I woke up to the chant of a group of children rallying to improve the environmental condition of Nepal on the occasion of World Environment Day. I got up and walked to the balcony to get a closer look. This was a group of around fifty children, around eleven to fifteen years of age, united in an attempt to demand a cleaner and safer future for themselves: an option that more than half of the children in Nepal cannot pursue, due to poverty, illiteracy and a horrendous form of modern slavery: bonded child labor. 

A report by the International Labor Organization states that over three million children are employed in Nepal, mostly in the rural, poor regions. While the Nepalese government has recognized bonded child labor as illegal and punishable by law, the lack of prosecution has curtailed the attempts of organizations that seek to combat the crime. As a Peace Fellow for the Advocacy Project, I will be working with Backward Society Education (BASE) , situated in the western Terai region of Nepal. BASE works to eradicate poverty, illiteracy and discrimination against marginalized communities. Uprooting child bonded labor is one of BASE’s main goals and it strives to achieve it persistently. Founded by Dilli Chaudhary, a Peace activist who has done remarkable work in freeing other marginalized communities including kamaiyas and kamlaris from bonded labor, BASE is now recognized as one of the most prominent organizations in Nepal. 

In the ten-week period of the Fellowship, I will be doing my part in helping BASE end the practice of child labor exploitation in Nepal. I will be collaborating with two other Fellows who are assigned to work at Society Welfare Action Nepal (SWAN)  and CONCERN, other NGOs in Nepal that work for the same issue. We will be working together to create a proposal that demands strict prosecution of the offenders of illegal child labor, while strengthening rehabilitation options for the rescued bonded children. 

I feel very determined about undertaking the journey of putting an end to one of the worst cases of human rights violation. While I am aware that the journey is going to be a tough one, considering the high level of corruption in the country and lack of sustainable alternatives for the bonded children, I believe that unearthing the root cause of bonded child labor will substantially ease the process of legalizing prosecution. 

I am very thankful to the Advocacy Project for making me a part of an endeavor that can potentially change the lives of millions. I am very excited to work with the two other fellows Katerina Canyon  and Sugam Singh , and hope to succeed in our journey to give voice to the voiceless!  

Follow my journey to combat illegal child labor for the next ten weeks. Please leave your reactions and comments below and I will be happy to respond whenever I can!  

I woke up to the chant of a group of children rallying to improve the environmental condition of Nepal on the occasion of World Environment Day. I got up and walked to the balcony to get a closer look. This was a group of around fifty children, around eleven to fifteen years of age, united in an attempt to demand a cleaner and safer future for themselves: an option that more than half of the children in Nepal cannot pursue, due to poverty, illiteracy and a horrendous form of modern slavery: bonded child labor. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n

A report by the International Labor Organization states that over three million children are employed in Nepal, mostly in the rural, poor regions. While the Nepalese government has recognized bonded child labor as illegal and punishable by law, the lack of prosecution has curtailed the attempts of organizations that seek to combat the crime. As a Peace Fellow for the Advocacy Project, I will be working with Backward Society Education (BASE)<\/a> , situated in the western Terai region of Nepal. BASE works to eradicate poverty, illiteracy and discrimination against marginalized communities. Uprooting child bonded labor is one of BASE\u2019s main goals and it strives to achieve it persistently. Founded by Dilli Chaudhary, a Peace activist who has done remarkable work in freeing other marginalized communities including kamaiyas<\/i> and kamlaris<\/i> from bonded labor, BASE is now recognized as one of the most prominent organizations in Nepal. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n