ACCESS TO VOCATIONAL TRAINING
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labourers and their family members were freed from bondage overnight, with the government declaring
their debts to landlords void and threatening up to 10 years imprisonment for anyone keeping bonded
labourers.
When the government issued the Freedom Declaration, it also stipulated plans for rehabilitation,
including land grants for the freed kamaiyas. However, as of 2008, about half of the freed
kamaiyas are still landless. Furthermore, the land grants provided have generally been quite small
in size. Thus the fundamental condition that gave rise to bonded labour in the irst place, namely the
Tharus’ alienation from ancestral domain, is still a problem. The ongoing economic vulnerability of
the group makes them susceptible to other forms of labour exploitation including forced labour, child
labour and payment below the minimum wage. Peter Lowe. Kamaiya: Slavery and Freedom in
Nepal. Kathmandu, MS-Nepal, 2001 ILO Katmandu News report. 8th Kamaiya Liberation
Day observed in Nepal with the demand for effective rehabilitation of freed Kamaiyas. http:www.iloktm.
org.npread_more.asp?id=127
Latin America: Child labour and vocational training.
Of the approximately 40 million indigenous people in Latin America, almost half of them 15-18 million
are girls, boys and adolescents. Generally, it is estimated that indigenous children are twice as likely
to work as their non-indigenous peers. In order to combat child labour among indigenous children,
the development of high quality vocational training, relevant to the particular linguistic and cultural
context of indigenous peoples must be provided. In Central America, initiatives are taken to create
education and vocational training appropriate to the needs of indigenous peoples. In Nicaragua, the
Autonomous University of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua URACCAN and the Blueields Indian
and Caribbean University BICU are speciic educational institutions, established to provide
special programmes for indigenous peoples in the Autonomous Regions.
URACCAN contributes to strengthening the Regional Autonomy by complementary processes
of self-development, local capacity-building, multiethnic unity and integral training of men and
women in the Region. Its mission is to contribute to the strengthening of Autonomy by training
the human resources in the Region and for the Region; by making room for the development of
knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to preserve natural resources while promoting sustainability;
and creating local capacity so that the full exercise