Uncovering Eight-Year-Old Children Working in Factories

Summary

In 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

00:00

👷 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.

05:04

🌐 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.

10:05

🏛 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.

15:05

📚 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.

20:19

🎓 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.

Keywords

💡Child Labor

Child labor refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is inappropriate for their age. In the video, it is a central theme as it discusses the plight of over a million children in Nepal who are engaged in labor, particularly in brick factories, which is against the law that prohibits employment of children under the age of 14.

💡Brick Factories

Brick factories are industrial sites where bricks are manufactured, often through labor-intensive processes. The script highlights the booming brick industry in Nepal with over 1,500 registered factories, where many underage children work in exploitative and dangerous conditions, making bricks under harsh and illegal circumstances.

💡Underage Workers

Underage workers are individuals who are younger than the legal working age, which is 14 in Nepal as per the script. The video provides evidence of at least 87 children under the age of 14 working in brick factories, including some as young as five years old, indicating a significant violation of child labor laws.

💡Exploitation

Exploitation in the context of the video refers to the unfair treatment of workers, particularly children, who are paid very low wages and work in poor conditions. It is a key issue as the factories take advantage of the children's vulnerable status, paying them as little as 175 per day, which is less than half the national minimum wage.

💡National Minimum Wage

The national minimum wage is the lowest amount of money that employers are allowed to pay their workers per hour or day, as mandated by the government. The video mentions that the children working in the brick factories earn less than half of the national minimum wage, illustrating the severe underpayment and exploitation they face.

💡Respiratory Complications

Respiratory complications refer to any medical condition that affects the respiratory system, potentially causing difficulty in breathing. The script describes how children like Arvind are exposed to dangerous chemicals from kiln chimneys, which can lead to lifelong respiratory issues, highlighting the hazardous working environment.

💡Caste System

The caste system is a social stratification system that has been a part of traditional Indian society, and it also affects Nepal. The video discusses the Dalits, considered the 'Untouchables' in this hierarchy, who are often marginalized and subjected to discrimination. Arvind's family, being part of this caste, faces social and economic disadvantages, contributing to their vulnerability to child labor.

💡Poverty

Poverty is the state of being extremely poor, and it is a driving factor behind child labor as depicted in the video. Families living in poverty are often compelled to send their children to work to supplement the family income, as seen with Arvind's family after the death of their father.

💡Education

Education is a fundamental right and is compulsory in Nepal, yet the video reveals that many children, including Arvind, have never attended school due to child labor. The lack of education perpetuates the cycle of poverty and limits the children's future opportunities.

💡Local Politician

A local politician in the video is Rambabu Prasad Choudhary, who is the owner of a brick factory employing underage children. Despite the illegality of child labor, he is a popular figure and has been elected to a position of power, illustrating the complex interplay between politics, law enforcement, and social issues like child labor.

💡Charities and NGOs

Charities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play a crucial role in combating child labor by providing support and alternatives to families. The video features an NGO called 'Our Sansa' that offers financial incentives to families in exchange for their children's school attendance, aiming to remove them from factories and provide education.

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]