Nepal:reports of 900,000 child workers

International NGOs have reported that at least 900,000 Nepalese children are working, most of them in the agricultural sector, in conditions of slavery.

The report was made by several NGOs working for the International Labour Organisation and was released in Kathmandu, the capital. It is claimed that 95% of the children work in agriculture, either for no pay at all or a symbolic sum.

Elizabeth Kawaoka, a nun with the Japanese congregation Sisters of Light, told Portuguese news agency Lusa that most of these children are from poor tribal communities which live in conditions of extreme poverty, which she listed as “chronic poverty, illiteracy, family violence, and archaic beliefs”.

Rupa Rai, spokesperson of the catholic charity, Caritas, stated that around 5,000 children are being held in prostitution rings in Nepal.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru