Uncovering Eight-Year-Old Children Working in Factories
Summary
TLDRIn Nepal, over a million children are involved in labor, with around 17,000 working in brick factories, despite laws prohibiting child labor under 14. Many work long hours for meager pay, exposed to hazardous conditions and chemicals. Local charity organizations are working to rescue these children, offering financial incentives to families to send their kids to school instead. However, corruption and societal norms complicate efforts to eradicate child labor, with some politicians even owning factories employing underage workers.
Takeaways
- 👷 Over a million children in Nepal are engaged in labor, with many working in exploitative and dangerous conditions in brick factories.
- 📜 Despite laws prohibiting child labor under the age of 14, around 10 percent of workers in brick factories are underage.
- 👶 Evidence shows at least 87 children under 14, some as young as five, working in six factories.
- 🌞 Children work from dawn to dusk, often without set hours and are paid by the brick, earning less than half the national minimum wage.
- 💔 The lack of proper training and poor working conditions result in frequent injuries and exposure to harmful chemicals.
- 🏭 Brick factories are a significant part of the economy, but they are also emblematic of the broader issue of child labor in Nepal.
- 👨👧👦 Children often work to support their families, as seen with Oven and Sangeeta, who became breadwinners after their father's death.
- 🏛️ The government has ratified policies to combat child labor and pledged to eliminate it by 2025, but enforcement is weak.
- 📊 UNICEF estimates 17,000 child laborers in brick factories, and bricks have been used in international development projects.
- 👦 A six-year-old boy has been working for a year, illustrating the depth of the issue among very young children.
- 🤝 Local charities like Our Sansa are working to remove children from factories and provide education and support.
Q & A
How many children in Nepal are engaged in labor according to the video transcript?
-Over a million children in Nepal are engaged in labor.
What is the booming industry in Nepal where many children are employed?
-The booming industry in Nepal where many children are employed is the brick factories industry.
What is the legal working age in Nepal?
-The legal working age in Nepal is 14 years old, as the law strictly prohibits the employment of children under this age.
What percentage of workers in brick factories are underage despite the law?
-Around 10 percent of the workers in brick factories are underage.
How many registered brick factories are there in Nepal?
-There are more than 1,500 registered brick factories across the country.
What is the estimated number of child laborers working in Nepal's brick factories according to a UNICEF report in 2021?
-According to a UNICEF report in 2021, there are an estimated 17,000 child laborers working in Nepal's brick factories.
What are some of the health risks faced by children working in brick factories?
-Children working in brick factories face health risks such as lifelong respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological complications due to exposure to dangerous chemicals emitted by the kiln chimneys.
What is the average daily wage of a child worker in the brick factories mentioned in the transcript?
-The average daily wage of a child worker in the brick factories is less than half the national minimum wage, which is approximately 175 Nepalese rupees per day.
What is the role of local charities like Our Sansa in addressing child labor in Nepal?
-Local charities like Our Sansa help children like Arvind by providing financial incentives to their families to let them go to school instead of work, and they also plan to take legal action against employers of child labor.
What is the situation of education among children in Nepal as depicted in the video?
-Education is compulsory, yet many children, like Arvind, have never been to school, and one in five children between the ages of five to twelve are estimated to be out of school.
What is the connection between child labor and the caste system in Nepal as mentioned in the transcript?
-The Dalits, or the so-called 'Untouchables,' who are at the bottom of the caste hierarchy in Nepalese society, are often unskilled laborers with no assets, trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, and have the highest rate of child labor.
Outlines
👷 Child Labor in Nepal's Brick Factories
This paragraph highlights the grim reality of child labor in Nepal, particularly in the booming brick industry. Despite laws prohibiting the employment of children under 14, approximately 10% of workers in brick factories are underage. Evidence shows at least 87 children under 14 working in six factories, with some as young as five. The children work long hours for meager pay, often less than the national minimum wage, which contributes to the attractiveness of employing children for businesses. The working conditions are poor, with frequent injuries and exposure to harmful chemicals, leading to potential lifelong health complications.
🌐 The Extent of Child Labor Beyond Brick Factories
Beyond the brick factories, child labor is pervasive in Nepal, affecting nearly one in seven children. They work in various sectors such as kiosks, shops, hotels, and restaurants, often away from parental care and at risk of trafficking and exploitation. The government has ratified policies to combat child labor and aims to eliminate it by 2025. However, the budget for inspections is minimal, with only a handful of inspectors for a vast population, indicating a significant gap in enforcement.
🏛 Political Involvement and Child Labor
The paragraph delves into the complex issue of child labor, where poverty and social hierarchy play significant roles. It reveals that a local politician owns a brick factory employing children, despite it being a criminal offense. The politician denies the allegations and expresses a desire to improve community welfare and education if elected. The narrative underscores the challenge of addressing child labor when those in power may be directly involved in the practice.
📚 Efforts to Educate and Support Children
This section discusses the efforts of local charities to combat child labor by offering financial incentives to families in exchange for their children's school attendance. The charity provides rice, a staple food, to families to alleviate the financial burden that often drives them to send their children to work. This initiative aims to break the cycle of poverty and child labor by ensuring children receive an education and psychological support.
🎓 Transitioning from Labor to Education
The final paragraph focuses on the transition of former child laborers into education. With the help of a charity, children like Arvind are removed from factories and enrolled in school. The charity has prepared a transitional class to bring the children up to an appropriate educational level, providing them with a chance at a better future through education, psychological counseling, and family support.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Child Labor
💡Brick Factories
💡Underage Workers
💡Exploitation
💡National Minimum Wage
💡Respiratory Complications
💡Caste System
💡Poverty
💡Education
💡Local Politician
💡Charities and NGOs
Highlights
Over a million children in Nepal are engaged in labor, many in exploitative and dangerous work in brick factories.
The booming brick industry in Nepal has more than 1,500 registered factories.
Nepalese law prohibits child labor under the age of 14, yet around 10 percent of brick factory workers are underage.
Evidence of at least 87 children under 14 working in six factories, some as young as five years old.
Children work long hours without proper training, leading to frequent injuries.
Workers are paid by the brick, with Arvind making around 175 per day, less than half the national minimum wage.
Child labor is attractive to businesses due to lower pay.
Children are exposed to dangerous chemicals causing lifelong health complications.
UNICEF reports an estimated 17,000 child laborers working in brick factories.
Bricks from these factories are used in International Development projects funded by global institutions.
Corruption and the caste system contribute to the prevalence of child labor in Nepal.
Nepal's government has pledged to eliminate child labor by 2025 but faces budget constraints for inspections.
Local charities like Our Sansa are helping to get children out of factories and into schools.
Our Sansa provides financial incentives to families to allow their children to attend school.
The charity offers transitional classes to prepare children for formal education.
Despite evidence of child labor, local politicians owning factories continue to deny the practice.
Our Sansa plans to take legal action against employers using evidence gathered over months.
Transcripts
thank you in Nepal over a million
children are engaged in labor
many of them in exploitative and
dangerous work in Brick factories
a booming multiple singing dollar
industry there are more than 1 500
registered brick factories across the
country
the law here strictly prohibits the
employment of children under the age of
14.
yet around 10 percent of the workers in
Brick factories are underaged
[Music]
we have evidence of at least 87 children
under the age of 14 working in these six
factories some of them are as young as
five years old
[Applause]
[Music]
pretty much everywhere I go there are so
many children some very young working at
all sorts of businesses and no one's
even trying to hide it
foreign
[Applause]
[Music]
District in southern Nepal has the
largest number of brick factories in the
country
oven is 11 years old and works here from
dawn to dusk so does his 13 year old
sister Sangeeta
after the death of their father a few
years ago the siblings became their
family's Breadwinners
how long have you been doing this for
how many days a week do you normally
work here so I've been every day
[Music]
why do you work here
with no set hours the workers are paid
by the brick
how many bricks do you make usually in a
day yeah
two to three hundred bricks a day
how much do you get paid
so it would take him four days working
over 10 hours to make roughly seven US
dollars
that's only 175 per day less than half
the national minimum wage year
lower pay is one of the main factors
that makes employing children attractive
to businesses
who taught you how to make bricks
[Music]
no proper training and poor working
conditions mean injuries are frequent
arvind hurts his time
do you often get injured or hurt
yourself when you're working here
[Music]
arvind is also exposed to a huge amount
of dangerous chemicals emitted by the
Kiln chimneys which can cause a variety
of lifelong respiratory cardiovascular
and neurological complications
[Music]
foreign
next door
to introduce me to some of his other
friends who work in these factories
according to a UNICEF report in 2021
there are an estimated 17
000 child laborers working in Nepal's
brick factories
bricks are reported to have been used in
International Development projects
funded by the Asian development Bank the
UN the UK and the US
hold on
hello
14 and 12. all below age of employment
hello
dog hello guys
he's six years old and he's been working
here for a year already
that's his mom
[Music]
brick factories are only the tip of the
iceberg
[Music]
corruption nearly one in seven children
in Nepal are engaged in various forms of
Labor
filmed on our smartphones
are underage children working in kiosks
shops hotels and restaurants many of
them are living away from their parents
and some have been trafficked across the
border from India making them more
vulnerable to some of the worst forms of
exploitation
according to the police there's only
been one case of prosecution for child
labor in the last two years
Nepal's government has ratified many
national and international policies to
combat child labor and has pledged to
eliminate it by 2025. yet the budget
allocated for inspections focused on the
issue was three thousand four hundred
dollars last year with only 10
inspectors for a population of over 30
million foreign
[Music]
[Laughter]
Factory like every other day Avid is
hard at work
who told you to come to work
at the garage
foreign
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
do you ever feel angry at your mom for
making you go to work
[Music]
it's gonna start raining soon and they
can't make breaks when it's raining so
Arvin has to go home which means no
money for him today
[Music]
foreign
lives here with his mom and two teenage
sisters
they're part of an entrenched caste
system
as dalits for the so-called Untouchables
this family is at the bottom of the
hierarchy in their Nepalese Society
hmm
the dollets are often thought of as
dirty not allowed to spend time with
touch or even drink from the same well
as the upper cost
um
very good
[Music]
the dollets are mostly unskilled
laborers with no assets trapped in a
vicious cycle of poverty the highest
rate of child labor is prevalent among
discussed
did you ever go to school
no no foreign
[Music]
education is compulsory yet arvind has
never been to school and he's not alone
one in five children in the country
between the ages of five to twelve are
estimated to be out of school
what would happen to you and your family
is stopped working
as a mother how does that make you feel
foreign
labor it's easy to blame the parents
sending their kids to work but in
reality the situation is so much more
complex than that there are so many
factors leaving people in the desperate
enough position to make their kids go to
work and on top of that list is poverty
[Music]
foreign
time for citizens to choose their local
governments for the next five years
highly powerful local bodies don't just
execute the law but they have the power
to make new ones as well
voters in election rallies from across
the district are showing their support
for their chosen candidates
foreign
the course of our investigation Vice
world news found out that the brick
Factory which employs arvind is earned
by a local politician named rambabu
Prasad choudhary
he's really very popular look at all
these people that
would chairperson of this District
is
so if you win this position you're going
to have a lot of power
do you think someone who doesn't follow
the law themselves should become a
politician or even run for elections
[Music]
employing children in Nepal is a
criminal offense and we have evidence
that there are at least 18 children
working in your factory in this Ward why
are you breaking the law
can show you look
this is your factory right
yes see children working
what is he doing here then
that's not true
but that doesn't change the fact that
you employ children
over the course of an hour-long
interview and despite me showing him
videos of children working in his
Factory rambabu continues to insist that
he doesn't know of any children working
for him and that if he's elected he
wants to improve the livelihood and
education of the community
a few weeks after this interview rambabu
won the elections
[Music]
while waiting for politicians like
rambabu to take real action against
child labor children like arvind are
being helped by local charities like our
Sansa Mukesh Shah is its country
representative managing their various
projects across the country
and the parents of other children the
charity has found working in the
factories
the negotiation is not an easy task and
not everyone agrees to take part
a lot of the families here say they
aren't aware that child labor is illegal
and that they don't think it's harmful
to their kids
for them it's been a common practice for
Generations deeply rooted in their
community
these are the mothers who agreed to be a
part of mukesha's deal to let their
children go to school instead of work in
exchange for a financial incentive
from now on once a month these mothers
are gonna come and queue up here just
like this to receive the equivalent of
what their children earned in rice
[Music]
why rice
this is the main essential things that
they need to buy actually
well they will have not any Financial
load and sending them to school then
only we say is support them every month
this is the way for the charity to not
only fill that financial gap which is
the main reason these mothers say they
send their kids to work in the first
place but to also make sure that they
continue going to school as the
continuation of this payment depends on
class attendance
how is this support going to help you
foreign
[Music]
will get the children out of the
factories
good morning guys ready ready
[Music]
are all former Child laborers themselves
arvind and a number of the other
children are brought out of the
factories and told that they no longer
have to work
[Music]
some of them were in this car some of
them are in the other and we are on our
way to the classroom that's been
prepared for them
there are at least 67 more children
identified by the charity still working
in the six brick Factories near the
village
in the coming months the our Sansa team
plans to get them out too and eventually
using the evidence they've gathered over
the months take legal action against
their employers
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
walking through the gates of their new
school a festival arvind and many of the
other kids most of them have never
received any formal education
okay
[Music]
to bring them up to an appropriate level
for their age the charity has prepared
the transitional class for the new
students
we give education psychological
counseling Family Support family
counseling and slowly actually when it
thinks the children will be prepared in
three to six months then we will try to
move them in the normal school we will
again then grow up and support them to
go and eat
[Applause]
it
[Music]
thank you
thank you
foreign
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
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