A Voice For the Voiceless
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Haliyas have historically been subjected to a wide range of egregious human rights abuses, including severe beatings, forced starvation and water deprivation as punishment, and various forms of humiliating treatment. In addition, female Haliya laborers—as well as their children—are often sexually abused by their masters.
The Haliya system affects an estimated 150,000 Nepalis today, the overwhelming majority of whom are Dalits. In fact, Nepal’s system of caste discrimination remains a direct factor of both the origins and continuation of the Haliya system. Persistent, widespread beliefs surrounding “untouchability”, and the corresponding inability of Dalits to pursue gainful employment due to their alleged “contamination” effects, have historically pushed the majority of the Dalit community to the margins of society. As a direct result of such conditions of marginalization and debilitation, hundreds of thousands of Dalits throughout the country have been forced into a life of servitude.
The system is especially prevalent in the West of Nepal, more specifically in the districts of Dhangadi, Dadeldhura, Doti, Bajura, and Bahjang.
Working/living conditions
Haliyas are forced to till a small patch of land in order to repay a debt, and are often held captive with their entire families. The enslaved Haliyas typically have no direct association with any debts; in the overwhelming majority of cases, the laborers are held because of debts accumulated by their ancestors over many generations. Such debts are often so excessive that a Haliya’s work over an entire lifetime will not generate sufficient revenue to even marginally reduce the interest incurred on the debts.
This abusive pattern is willfully perpetuated by the landlords, many of whom provide a meager food ration rather than money to the Haliyas as compensation for their services. Deprived of a source of monetary income, Haliyas are forced turn to their masters to borrow funds in the event of a personal or family emergency. As such, their debt continues to aggrandize and incur additional interest, condemning future generations of Haliyas to the same fate.
Landlords are known to force such laborers to work exhausting shifts in dehumanizing circumstances, in hazardous environments and with virtually no food. Despite being malnourished, Haliyas are expected to perform extraordinarily demanding labor duties. According to a custom known as Doli, they must carry exorbitantly heavy wooden carriages on their shoulders for hours at a time. Another custom (Khali) dictates that Haliyas are entitled to no fresh food at all—only leftover goods from the harvest. Despite working excessively long hours to fulfill grueling tasks, Haliyas typically receive only a bowl of white rice per day for their labor.
Poverty and illiteracy
Because of their extreme marginalization and abusive treatment, Haliyas suffer from some of the deepest poverty in Nepal according to a wide range of social indicators - including education level, access to healthcare, and life expectancy. NGO reports indicate that around 97% of Haliyas are landless.
Additionally, 85% of Haliyas are estimated to be illiterate, and their lack of education contributes directly to a lack of economic independence among the Haliyas and their families, as well as a loss of their sense of dignity in all aspects of life. Due to their living circumstances, many are not aware of scholarship opportunities and free/subsidized education programs for needy families, and consequently do not send their children to school while they work for their landowners. On the other hand, government schools often further exacerbate the problem by deceitfully collecting money from poorer students, despite the fact that such children are legally entitled to reduced fees. Because of this, Haliya children are routinely prevented from attaining an education. Deeply-entrenched patterns of oppression have caused Haliyas to fall behind the rest of society in almost every way possible – socially, educationally, economically, and politically.
Political repression
The harsh realities that Haliyas face are crippling their chance of exerting any political influence during Nepal’s transition. Haliyas are often forced to vote under their masters’ supervision and direction, and threatened with violence and starvation if they do not accede. In most cases, they are forbidden from participating on local development committees. As a result, the political parties which their masters support enjoy a manifestly unfair advantage. The dominance of their masters also makes it impossible for Haliyas to make informed, confidential political decisions and vote for the party and person of their choice.
This is highly undemocratic, at a time during which Nepal is struggling to become more democratic. While other Nepalis are enjoying the fruits of an open society, Haliyas remain ensnared by oppression.
The link to caste
Because of their untouchable status, Dalits are widely believed to have a “contaminating” effect on their work environment. This forces Dalit out of traditional occupations and into the Haliya system. Once trapped, they then need to borrow money to meet their day-to-day living expenses, and this becomes harder as interest rates rise on their debt. The lack of well-paying jobs available to Dalits means that many are unable to pay off their debts in a timely manner. Eventually, their “master” will demand payment, and the cycle of debt bondage will begin. Many Dalit families fell into this pattern decades, generations, and even centuries ago. But their offspring have no choice but to pay off the debt.
The Government’s approach backfires
In September 2008, the Nepalese government ordered the official liberation of all Haliyas, and pardoned their debts owed to landowners.
In response to the new policy, however, landowners lashed back and stopped lending money to the Haliyas as a whole. This rendered Haliyas completely dependent on their masters for food and other day-to-day necessities, and caused their situation to become all the more precarious. They now had virtually no access to money in the event of an emergency.
In addition, the landowners acted in direct defiance of the new government policy by continuing to demand payment from Haliyas, despite (or perhaps in spite of) being legally ordered to forgive the debts owed to them.
There has been very little follow-up or enforcement. Government agencies and nongovernmental organizations are hampered by a lack of official data about haliyas. (The national census greatly under-estimates even the number of Dalits in Nepal). National Haliya Liberation Federation (NHLF) estimates that there are currently 150,000 bonded agricultural laborers in Nepal’s far western region, and that only 450 Haliyas have been freed thus far.
What could be done?
Sita Devi BK, President of NHLF (Doti district) has proposed a comprehensive program to eradicate the haliya system. This is supported by the Jagaran Media Center and will:
NHLF Doti has launched and completed local empowerment programs in 12 Village Development Committees (VDCs) which have:
The government’s responsibility
Nepal, which has been a signatory to UN Slavery Convention since 1963, has a duty to ensure that its citizens are free from bonded labor practices. This will require rigorous research and resolute laws. But the government of Nepal must also address the root causes of such practices, particularly caste discrimination. The Haliya system, as well as other types of trafficking in Nepal—such as sex trafficking of young women and girls—is deeply rooted in the caste system, which relegates Dalits to a marginalized, servile status in society.
Prakash Mohara is information coordinator at the Jagaran Media Center, Nepal. Jessica Tirado served as an AP Peace Fellow at the JMC in 2009.
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Bonded Labor (Haliya)
150,000 Dalits have been forced into servitude because of caste, write Prakash Mohara and Jessica Tirado.
Nepal’s Haliya system—which literally means “one who tills land”—has persisted for hundreds of years. Under this system, Haliyas are held under a system of bonded labor or slavery, and are forced by a landlord or “master” to execute various hard labor duties (usually agricultural) for many years, often for an entire lifetime.
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The Haliya system affects an estimated 150,000 Nepalis today, the overwhelming majority of whom are Dalits. In fact, Nepal’s system of caste discrimination remains a direct factor of both the origins and continuation of the Haliya system. Persistent, widespread beliefs surrounding “untouchability”, and the corresponding inability of Dalits to pursue gainful employment due to their alleged “contamination” effects, have historically pushed the majority of the Dalit community to the margins of society. As a direct result of such conditions of marginalization and debilitation, hundreds of thousands of Dalits throughout the country have been forced into a life of servitude.
The system is especially prevalent in the West of Nepal, more specifically in the districts of Dhangadi, Dadeldhura, Doti, Bajura, and Bahjang.
Working/living conditions
Haliyas are forced to till a small patch of land in order to repay a debt, and are often held captive with their entire families. The enslaved Haliyas typically have no direct association with any debts; in the overwhelming majority of cases, the laborers are held because of debts accumulated by their ancestors over many generations. Such debts are often so excessive that a Haliya’s work over an entire lifetime will not generate sufficient revenue to even marginally reduce the interest incurred on the debts.
This abusive pattern is willfully perpetuated by the landlords, many of whom provide a meager food ration rather than money to the Haliyas as compensation for their services. Deprived of a source of monetary income, Haliyas are forced turn to their masters to borrow funds in the event of a personal or family emergency. As such, their debt continues to aggrandize and incur additional interest, condemning future generations of Haliyas to the same fate.
 |
Poverty and illiteracy
Because of their extreme marginalization and abusive treatment, Haliyas suffer from some of the deepest poverty in Nepal according to a wide range of social indicators - including education level, access to healthcare, and life expectancy. NGO reports indicate that around 97% of Haliyas are landless.
Additionally, 85% of Haliyas are estimated to be illiterate, and their lack of education contributes directly to a lack of economic independence among the Haliyas and their families, as well as a loss of their sense of dignity in all aspects of life. Due to their living circumstances, many are not aware of scholarship opportunities and free/subsidized education programs for needy families, and consequently do not send their children to school while they work for their landowners. On the other hand, government schools often further exacerbate the problem by deceitfully collecting money from poorer students, despite the fact that such children are legally entitled to reduced fees. Because of this, Haliya children are routinely prevented from attaining an education. Deeply-entrenched patterns of oppression have caused Haliyas to fall behind the rest of society in almost every way possible – socially, educationally, economically, and politically.
Political repression
The harsh realities that Haliyas face are crippling their chance of exerting any political influence during Nepal’s transition. Haliyas are often forced to vote under their masters’ supervision and direction, and threatened with violence and starvation if they do not accede. In most cases, they are forbidden from participating on local development committees. As a result, the political parties which their masters support enjoy a manifestly unfair advantage. The dominance of their masters also makes it impossible for Haliyas to make informed, confidential political decisions and vote for the party and person of their choice.
This is highly undemocratic, at a time during which Nepal is struggling to become more democratic. While other Nepalis are enjoying the fruits of an open society, Haliyas remain ensnared by oppression.
 |
Because of their untouchable status, Dalits are widely believed to have a “contaminating” effect on their work environment. This forces Dalit out of traditional occupations and into the Haliya system. Once trapped, they then need to borrow money to meet their day-to-day living expenses, and this becomes harder as interest rates rise on their debt. The lack of well-paying jobs available to Dalits means that many are unable to pay off their debts in a timely manner. Eventually, their “master” will demand payment, and the cycle of debt bondage will begin. Many Dalit families fell into this pattern decades, generations, and even centuries ago. But their offspring have no choice but to pay off the debt.
The Government’s approach backfires
In September 2008, the Nepalese government ordered the official liberation of all Haliyas, and pardoned their debts owed to landowners.
In response to the new policy, however, landowners lashed back and stopped lending money to the Haliyas as a whole. This rendered Haliyas completely dependent on their masters for food and other day-to-day necessities, and caused their situation to become all the more precarious. They now had virtually no access to money in the event of an emergency.
In addition, the landowners acted in direct defiance of the new government policy by continuing to demand payment from Haliyas, despite (or perhaps in spite of) being legally ordered to forgive the debts owed to them.
There has been very little follow-up or enforcement. Government agencies and nongovernmental organizations are hampered by a lack of official data about haliyas. (The national census greatly under-estimates even the number of Dalits in Nepal). National Haliya Liberation Federation (NHLF) estimates that there are currently 150,000 bonded agricultural laborers in Nepal’s far western region, and that only 450 Haliyas have been freed thus far.
What could be done?
Sita Devi BK, President of NHLF (Doti district) has proposed a comprehensive program to eradicate the haliya system. This is supported by the Jagaran Media Center and will:
- Enact strong legal instruments to completely free the Haliyas
- Establish a specific deadline and timeline for the full rehabilitation of Haliyas
- Promote and encourage traditional, well-paying occupations by Haliyas
- Launch community empowerment programs.
NHLF Doti has launched and completed local empowerment programs in 12 Village Development Committees (VDCs) which have:
- Collected data on Haliyas
- Publicly distributed government declarations on Haliyas
- Identified traditional, sustainable occupations that can be filled by Haliyas
- Provided legal aid and counseling
- Conducted a public awareness program
The government’s responsibility
Nepal, which has been a signatory to UN Slavery Convention since 1963, has a duty to ensure that its citizens are free from bonded labor practices. This will require rigorous research and resolute laws. But the government of Nepal must also address the root causes of such practices, particularly caste discrimination. The Haliya system, as well as other types of trafficking in Nepal—such as sex trafficking of young women and girls—is deeply rooted in the caste system, which relegates Dalits to a marginalized, servile status in society.
Prakash Mohara is information coordinator at the Jagaran Media Center, Nepal. Jessica Tirado served as an AP Peace Fellow at the JMC in 2009.
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