Trafficking Survivors Return Home Case S (3)

CASE STUDY OF NEPAL

By Elżbieta M. Goździak, Ph.D. Research Professor Institute for the Study of International Migration

Georgetown University

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elżbieta M. Goździak is Research Professor at the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM)

at Georgetown University. Formerly, she served as Editor of International Migration and held a senior position with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). She taught at the Howard University in the Social Work

with Displaced Populations Program, and managed a

program area on admissions and resettlement of

refugees in industrialized countries for the Refugee Policy Group. Prior to immigrating to the United States,

she was an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Funding for this research was provided by the Interdisciplinary Behavioral and Social Science Research-Exploratory (IBSS-Ex) program of the National Science Foundation (Award #1416769). Warm thanks to our NSF Project Officer, Dr. Brian D. Humes for his assistance throughout the life of the grant.

This report benefited greatly from the contributions of many individuals.

In the course of this and previous research projects on human trafficking in Nepal, I interviewed numerous representatives of the Nepali government, staff members of international and local non-governmental organizations, representatives of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). They all shared their knowledge and insights and I am grateful for their generosity of time and wisdom.

My graduate research assistants, Charles Jamieson and Nicole Johnson, provided indispensable assistance in conducting literature reviews, analyzing existing anti- trafficking laws and data, and masterfully copy-editing and formatting this report.

INTRODUCTION

Trafficking of people for forced labor and sexual exploitation is believed to be one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity and one that is of increasing concern to the international community. Trafficking is commonly understood in terms of the activity, the means, and the purpose, where: (1) The activity refers to some kind of movement either within or across borders; (2) The means relates to some form of coercion or deception, and (3) the purpose is the ultimate exploitation of a person for profit or benefit of another (Martin & Callaway, 2011: 225).

While understanding and recognition of trafficking in persons has improved in recent years, there is little systematic and in-depth analysis of the full life cycle of cross-border human trafficking —from pre-trafficking and recruitment through exploitation to return home or integration into a new community. An area in which very little is known are the experiences of trafficking survivors after return to their home countries. Who returns to their home countries? What is the process for return? After return, are survivors still subject to the same situations that caused them to be trafficked in the first place? What are their health and mental health, education, employment, and other needs after return? Do they receive services that will enable them to reintegrate and, if so, for what period and with what efficacy? What types of stigmas persist over time, particularly for those who were sexually exploited and abused? What are the risk factors for being re- trafficked? To what extent is information available about the incidence and prevalence of re-trafficking? This information is of particular import given the fact that many countries provide survivors with respite assistance, but lack long-term immigration relief.

This report is part of a larger research project, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), aimed at collecting empirical data in Poland, Moldova, Thailand, and Nepal to provide answers to the above questions. This report was informed by an extensive literature review as well as field research in the Kathmandu Valley carried out in December 2015. In-depth interviews with representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and several local NGOs assisting returned victims were conducted. Additionally, two focus group discussions with female survivors of trafficking were held as well. Participants observation and informal conversations with male labor migrants traveling from Kathmandu to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and from Doha in Qatar to Kathmandu were also held. This project builds on our previous field research conducted in Nepal —in the Terai and in the Kathmandu Valley— This report is part of a larger research project, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), aimed at collecting empirical data in Poland, Moldova, Thailand, and Nepal to provide answers to the above questions. This report was informed by an extensive literature review as well as field research in the Kathmandu Valley carried out in December 2015. In-depth interviews with representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and several local NGOs assisting returned victims were conducted. Additionally, two focus group discussions with female survivors of trafficking were held as well. Participants observation and informal conversations with male labor migrants traveling from Kathmandu to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and from Doha in Qatar to Kathmandu were also held. This project builds on our previous field research conducted in Nepal —in the Terai and in the Kathmandu Valley—

We begin the report with a brief country profile, followed by a discussion of labor migration and human trafficking to contextualize the field research findings, description and analysis of selected assistance programs, and end with policy and programmatic recommendation

COUNTRY PROFILE

Nepal covers approximately 147,000 square kilometers, stretching 800 kilometers from east to west and 90 to 230 kilometers from north to south. Nepal is land-locked between China (including the Tibet Autonomous Region) and India. Nepal has three geographic regions: the mountainous Himalayan belt (including 8 of the 10 highest mountain peaks in the world), the hill region, and the plains region. Nepal contains the greatest altitude variation on earth, from the lowland Terai, at almost sea level, to Mount Everest at 8,848 meters. Nepal is divided into five development regions and seventy-five districts.

Nepal has a population of about 28 million people. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the country is in the middle of its demographic transition. Despite an increase in the contraceptive prevalence rate (41percent), the population is growing at

a rate of 2.25 percent, which is higher than other countries in the region. Young people aged 10 to 24 years comprise 32 percent of the total population, a record level that presents concomitant challenges (Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 2006).

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in Asia and the 15 th poorest in the world with GDP per capita of only US$294. It is also one of the most unequal. The poverty of some excluded ethnic groups in Nepal is almost double the national average. The economy is still largely based on agriculture, which employs some 70-80 percent of the workforce. While the majority of the population depends on agriculture for livelihood, the share of Nepal is one of the poorest countries in Asia and the 15 th poorest in the world with GDP per capita of only US$294. It is also one of the most unequal. The poverty of some excluded ethnic groups in Nepal is almost double the national average. The economy is still largely based on agriculture, which employs some 70-80 percent of the workforce. While the majority of the population depends on agriculture for livelihood, the share of

Country

Nepal

Population 28 million Land Area

147,180 km2 GNI Per Capita

Life Expectancy

69 years

Official Languages

Nepali US State Department TIPR Ranking 1 Tier 2

Source: World Bank Development Indicators, US State Department Trafficking in

Persons Report 2015

Nepal’s workforce of about 10 million suffers from a severe shortage of skilled labor. The spectacular landscape and diverse, exotic cultures of Nepal represent considerable potential for tourism, but growth in this hospitality industry has been stifled by recent

political events. IExplore, a travel company, published rankings of the popularity of tourist destinations, based on their sales, which indicated that Nepal had gone from being the tenth most popular destination among adventure travelers, to the twenty-seventh. The 2015 earthquakes adversely affected tourism in Nepal as well. The rate of unemployment and underemployment approaches half of the working-age population. Thus, many Nepali citizens move to India in search of work. The Gulf countries and Malaysia are also big destinations for labor migration.

1 The US State Department Trafficking in Persons report ranks countries as follows:  Tier 1: Countries whose governments fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s

(TVPA) minimum standards.  Tier 2: Countries whose governments do not f ully comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards,

but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.  Tier 3: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

The country has undergone great political and social change. In November 2006, a deal was struck between the government and the Maoists ending ten years of civil war during which 13,000 people were killed and an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 were internally displaced. The 2008 elections gave the Maoists a majority in the Nepali government and, after a 240-year reign, the monarchy was abolished. However, the conflict disrupted rural development activities and lead to a complex economic and political situation.

Although a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ending a decade-long conflict between the Maoists, the government and monarchy, and a popular pro-democracy uprising, was signed in 2006, the situation in Nepal remains fragile. The peace process continues to be monitored by the United Nations Mission in Nepal as disparate groups who were previously united for democracy or under the banner of the Maoist insurgency, began to fragment and regroup around ethnic identities, with the potential to reignite localized conflict. The challenge for the Nepali peace process is to address grievances in an inclusive manner that doesn’t replicate the power structures of yester years.

2010 was supposed to be an important year in the Nepalese peace process, following the slow progress in implementing the peace agreement and the creation of a new constitution. However, many crucial issues such as demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants, merging of the Maoist rebels into the National Army, and competing calls from some regions for autonomy took much longer than expected. For five years, until the election of K.P. Oli in November 2015, Nepal was ruled by a caretaker government.

In April and May 2015 Nepal experienced two powerful earthquakes and several aftershocks that killed 8,800 people and injured more than 21,000 individuals. The aftereffects from the earthquakes were severe and impacted on labor, rental and property costs, private and public debt burdens, mental health, politics, tourism, disease, and damage to the healthcare system. Activists express a recurrent concern during humanitarian crises that certain groups —orphaned children, young women, widows, and persons who lost their livelihoods —would be particularly vulnerable to trafficking. There are a number of reasons for this concern, including the separation of families and concomitant adjustments to social norms; governance and normal immigration procedures being disrupted; new opportunities for corruption among officials and for organized crime to take control of various markets, including the trade in people; and an increased appetite for risk when it comes to responding to a precarious economic, security, and employment situation. These problems were further compounded by an influx of aid workers, peacekeepers or military personnel which may have resulted in In April and May 2015 Nepal experienced two powerful earthquakes and several aftershocks that killed 8,800 people and injured more than 21,000 individuals. The aftereffects from the earthquakes were severe and impacted on labor, rental and property costs, private and public debt burdens, mental health, politics, tourism, disease, and damage to the healthcare system. Activists express a recurrent concern during humanitarian crises that certain groups —orphaned children, young women, widows, and persons who lost their livelihoods —would be particularly vulnerable to trafficking. There are a number of reasons for this concern, including the separation of families and concomitant adjustments to social norms; governance and normal immigration procedures being disrupted; new opportunities for corruption among officials and for organized crime to take control of various markets, including the trade in people; and an increased appetite for risk when it comes to responding to a precarious economic, security, and employment situation. These problems were further compounded by an influx of aid workers, peacekeepers or military personnel which may have resulted in

Indeed, news outlets reported that right after the earthquake, authorities rescued 160 Nepalese trafficked to northern India. Kamal Saksena, home secretary for Uttar Pradesh state in India, indicated that 50 to 60 arrests were made in his district. In one case, the authorities intercepted a couple in their mid forties who had 15 children. The children lied, saying their parents were taking them to Mumbai for sightseeing. According to the

authorities, the children were sold to the traffickers for 1,500 rupees ($32) each. 2 The Himalayan Times also reported that human trafficking via the Birgunj border has increased after the earthquake through the turbulent times of the blockade 3 at the Nepal-India border. As will be shown later in this report, our research did not corroborate the notion of increased trafficking after the earthquake. Interviewees did talk about instances of attempted clandestine border-crossing in order to secure necessary goods, especially fuel and medication, but not about kidnappings or trafficking.

2 See http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-15/nepal-earthquakes-cause-spike-in-human-trafficking/7168398 3 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Nepal_blockade#Allegations_of_unofficial_Indian_blockade

LABOR MIGRATION IN NEPAL

Nepal has a nearly 300-year long history of labor migration dating back to the period of unification and a resulting mass migration to the neighboring states to avoid taxation (UN DESA 2013). The induction of young Nepali men into the colonial British army in the early 19 th century is considered the first instance of formalizing labor migration through treaties between the Nepali and the British governments (Gurung 2004).

Much of the history of labor migration from Nepal is characterized by migration to the neighboring country of India. Nepal and India, which share a very long border of over 1,800 kilometers, have a Friendship Treaty that allows for free movement without inspection between the two countries. Migration to the Gulf and Tiger States, Europe, and the United States is a much more recent development. The demand for workers in the Middle East created massive opportunities. The Government of Nepal responded

with the promulgation of the Foreign Employment Act of 1985. 4

There is limited documentation of the movements of migrant workers and their remittances and national census data has been criticized as giving an underestimate of migration numbers (Seddon et al., 2001; Graner and Gurung, 2003). Assessing the real number of labor migrants is nearly impossible considerin g both the country’s open border with India and migrants’ use of irregular channels to seek better opportunities in other countries. Several interviewees indicated that many people, especially women, depart for foreign countries via India. In the early 2000s, official data on international migration from Nepal revealed that the number of Nepalese living in foreign countries exceeded one million (Kollmair et al 2006). A more recent ILO report indicates that, in 2011, almost two million (1,921,494) or 7.3 percent of Nepali citizens lived abroad (CBS 2012). The Nepali Population Clock suggests that 77,000 Nepalese emigrated in 2015

alone. 5

In Kathmandu as well as in several villages in the Terai 6 , the research team heard numerous accounts of people seeking work abroad. Policy-makers and representatives of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) repeatedly indicated,

4 See Sec. (4) of the FAA for countries to which Nepali citizens are encouraged to migrate. 5 See Nepali Population Clock http://countrymeters.info/en/Nepal 6 Terai is a plain region of Nepal.

“hundreds of people leave Nepal every day.” Numerous Nepalese we interviewed expressed similar sentiments. In the course of a discussion with a group of 16 women in

a village in the Terai, one woman narrated her migration history to India with her grandparents and her subsequent return to Nepal. Another one talked about her two younger sisters who migrated: one to Iraq and one to Kuwait. A third woman had a husband in Qatar. He had been working there for four years. In two different settlements established for Kamaiyas freed from bonded labor, most males were working in India and were coming home only once a year. Several respondents sought our advice on migrating to the Gulf countries.

Freed Kamaiya women Photo by Elzbieta M. Gozdziak

Participant observation in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that thousands of people line up every day to apply for a passport. We observed people of all ages and from different walks of life applying for passports. When asked why they apply, all answered that they have plans to migrate for schooling or labor. A demographic boom in the early 2000s (19.4 percent in the age group 15-24 years) and their entry into labor force amidst stagnant economy and lack of employment within the country means a large proportion of young adults in the country are compelled to adapt international labor migration as their livelihood strategy (Kolimair et al. 2006).

Nepali people lining up to apply for a passport Photo by C. Timothy McKeown

International migration of children and young people is of particular import to funders such as the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that support initiatives aimed at preventing child labor and child trafficking in Nepal. World Education, one of the grantees of DOL, suggested that about 40 percent of children participating in the Brighter Futures

Program 7 dropped out of the program because they decided to migrate (Gozdziak 2011). The majority (70 percent) of those who migrate are boys and the remaining 30 percent girls. Many children migrate (or are brought) from rural areas into the city on the promise that they will get education, better life, and better pay. According to anti-trafficking activists and child advocates many of these children inadvertently become victims of trafficking —both internal and cross-border—for domestic servitude or sexual exploitation.

Migration of young people who complete schooling is also widely debated. On October

1, 2010, Tsering Dolker Gurung published an op-ed piece in the Kathmandu Post and observed:

Out of the 32 students who passed SLC [School Leaving Certificate] with me from my school, only 12 remain in Nepal. The rest have gone to what students now call their dream destinations —the US, the UK, Canada and other Western countries. Even the ones who are here are in the process of leaving. (Gurung 2010)

7 Brighter Futures Program was funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and operated in Nepal by World Education from 2005- 2009. See http://www.worlded.org/WEIInternet/international/project/display.cfm?ctid=na&cid=na&tid=40&id=346

Indeed, the number of students going overseas each year is alarming. A significant decrease in the number of youth in the country has been noticed. In a study conducted in Galkot in the Midwestern part of Baglung district, often referred to as place of lahure or foreign migrant, Gautam (2008) studied the effects of migration of young people on the elderly. The research indicated that over 50 percent of the population migrated. The largest number (38.96 percent) moved to Indian cities, followed by Saudi/Qatar/UAE (19.5 percent), followed by Japan/Singapore, and other developed Asian countries (13.75 percent).

Young people are also migrating from rural areas to the Kathmandu Valley. Although Nepal is one of the least urbanized countries in the world, rural to urban migration is not

a new phenomenon. Nepali people have been leaving their villages in droves in the past

50 years, seeking better opportunities in Kathmandu and other urban centers. In 2014, the level of urbanization was 18.2 percent, with an urban population of 5,130,000, and a rate of urbanization of three percent (UN DESA, 2014). For the period 2014-2050, Nepal will remain amongst the top ten fastest urbanizing countries in the world with a projected annual urbanization rate of 1.9percent (UN DESA, 2014).

The effects of the ensuing demographic change are easily visible within the capital, where the population of Kathmandu Metropolitan City was 1,003,285 in 2011 (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2012: 3). UN DESA (2014: 367) updated this to 1,142,000 in 2014, and projected a population of 1,183,000 in 2015, rising to 1,855,000 by 2030. New housing projects continue to pop up among lands that were once paddy fields and traffic congestion seems to be increasing every day. In 1972, there were 16 urban centers in Nepal, compared to 58 at the turn of the millennium.

Urbanization is s till slow; more than 80 percent of Nepal’s population even now lives in rural areas, but it is also irreversible. The rapid development in urban centers contrasts with far less dramatic changes in rural areas; for example, 57 percent of Nepalese do not have access to an all-weather road. Migration of children to Kathmandu has resulted in

a growing number of street children, many of whom are addicted to drugs and vulnerable to all sorts of exploitation, including sexual exploitation (Participant observation in 2010 and 2015).

Porter girl in Dunbar Square Photo by Sanjula Weerasinghe

While virtually everyone talked about labor migration no one was able to point to reliable data. The prevailing opinion was that many Nepali people migrate, mainly to Gulf countries (Qatar, Saudi Arabia) and Southeast Asia (Malaysia). Interviewees also pointed out that the regular flow of remittances from labor migrants has permitted Nepal to avoid

a serious economic crisis. According to the World Bank, in 2009 remittances represented

22.9 percent of Nepal’s GDP. This figure refers to officially recorded remittances. The true size of remittances, including unrecorded flows through formal and informal channels, is believed to be much larger .

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN NEPAL

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORKS

Nepal is not a party to the 2000 UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol. In the Nepali context, human trafficking is most commonly described as hili beti wosar pasar (buying and selling of girls and daughters) and yaabasayik taun soshan (commercial sexual exploitation). Both are terms that only partially capture the international definition of trafficking in persons enshrined in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (also known as the Palermo Protocol) which defines human trafficking as:

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. (Palermo Protocol 2000)

Trafficking of adults always requires force, deception and coercion, but when a third party moves or uses children in prostitution, pornography or removal of organs, force or coercion do not need to be present to deem these acts child trafficking (Dottridge and Jordan 2012). According to the Palermo Protocol, the use of threat, force or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception or abuse of power are not required when it comes to children and adolescents because in the eyes of the law children under the age of 18 do not have the same lega l capacity as adults to engage in certain forms of work. “If children have been recruited and transported for the purpose of exploitation, they have been ‘trafficked’ no matter if they consented to move” (O’Connell Davidson 2011: 457).

Nepal prohibits many, but not all, forms of trafficking in persons through the 2007 Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act (HTTCA) and the 2008 Regulation. While the HTTCA criminalizes slavery, bonded labor, and the buying and selling of people, it does not criminalize the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of persons by force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of forced labor or services. It criminalizes forced prostitution but does not consider the prostitution of children as a form of human trafficking absent force, fraud, or coercion. The law also criminalizes Nepal prohibits many, but not all, forms of trafficking in persons through the 2007 Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act (HTTCA) and the 2008 Regulation. While the HTTCA criminalizes slavery, bonded labor, and the buying and selling of people, it does not criminalize the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of persons by force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of forced labor or services. It criminalizes forced prostitution but does not consider the prostitution of children as a form of human trafficking absent force, fraud, or coercion. The law also criminalizes

The ambivalence of the Nepali government when it comes to criminalizing all forms of trafficking for labor exploitation and its limited ability to enforce the existing laws against human trafficking might be related to the fact that for centuries, millions of people in Nepal have been affected by generational bonded labor and other forms of servitude under such systems as Kamaiya, Haliya, Bhude, Kamalari, Haruwa-Charuwa, Baalighare (Khalo), Dom, Pode, Badi, and Deuki (See Box 1 for explanations of these various servitude systems). Debt bondage continues to be present in traditional agriculture and domestic work, but is also present in garment and brick industries. The practice is particularly prevalent in the Far Western Region (including Kanchanpur), which has the highest concentration of big land holdings.

Box 1: Servitude systems

Kamaiya Form of descent slavery: generation after generation, Kamaiyas were enslaved, bought and sold, and forced to work for their creditors in deplorable conditions. Because they received a minimum or no wage, they were virtually unable to repay their debts, which were inevitably passed onto their children and grandchildren.

Haliya Less severe form of agricultural debt bondage. The Haliyas could not be sold, they were allowed to leave the property of the creditor, and they usually received in-kind payments. They could also pursue other forms of employment in their free time. However, they had to make themselves available to work for the creditor upon request until their debt and incurred interest were fully repaid.

Haruwa- Traditional agricultural practice similar to slavery. Haruwas are men and Charuwa

boys whose main job is to plough. The term Charuwa refers to boys and girls who work as herders. The Haruwas and Charuwas serve for, and are highly dependent on, rich landlords across the eastern, central and western Terai districts.

hude Practiced in the district of Bajura, was similar to Haliya; however, the Bhudes received a small piece of land for their own use.

Baalighare This practice is found within the Dalit communities in the mid-western and (Khalo)

far-western Nepal. It is an exploitative form of exchanging goods and services for other goods and services: the semi-skilled laborers offer door-to- door services and demonstrate loyalty to their patrons (Bista) for an entire year in order to accumulate seasonal crops as wages for their work. The Baalighare must meet their Bista’s demands and are unable to negotiate wages.

Doms Landless and compulsorily relegated to occupations that are viewed as inferior and polluting, the Doms are considered untouchable. They usually live and operate within a marked territory throughout the Terai belt, including Morang. Although they are involved in income-generating work, such as pig farming, basket waiving, cremation, and carcass disposal, their wages are minimal. If Doms refuse to perform their traditional duties, they often face mistreatment by the villagers and/or expulsion from the community. The Pode community in Kathmandu Valley resembles the Doms in the Terai. Podes clean garbage, drainage, and dirt in the city and are also considered untouchable.

Badi Adults and children who belong to the Badi community are also highly susceptible to exploitation. Badi people reside in the western part of Nepal, including Kanchanpur. They were traditionally known as entertainment providers. However, in the lack of opportunities, they became involved in prostitution, which led to social stigmatization, discrimination, and exclusion. Many Badi children are born out of wedlock, which limits their access to citizenship and reinforces their vulnerability to discrimination, trafficking, and abuse.

Deukis The Far-Western region, including Kanchanpur, is also home to about 2000 Deukis. Traditionally, Deukis were prepubescent girls who were given to the temples by their families as offerings to the gods. They were uncared for and forced into prostitution. Men believed that sexual intercourse with a Deuki would cleanse them of their sins and cure them of their illnesses. Although the practice was abolished several decades ago, the children of Deuki carry the stigma of their mothers and experience problems and abuses similar to that of the Badi.

Source: Adapted from the HUMAN TRAFFICKING ASSESSMENT TOOL REPORT FOR NEPAL by the

American Bar Association 8

8 The full report can be accessed here http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/directories/roli/nepal/nepal_human_trafficking_asse

ssment_report_2011.authcheckdam.pdf

Although the traditional Kamaiya and Haliya systems have been formally eradicated 9 , the western part of Nepal continues to be affected by bonded labor, particularly in the agricultural sector. The laborers are free to leave, cannot be bought and sold, and, in comparison with the past, have more bargaining power over salary and work conditions. Nevertheless, their persistent poverty and lack of opportunities leave them and their children prone to exploitation.

According to the 2015 U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, Nepal is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Nepali men are subjected to forced labor in the Middle East. Nepali women and girls are subjected to sex trafficking in Nepal, India, the Middle East, and China and subjected to forced labor in India and China as domestic servants, beggars, factory workers, mine workers, and in the adult entertainment industry. They are subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor elsewhere in Asia, including in Malaysia, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Nepali boys are also exploited in domestic servitude and, along with a number of Indian boys transported to Nepal, subjected to forced labor within the country, especially in brick kilns and the embroidered textiles, or zari, industry. Extreme cases of forced labor in the zari industry frequently involve severe physical abuse of children. Bonded labor exists in agriculture, cattle rearing, brick kilns, the stone-breaking industry, and domestic servitude. Children of Kamaiya families that were formerly or are currently in bonded labor are also subjected to the kamalari system of domestic servitude. Human traffickers typically target low-caste groups.

Some of the Nepali migrants who willingly seek work in domestic service, construction, or other low-skilled sectors in India, Gulf countries, Malaysia, Israel, South Korea, and Lebanon subsequently face conditions indicative of forced labor such as withholding of passports, restrictions on movement, nonpayment of wages, threats, deprivation of food and sleep, and physical or sexual abuse. In many cases, unscrupulous Nepal-based labor brokers and manpower agencies facilitate this forced labor. Unregistered migrants — including the large number of Nepalese who travel via India or rely on independent recruiting agents —are more vulnerable to forced labor. Migrants from Bangladesh, Burma, and possibly other countries may transit through Nepal for employment in the Gulf States, fraudulently using Nepali travel documents, and may be subjected to human trafficking.

9 See the Bonded Labor (Prohibition) Act adopted by the Parliament on April 20, 2002

THE SCALE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN NEPAL

The Nepalese authorities do not track the number of victims identified, and observers reported to the U.S. State Department that government efforts to identify victims remained inadequate in 2015. The scale of human trafficking in Nepal cannot be substantiated by rigorous research either. The estimates vary widely. In 2003 Terre des Hommes put the number of women and girls trafficked from Nepal to India at 5,000 to 8,000 each year (Terre des Hommes 2003). Others estimate that over 140,000 to 200,000 young girls and women are trafficked into the sex market of Indian brothels in Calcutta, Siliguri, Kanpuir, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, New Delhi, and Bombay (Sangroula 2001).

Maiti Nepal, a large anti-trafficking and rehabilitation NGO based in Kathmandu which has won worldwide praise for its efforts, 10 claims that they alone have rescued some 30,000 girls and young women at the Nepal-India and Nepal-China borders from potential risks of trafficking. 11 Research on child trafficking is limited and focuses mainly on cross-border trafficking for sexual exploitation. ILO-IPEC reported in 2001 that 12,000 girls were trafficked annually to India and identified 86 districts that were affected. Many NGOs currently feel that the entire nation is affected by trafficking. These figures are for cross-border trafficking for sexual exploitation only and there is neither data on internal trafficking nor on trafficking for other forms of exploitation (ILO-IPEC 2001).

According to TDH, a recent survey showed that there are 1.3 million children who are being sexually exploited in India. The majority or 85 percent are Indian. The rest are Bangladeshi and Nepali. The majority of Nepali child victims come from indigenous groups (Janajati). Reportedly, approximately 11,000 to 13,000 Nepali persons are trafficked each year; roughly 33 percent are children. However, there has never been any empirical research conducted on this issue so this estimate should be taken with a grain of salt (Terre des Homme 2003).

Some interviewees estimated that 20-25 percent of sex workers in Nepal are under the age of 16 years. Indeed, we have seen very young girls, including an eight-year-old, working in the kitch en of a “cabin restaurant” and being groomed to work as a sex worker

10 Anuradha Koirala, the founder and director of Maiti Nepal, received the CNN Hero of the Year award in 2010. See http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/archive10/anuradha.koirala.html 11 http://www.maitinepal.org/ 10 Anuradha Koirala, the founder and director of Maiti Nepal, received the CNN Hero of the Year award in 2010. See http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/archive10/anuradha.koirala.html 11 http://www.maitinepal.org/

that they were only 15 and 16 12 , respectively —were about to migrate to China for sex work. The program staff tried to persuade them to stay in Kathmandu, but they thought they would be better off (economically) in China. They did not speak a word of Chinese or any other language but Nepali and told us that they did not know anyone in China except the man who was arranging their travel.

The American Himalayan Foundation (AHF) indicates that 20,000 Nepali children are trafficked annually. The foundation cites Acharya (1998) to support their claims. However, Acharaya’s report includes in these estimates both trafficked children and children in hazardous forms of labor. While both constitute child abuse and child exploitation, not all forms of child labor should be equated with child trafficking. Bal Kumar and colleagues describe the conflicting numbers as follows in a report commissioned by ILO-IPEC (2001):

The range of information and the variation in estimates of girls trafficked for sexual exploitation in Nepal and India is so vast that it is impossible to determine the real magnitude of the problem based on the existing literature alone (Seddon 1996; Upreti 1996). The figure ranges from 5,000 to 7,000 to 20,000 Nepalese children being trafficked every year (…). Furthermore, Indian and Nepalese sources also differ considerably and (…) it is safe to say that all estimates made are speculations that have not been verified by rigorous research methods. (p. 6)

National estimates are unreliable and administrative data is scarce as well. In 2010, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Kathmandu indicated that they assisted some 400 survivors of trafficking, mostly women. While most of them were adults at the time of rescue, they were trafficked when they were minors. IOM was not able to provide any administrative data for later periods of time, including the time period covered by this research. According to IOM, most children are trafficked to India. Boys are trafficked mainly for the circus industry and girls both for the circus industry and for sexual exploitation. Minors who are trafficked to India rarely are trafficked to a third country. It is generally adult women in possession of passports that can be trafficked to other countries beyond India. The open border makes trafficking very easy as there is no need to show an identity card. Adults are also trafficked to the Middle East; women mainly for sex and domestic work, and men primarily for other forms of labor. Women

12 Note that under the Nepalese Constitution the age of majority is 16. This is consistent with the CRC, which provides that the age of majority is 18 unless a particular country proscribes another age.

and children are also trafficked within Nepal; women mainly for domestic work, and children to work in factories and in domestic work (Meena Paudel, personal communication).

Interviews with service providers in Nepal conducted for an evaluation research of programs supported by the U.S. Department of Labor (Gozdziak 2010) suggest that the Tamang, an indigenous ethnic group living in the north central hilly region of Nepal, are particularly vulnerable to trafficking. One of the programs provided assistance to 16 victims of human trafficking repatriated from India; only one person in this cohort was not Tamang. The statistics are reportedly quite similar for internal trafficking. Published reports confirm that ethnic conflict and ethnic fragmentation exacerbate the internal displacement of individuals from networks of family and community as well as their access to economic and social safety nets. These same individuals are then believed to be vulnerable to trafficking as they hope for better economic prospects elsewhere (Akee et al. 2010). Given the lack of reliable data and rigorous research all of these assertions should be taken as hypotheses that need to be verified and not as conclusive findings.

PREVENTION, PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE TO TRAFFICKED VICTIMS

In most countries anti-trafficking initiatives are organized around the 4 Ps: prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnerships. The efforts of the Nepali government as well as most of the initiatives supported by foreign donors focus mainly on prevention, especially prevention of child labor that is believed to put children at an increased risk for cross-border and internal trafficking. While awareness raising campaigns also target women, the main strategy of the Nepali government to prevent trafficking of women was to ban migration of females under the age 30 to the Gulf states for domestic work. In May 2014, the government suspended all exit permits for domestic work. Officials acknowledged the ban had increased illegal migration and subsequently heightened migrants’ risks to exploitation; however, the government viewed these policies as temporarily necessary to protect female migrant workers while formulating safe migration guidelines. Men seem to be completely absent in these governmental initiatives.

In the following section we discuss programs that focus on prevention of trafficking of women and children, but especially minors, and present a range of promising practices and strategies.

FOCUS ON PREVENTION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Prevention efforts are being launched in Nepal at the expense of protection of and assistance to returned victims. The overwhelming focus on prevention of human trafficking is dictated, on the one hand, by the alarmist assumptions that trafficking is rampant in Nepal and therefore no effort should be spared to prevent it. On the other hand, some “experts” in the anti-trafficking field question the effectiveness and efficacy of reintegration programs for returned survivors. As will be seen later in this report, the controversy over whether reintegration of returned victims is possible is related to the stigma that trafficked victims face in Nepal as well as lack of assessments of existing reintegration programs. Lack of empirical evaluation data does not allow to either dispel the belief that reintegration programs do not work or support their creation.

According to the 2015 TIP report, the Nepali government has undertaken several efforts to prevent human trafficking. The inter-ministerial National Committee for Controlling Human Trafficking (NCCHT) met regularly and issued its second report on the government’s anti-trafficking efforts. The government also issued the National Plan of Action implementation plans and conducted two coordination sessions with local officials from at least 27 districts to clarify their roles and responsibilities and set budget and timeline goals to ensure completion of the tasks. The NCCHT allocated 233,000- 380,000 Nepali rupees (NPR), approximately $2,300-$3,750, to each of the 75 district committees to support awareness campaigns, meeting expenses, and emergency victim services; this was an increase over the 42,000-57,000 NPR ($414-$562) allocated in fiscal year 2013. This allocation specifically included 120,000 NPR ($1,180) for each district to establish at least three new village level committees. All Nepali peacekeeping forces were provided pre-deployment anti-trafficking training. The government provided anti- trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel. However, the government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts or forced labor.

In addition to the Nepali government, many other organizations, including the International Labor Organization (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), international non-governmental organizations, and local civil society groups are involved in anti-trafficking efforts. Between 2009 and 2011, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) supported the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) with capacity building for government officials, services to labor migrants, development of country specific fliers and flip charts on safe migration channels, including the establishment of a Migrant Resource Center in Kathmandu, which provides information on overseas migration and destination countries to potential labor migrants. IOM’s newest initiative in Nepal—the Trafficking Survivors and Vulnerable Children Support Program--funded by ChildFund Korea and implemented in partnership with local NGOs in December 2015, focuses on vulnerable children and women to prevent them from falling prey to various forms of exploitation, including unsafe migration and trafficking. The majority of the activities center on anti-trafficking and safe migration campaigns at the national level; however, the project is designed to also provide support to the shelters for vulnerable children and survivors of trafficking. At the time of our last site visit in December 2015, the program was just being launched and there was little to observe in terms of services provided at the shelters.

Over the years, the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT) in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) supported two major initiatives to address child Over the years, the Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT) in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) supported two major initiatives to address child

The ILO-IPEC project aimed to rehabilitate bonded adult and child laborers and to prevent them from re-entering exploitative forms of labor. The intervention strategy consisted of:

 Direct action targeted at ex-Kamaiyas, their families and children in order to secure their effective release from bondage and to sustainably reduce their poverty through training and education and livelihood improvement;

 Capacity and alliance building among key actors--the Government, workers' and employers' organizations, and civil society--for policy development and program formulation at the national and district levels; and

 Awareness raising campaigns among ex-Kamaiyas, their landlords and society at large. Another important component of the project is to ensure sustainability through data collection, research, and the implementation of a tracking system.

The direct beneficiaries of the project were ex-Kamaiyas and children under the Kamaiya system and those still de facto in debt bondage or at risk of falling into bondage in the eight districts of western Nepal — Banke, Bardia, Dang, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, and Kapilvastu. Since women and girls are at high risk of bondage due to the prevailing gender discrimination in these communities, priority target groups were Kamaiya women and girls under the age of 18. The project also worked in close collaboration with the ILO sub-regional Project on Preventing and Eliminating Bonded Labor in South Asia (PEBLISA) in Nepal, which focused on prevention of bonded labor through various strategies, including micro finance.

The Child Labor Education Initiative was implemented by two international NGOs: Winrock International and World Education. Below we present some of the promising practices identified and implemented by these INGOs.

PROMISING PRACTICES Several interlocutors suggested that there is a general lack of reporting on best practices