Nepal is a source country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor within the country and abroad. Victims usually range in age, between 7 and 24 [1] NGOs continue to report an increase in both transnational and domestic trafficking, although a lack of reliable statistics makes the problem difficult to quantify. Nepal has a unique cultural system known as “Deukis.” Feudalistic agricultural families, that have no children through a legally married wife, procure young girls from poor Nepalese families. The initiate the girls into the household through the temple rites and become slave bonded laborers to produce offspring. Once the girls reach age 30, they are forced into prostitution. According to a UN report there were nearly 30,000 Deukis in Nepal.[2]Some Nepali women and girls are subjected to forced prostitution in Nepal, India, and the Middle East. They also are subjected to forced labor in Nepal and India as domestic servants, beggars, factory workers, and, to a lesser extent, circus entertainers. Nepali women are also forced to work in Nepal’s growing pornography industry. They are subjected to forced prostitution and forced labor in other Asian destinations, including Malaysia, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Nepali boys also are also exploited as forced domestic servants and – in addition to some Indian boys – are subjected to forced labor in Nepal, especially in brick kilns and the embroidered textiles industry. There is anecdotal evidence that Nepal’s role as a destination for foreign child sex tourists is growing, possibly as efforts to confront this problem in traditional Southeast Asian destinations have become more effective. Several NGOs reported an increase in the number of teenage boys in Kathmandu engaged in prostitution; many of these boys are suspected to be trafficking victims. It is suspected that bonded labor remains a significant problem; many laborers who were freed in 2000 – when the government outlawed bonded labor – were not provided land as required by the law, leaving them vulnerable to falling back into exploitative labor. Old age traditions, a discriminatory legal system, son preference, and when they are expected to work hard for little reward, have led to Nepali women being more vulnerable to trafficking. Women have low status and financial dependence making it easy to lure them with promises of better opportunities.[3][4]
According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DFE), approximately three million Nepalis have migrated to countries other than India for work, both through regular and irregular channels; India remains the most popular destination for Nepali workers. Many Nepali migrants seek work as domestic servants, construction workers, or other low-skill laborers in Gulf countries, Malaysia, Israel, South Korea, and Afghanistan with the help of labor brokers and manpower agencies. They travel willingly but subsequently face conditions of forced labor such as withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, non-payment of wages, threats, deprivation of food and sleep, and physical or sexual abuse. About 1.4 million children are not provided a salary for their work and about 1.27 million children are working in worst forms of labor.[5] Some are deceived about their destination country, the terms of their contract, or are subjected to debt bondage, which can in some cases be facilitated by fraud and high recruitment fees charged by unscrupulous agents. While some workers migrate through legal or regular channels from Nepal directly, many others migrate via India; this is illegal, due to the 2007 Foreign Employment Act that requires all workers to leave for overseas work via Nepal’s sole international airport in Kathmandu. Many migrants leave in this manner to avoid the scrutiny of a labor migration desk in the airport which examines the papers of all workers heading overseas.[4]
According to law enforcement officials, trafficking is increasingly dominated by well-organized syndicates that are often family-based and involved in other criminal activities such as drug trafficking. Trafficking offenders are usually acquainted with the victims and provide parents of victims a “salary advance” in order to place the victims in a state of indebtedness. This indebtedness may be used to compel those victims to perform labor or a service to avoid threatened serious harm, particularly financial harm. Traffickers generally target uneducated people, especially from lower castes and other socially marginalized groups. However, a growing number of victims are relatively well-educated and from high castes, a development that reflects an increasingly dire economic situation.[4]
The Government of Nepal does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so despite limited resources. The government continued modest efforts to prosecute traffickers and allocated financial support to NGO-operated rehabilitation centers. Trafficking-related complicity by government officials remained a serious problem in Nepal.[4]
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Nepal made some progress in its anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the reporting period. Human trafficking in Nepal has a 30 year prison senetence</ref> Tiny Hands International. (2011). Prosecution. Retrieved December 2011, from Tiny Hands International: http://www.tinyhandsinternational.org/human-trafficking/prosecution</ref>. The 2007 Foreign Employment Act, through its Chapter 9, criminalizes the acts of an agency or individual sending workers abroad based through fraudulent recruitment promises or without the proper documentation, prescribing penalties of three to seven years’ imprisonment for those convicted; fraudulent recruitment for the purpose of exploitation constitutes human trafficking. The Nepal Police Major Crimes Unit and the Office of Attorney General reported 12 convictions, two less than in the previous year. The government did not provide the number of prosecutions or acquittals and the punishments, and did not disaggregate whether convictions were for sex or labor trafficking.[4]
Trafficking-related complicity by government officials remained a serious problem in Nepal, with traffickers using ties to politicians, business persons, state officials, police, customs officials, and border police to facilitate trafficking. Many dance bars, “cabin restaurants,” and massage parlors in Kathmandu that facilitate sex trafficking are reportedly co-owned by senior police and army officials. The large number of genuine Nepali passports containing false information that Indian officials have encountered in trafficking cases may be the result of some Nepali officials working with traffickers to provide them with these documents. Despite these serious concerns, there were no investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government officials complicit in trafficking during the reporting period. No Maoist official has yet been charged in connection with the recruitment of child soldiers, which was a common practice during the 10-year insurrection, nor is the issue of child soldiers addressed in the pending legislation aimed at establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Nepal Police routinely provide its personnel specific training on investigating trafficking cases; however, due to a lack of resources, the number of personnel trained has been limited. Due to the police corruption and the ineffective legal process, the prosecution of traffickers is relatively rare.[1][4]
The Government of Nepal does not have a formal system of proactively identifying victims of trafficking among high-risk persons with whom they come in contact. Police made arrests during indiscriminate raids on commercial sex establishments but did not attempt to identify victims. In late 2009, police conducted a series of “blind” raids on establishments suspected for being fronts for prostitution. Dozens of “employees” – including children – were arrested. Despite indications that some of the women and most of the girls in those establishments were trafficking victims, the police made no effort to identify trafficking victims before releasing the women and girls. All facilities that assist trafficking victims were run by NGOs and most provided a range of services, including legal aid, medical services, psychosocial counseling, and economic rehabilitation. Even so, there were not facilities to meet the needs of all survivors. The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) allocated approximately $110,000 in the 2009-2010 fiscal year for eight NGO-run shelter homes, three of which were already operating. MWCSW also allocated approximately $275,000 to open 15 emergency shelters across the country for victims of abuse (including trafficking). The government rented several rooms near its embassies in Doha and Riyadh that were used as shelters for female migrant workers. District governments reportedly worked with NGOs to ensure that survivors were provided with available shelter and medical services; however, there was a severe shortage of facilities, and it was difficult to determine how many survivors received assistance because this number is not tracked. When 18 stranded Nepali workers were repatriated from Kuwait in December 2009, the Government of Kuwait provided the airline tickets and Nepal fed the workers for four months while arrangements for repatriation were made. In fiscal year 2008-2009, MWCSW used its small rehabilitation fund to assist in the repatriation of 16 trafficking victims from India. Nepal encouraged trafficking victims to participate in investigations against their traffickers but lacked sufficient resource to ensure their personal safety. Victims who were material witnesses in court cases were not permitted to obtain employment or leave Nepal until the case had concluded, and they were often pressured in their communities not to pursue a case; as such, many victims were reluctant to testify. Between early January to early February 2010, in a cooperative agreement between the Government of Nepal, the Maoists, and the UN, nearly 3,000 former child soldiers were released from UN-monitored Maoist cantonments, where they had been living since the signing of the November 2006 peace agreement. The Government of Nepal provided rehabilitation services to those released from the cantonments.[4] Witness concealment allows witnesses to remain anonymous and helps to protect the physical security of the victims. Court witness protection measures are usually authorized under procedural laws. Courtroom based witness protection measures may require technical equipment, well-trained personnel, and adequate financial resources. Sufficient funding must be available for these methods to be used effectively, but that funding may not always be available. Witness protection methods, such as, testimony via video link, allow the victims to avoid direct confrontation and intimidation by the accused. The physical distance between the victim and the accused allows the victim to feel secure and safe enough to testify. Some methods of video link allow the identity of the witness to be seen or to be concealed. If the identity of the victim must be concealed, then the distortion of the image, voice, or both is used. If funding is not available for video link testimonies, then the witness may testify behind and opaque sheet. A problem that may arise with the witness not being directly visible is that it is more difficult to assess the reaction of the witness to questions, which may result in not being able to assess their credibility fully. In order to ensure a fair trial, there must be a balance between the rights and interest of the endangered witness and those of the accused. Protection after the trial involves many difference sources, including law enforcement, the judiciary, immigration services, labor authorities, civil register authorities, prision services, and non-governmental organizations.[6]
The federal government of Nepal organized rallies to mark the third annual National Anti-Trafficking Day. Women Development Officers (WDOs) in trafficking-prone districts conducted awareness campaigns based on the direction of the federal government. The prime minister convened a cabinet-level task force on violence against women, including trafficking. A Joint Secretary and senior police officials participated in some high-level events to increase awareness of trafficking. In 2009, the government announced plans to post an additional five labor attachés in countries with a significant number of Nepali workers; however, this plan was stalled by a dispute between the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Regardless, insufficient resources had limited the ability of attachés who had been posted to carry out their mandated duties. A National Human Trafficking Task Force exists but, according to senior government officials, had limited impact. The MWCSW was in the process of replacing its district task forces with anti-trafficking committees in all 75 districts, beginning with the 26 most trafficking-prone districts. In 2009, the MWCSW ordered its district-level women development officers to begin systematic tracking of trafficking-related developments, with assistance from these anti-trafficking committees. However, officials acknowledge that both the WDOs and the district committees will be constrained by insufficient resources. Despite national registration drives and committees responsible for registering births, the Central Child Welfare Committee in 2008 reported that only 40 percent of children had birth registration certificates. All Nepali military troops and police assigned to international peacekeeping forces were provided some pre-deployment anti-trafficking training funded by a foreign government. Nepal is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.[4] Border monitoring is an effective way to intercept victims being trafficked across the borders. Employees, border guards and police watch for suspicious activity. They question potential victims and suspected traffickers and traffickers may be prosecuted.[7] In August 2008, UNICEF launched a report called ‘South Asia in Action: Preventing and responding to child trafficking.’ This report called for a stronger legal framework and effective child protection systems. This report was also used to strengthen data collection.[8] The first global definition of trafficking in humans and specifically addressing children, called the ‘Palermo Protocol,’ was not ratified by Nepal.[8]
Many organizations are working to end and prevent human trafficking in Nepal. Some of these organizations with their goals and brief descriptions are listed below.
ABC Nepal: A non-profit human rights organization that works for the rights of women and girls with a focus on human trafficking. They look to address the problem at the preventative stage by raising awareness and educating people. They also focus on rehabilitating rescued women and girls by providing them with counseling, education, skills training, medical care, lodging, and money to help them start a small business. The aims of their efforts are to empower women by providing them with financial stability, confidence, and skills to regenerate into society and hopefully get them home to their families. ABC believes all members of a society have responsibility to combat this crime; they are also involved in lobbying, advocacy work, and strengthening networks in Nepal to help improve coordination and collaboration. They were the first organization to bring attention to the issue of trafe in humans and to work at raising awareness amongst various segments of society.[9]
The Asia Foundation: The Asia Foundation fights trafficking through training, counseling, job placements, and more. This foundation trained over 25,000 invididuals on issues related to trafficking and reached over 400,000 people through community generated activity. Over 10,000 survivors were counseled. About 70% of at risk girls have gained employment.[10]
Captive daughters: An organization looking to mobilize the global will to end the sex trafficking of women and children through public education and creative media. They choose to focus their efforts on women and girl children, although males may also be affected. The goal of Captive Daughters is to bring public attention to and call for the elimination of forced prostitution. They seek to encourage national and international attention to sex trafficking by informing the general public about the problem. They share information through their website, social networking sites, sister organizations, television, film, publishing, and artistic communities.[11]
The Didi Project: A group of women who work to provide education opportunities for women and children in Nepal. Through personal encounters and experiences they identify persons and families in need. They work with communities, NGOs and government institutions. These women make annual visits to Nepal and develop projects based on the needs that they see.[12]
Nepal Youth Foundation A non-profit charity that transforms the lives of Nepali children by providing them with education, housing, medical care, and support. (Nepal Youth Foundation, 2010) Their indentured daughters programs free girls who were sold into slavery. This brings the girls home and gives each family a piglet or goat. They provide health care through nutritional rehabilitation homes, psychological counseling, treatment and education of HIV/AIDS. Shelter is provided through student housing and loving homes for orphans, disabled, or abandoned children. Education is offered through community programs, scholarships, career counseling, and vocational education.[13]
NNAGT: A non-profit organization that was established in 1990. This is a coalition of grassroots level Community Based Organizations and national level Non-Governmental Organizations working to combat girl trafficking and violence against women. The main focus is networking, alliance and information dissemination. (NNAGT, 2011) The mission of NNAGT is to uphold the dignity and identity of women and unite women on principles they value most including, equality and equity that include legal, political, democratic and social justice.[14]
SASANE:The mission of SASANE is to end the physical and sexual exploitation of women and girls, ensure their legal rights, and empower them to live free and dignified lives. They train survivors to become employed in the legal system. By employing them within the legal system it helps to create systematic change, sensitize law enforment agents, and offer other victims an avenue to be understood and served. SASANE provides educational scholarships, partnerships, trainings and other services to help surviorsw succeed and thrive.[15]
Tiny Hands International: This organization works to stop traffickers and intercept victims at borders. They make sure the victims are given the emotional and spiritual support they need. They also facilitate safe homes and women’s empowerment centers.[16]
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