Nepal fully committed to ending child labour, forced labour and trafficking

Kathmandu–Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista has said Nepal was fully committed to ending child labour, forced labour and human trafficking.

In his address to the inaugural session of the Asia Regional Conference of Alliance 8.7, a global partnership in support of target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals, he said this is an important event to bring the concerned actors and stakeholders together and reflect on the outcomes of our efforts in the past.

The Conference was organised by the International Labour Organisation here today. "This is also an opportunity to have discussions on the challenges ahead to speed up progress towards the eradication of forced labor, human trafficking and child labor," the Minister emphasized.

Stating that there are still 152 million children in child labor and 24.8 million people in forced labor across the globe despite the tremendous progress made towards eradicating forced labor, human trafficking and child labor in the past, which is hard to believe, he said more alarming was the number of child labor and forced labor. According to him, the number of child labor and forced labor is 62.1 million and 16.5 million respectively in the Asia-Pacific region.

This signifies the urgent and effective action on the part of all the actors and stakeholders in a more innovative and timely manner with visible and tangible outcomes, he added.

Reiterating that Government of Nepal was fully committed towards combating the complex issue of eliminating child labor, forced labor and human trafficking in all forms, Labour Minister said forced labor, human trafficking and child labor are crimes against humanity and serious violation of human rights.

In Nepal, we recognize these crimes as the crimes against the state. We are committed to provide best possible care and protection to the innocent children who are our future. We are genuinely committed to fight against feudalism and all sorts of exploitation that provide breeding ground to such type of black spots of civilized society. As one of the Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder countries, we are always ready to forge meaningful partnership and cooperation and share our knowledge and experience in view of speeding up progress towards the SDG target 8.7.

"The Constitution of Nepal has ensured the rights to all citizens to be free from exploitation. In line with the constitutional provisions and, through tripartite consultations among the entire constituents of social dialogue, we have formulated several acts and rules including the Labour Act 2017, Children Act 2018 and Social Security Act 2018, to name a few. We amended dozens of Acts and Rules including Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act 2007 to update and incorporate progressive reforms," he said.

Nepal has ratified several international conventions related to SDG target 8.7 including the Forced Labor Convention, Abolition of Forced Labor Convention, Minimum Age Convention, Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, Convention on the Rights of Child and CEDAW. Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security has put decent work, employment and social security in the top most priority. The ministry, along with the concerned actors and stakeholders, has commenced implementation of the National Master Plan on the Elimination of Child Labor (2018-2028) in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

As an outcome of the reforms initiatives for the last one and half decades, Haliya and Kamaiya rehabilitation is coming to the logical end. Remarkable progress has been achieved in reducing child labor, forced labor and trafficking in person. However, achieving some of the SDG targets within the stipulated time is still a daunting task. We need to work more to address geographic and social disparities and serve the hard-to-reach marginalized people and communities.

The Minister further said: "Addressing the formidable challenges of eliminating child labor, forced labor and human trafficking requires cooperation and partnership at national, regional and global levels. Such type of gatherings provide knowledge and experience sharing platforms; helps develop common understanding on these issues and develop strategic direction and action plans at all levels. I hope the open discussions and hard works in the coming three days will come up with workable solutions along with a strategic direction, clear course of actions and implementable action plans at least for this region."