Kamaiya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kamaiya is a traditional system of bonded labour in Nepal. The people affected by this system are also called kamaiya or kamaiyas.
Traditionally, people without land or work could get loans from landowners allowing them to feed themselves and survive. In exchange to this, they had to live and work on the landowner's land as quasi slaves. Debts were charged exorbitantly and whole families were forced to slave labour for years and even generations.
The kamaiya system existed in particular in Western Nepal and affected especially the Tharu people and Dalits ("untouchables").
[edit] Abolition
Increasing protests against the kamaiya system ("Kamaiya movement") led to its abolition in 2000. On 17 July 2000, the Nepalese government declared that the kamaiya system is abolished, all kamaiyas are free and their debts are cancelled. To fight the poverty of the affected people – the main cause of the system – rehabilitation and land were promised to kamaiya families. While most kamaiyas have been freed since then, these promises haven't been kept. Many kamaiyas were evicted by their landlords and released into poverty without any support. Others have received land, but unproductive.
