"Forced labour, bonded labour and child labour prevalent in country’s brick kiln sector, new report says", 29 January 2021

Labour exploitation in forms of forced labour, bonded labour and child labour is prevalent in the country’s brick industry, a new study has found.

The survey on Employment Relationship in the Brick Industry in Nepal, released on the eve of the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour, has unveiled prevalence of labour exploitation with 6,229 (3.5 percent) workers in forced labour among the 176,373 manual labourers in brick factories (including family members)...

The new evidence collected through the survey, jointly carried out by the Central Bureau of Statistics, International Labour Organisation and UNICEF, indicates that bonded and forced labour still exist in the country’s private sector, including in the brick industry...

...It also highlights the linkages between internal and cross-border migration and vulnerability to child labour and economic exploitation.

...The Nepal government has also introduced National Master Plan on the Elimination of Child Labour (2018-2028) with the aim of banishing the ‘exploitative and worst form of child labour’ by 2022 and all types of child labour by 2025.

The survey findings, however, point at an immense challenge Nepal faces to eradicate bonded and forced labour, which could be related to poverty and illiteracy...