Children at risk post-quake

Organizations working in the field of child rights and welfare have stated that the displacement of children has increased considerably after the April 25 earthquake. A number of faith-based and charity organizations put themselves in the front-line with the aim of rescuing children in vulnerable state, promising provision of free education, food and shelter to the children who were rendered orphans.

The trend of trafficking children into orphanages or children homes began during the Maoist insurgency. The traffickers then persuaded the parents by showing prospects of better education in Kathmandu for their children in the situation when they feared that the Maoist would force their children to join the war as combatants. Now the earthquake has surpassed the old excuse. 

Surging trafficking trend post-quake

Not long after the earthquake, the government of Nepal issued a timely directive bringing stringent measure to stop cross district transportation of children and suspended the registration of new children homes in Nepal. It also increased the vigilance in the districts and the country's borders in coordination with nongovernmental organizations. A number of check posts were set up in 14 worst affected districts and along the country's border with the aim of stopping child displacement and trafficking which helped  to minimize the displacement of children in hundreds.

In the eight-month period from May to December, 2015, Next Generation Nepal, an INGO working in the re-integration of trafficked children in Nepal, intercepted over 50 children from Sindhupalchowk alone and united them with their parents in coordination with District Child Welfare Board. Maiti Nepal, a known organization in the field of women and child trafficking, also reports that the number of rescued girls and children is more than double as compared to the few months pre-earthquake period.

According to CCWB State of Children Report (2015), there are 176 children who lost both their parents in the earthquake from 14 districts. The report states that there are 577 children homes registered in Nepal, of which 76 percent are located in the major 5 tourist districts- Kathmandu, Lalipur, Bhaktapur, Kaski and Chitwan. It won't be hard to deduce that the main reason behind this is to attract tourists for paid volunteerism in these homes. Indeed, some well-intentioned tourists also collect the fund either individually or collectively once they are back to their home country and send it to children homes in Nepal. It is estimated that over 90 percent of Nepal's orphanages are supported by foreigners, and over 75 percent of the children living in these homes are not real orphans.

Given the trend, Nepal could well be on the track of becoming Combodia. Cambodia is a country where orphanage tourism is a full-fledged industry and most tourists who come to the country end up visiting orphanages. The UNICEF 2011/12 report states that there were only 28 percent double orphans in these orphanages and nearly three quarter had one living parent. The report found the cause of the increasing number of orphanages in the country to be funding from foreigners who genuinely try to help orphans. However, what these well-intentioned people are actually doing is playing their part to separate children from their families. We do not want Nepal to be like Cambodia.

Maggie Doyne, who was awarded the 2015 CNN Hero, and her organization Kopila Valley Foundation also run a children home in Surkhet. After a recent monitoring visit in February, the District Child Welfare Board (DCWB), Surkhet said that it found non-orphans and single orphans in the home, according to Women Development Officer, Jamuna Paudel who was a part of the monitoring team. According to her, the DCWB is carrying out an extensive investigation on it.

The point here is certainly not to question Doyne's good intentions. However, the presence of non-orphans in her children home certainly raises questions on the loopholes that are causing the separation of children from their parents and ending them in orphanages without genuine reasons. Given the vulnerable state of quake affected villages, much more children could be susceptible to such predicament.

Child trafficking and child labor

The earthquake damaged schools and other structures in the hardest hit districts. The schools remained shut for months due to the damage, and the monsoon and winter that followed. Most of the schools in these areas are still operating from temporary shelters and, looking at the pace of reconstruction works, it will perhaps take years before the schools are brought in their previous shape and functioning. Although no concrete data has been published about the number of children who dropped out of school this year alone, the number will rise most probably given the schools' relocation in the affected districts. It won't be a surprise perhaps if the repercussion is seen, in the near future, in the factories, domestic labor, orphanages and involvement of children in criminal activities.

Recently, US Senate endorsed a Bill that paves the way for duty-free quota-free (DFQF) entry of ready-made garments, pashmina and leather products in America which is obviously a good news. But this should not come at the cost of child labor in the factories.

Child labor is forbidden by law in Nepal but the brick and garment industries are still not free from child labor. National media have carried reports of children from earthquake hit areas working in brick kiln in the Kathmandu Valley, among other areas. Republica, for instance, reported that 30 children were found working in the brick kiln in Lalitpur when a government team was inspecting the factory for financial issues. It also reported that the children were compelled to work over 10 hours every day and received Rs 800 a week. This is against the international child rights norms and conventions. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, for example, stipulates that all work done by children under the age of 15 – and all hazardous work done by children under the age of 18 – is illegal.

The garment industry that was once a pride of Nepal should free itself of child labor in the context when America has opened its door for the Nepali products. Last year, The Guardian reported that "international donors, aid agencies, multinational companies and the Nepalese government are systematically failing to ensure that there are effective policies in place to keep their supply chains free from child and bonded labor" when they found the aid agencies like WFP and ADB using the items produced by child labor in their development projects.

Now, it's a high time all stakeholders do their part to ensure that children homes are used as a last resort to keep the children and the industries do away with child labor.

(This article was published in Setopati Online on 30th March 2016, http://setopati.net/opinion/12869/Children-at-risk-post-quake/)