from child labor.

Contemporary world no longer approves the tyranny of slavery but vestiges of enslaving people remain in Nepal . But if one is really serious in addressing the child labor problem, our initiatives must contribute to addressing core issues related to poverty alleviation such as good governance, social equity, and development of basic social service systems.

The global economy should offer children an escape from lives of forced labor. Instead, it is dragging more and more into various types of servitude. Hence, there is a need for an analytical understanding of this issue, while not denying the psychological and sociological dimensions to solve this problem by respecting children's rights and caring their needs.