VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKT #0817/01 0861135
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271135Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0882
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 4095
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 4363
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 9446
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 2346
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3753
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 9426

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000817 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/INS 
DEPT PASS TO DOL (VROZENBERGS) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON KOCI SMIG KWMN NP
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON DEPT OF LABOR-FUNDED PROJECTS IN NEPAL 
 
REF: A. KATHMANDU 629 
 
     ¶B. KATHMANDU 317 
     ¶C. 05 KATHMANDU 1798 
     ¶D. 04 KATHMANDU 1661 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) During a February 27 - March 7 visit to Nepal, 
Department of Labor (DOL) International Relations Officer 
Vivita Rozenbergs found a mixed picture with respect to 
projects geared towards addressing child labor in Nepal.  The 
regional anti-trafficking and child Timebound program 
executed by the International Labor Organization's 
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor 
(ILO-IPEC), scheduled to end in August 2006, had achieved 
less than hoped.  ILO-IPEC will begin a new labor project in 
August 2006 to focus on the eradication of bonded child labor 
and rehabilitation of bonded child laborers.  The private 
voluntary organization (PVO) World Education's Phase II of 
the Brighter Futures Program to combat child labor is ongoing 
and doing well.  The Community-Based Innovations to Reduce 
Child Labor through Education (CIRCLE) project has ongoing 
education awareness projects with eight local NGOs focusing 
on keeping children in schools rather than working.  New 
labor and employment policies being drafted by His Majesty's 
Government of Nepal (HMGN) are targeted at reducing child 
labor and poverty.  The Nepal Trade Union Congress explained 
that its non-formal education project also worked to unionize 
child laborers' parents, but questioned the impact of U.S. 
government funding to combat child labor.  End Summary. 
 
BACKGROUND ON CHILD LABOR AND TRAFFICKING IN NEPAL 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶2. (U) In 2002, the ILO estimated that approximately 41 
percent of Nepali children between the ages of 10 to 14 years 
were working.  The majority of working children participate 
in the agricultural sector, while others work in the 
transportation, communication, or service sectors.  Children 
work as porters, domestic servants, rag-pickers (informal 
recyclers), stone breakers in quarries, brick-makers, and 
carpet weavers (ref D).  Most working children do not receive 
wages and often work under exploitative and hazardous 
conditions.  While Nepal has labor laws against child labor 
in the formal sector, most children work in the informal 
sector and are not subject to legal protection.  The ILO 
estimates that approximately 12,000 girls and women are 
trafficked each year from Nepal mainly for commercial sexual 
exploitation, while others are trafficked into domestic 
servitude and forced labor situations (ref A).  Boys are most 
often trafficked into exploitative labor situations such as 
embroidery factories, circuses and domestic servitude. 
According to the local child rights non-government 
organization (NGO) Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Center 
(CWIN), there are 19 international non-government 
organizations (INGOs) and 157 NGOs in Nepal involved in 
combating child labor and trafficking in persons. 
 
ILO TIMEBOUND PROJECT ENDING, BONDED LABOR PROJECT TO BEGIN 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) DOL International Relations Officer Vivita 
Rozenbergs visited Nepal February 27 - March 7 to ascertain 
the status of current and future DOL-funded projects that 
focus on child labor.  Rozenbergs noted that Phase I of the 
anti-trafficking and child labor regional program run by the 
ILO-IPEC, called Timebound, would end in August 2006.  In a 
meeting with Under Secretary Sanjay Khanal of the Ministry of 
Labor, Khanal requested that DOL fund Phase II of the 
Timebound program, which would continue to target the 
elimination of seven of the worst forms of child labor and 
address issues of child soldiers (ref C).  Rozenbergs agreed 
to convey Khanal's funding request to Washington.  However, 
Rozenbergs explained that it was unlikely DOL or any other 
donor would fund ILO-IPEC for Phase II of Timebound, as the 
Acting Director of the ILO, Pracha Vasuprasat, reported that 
HMGN had achieved very little during Phase I of Timebound 
program.  Vasuprasat added that HMGN would need to show 
significant results for there to be any hope for ILO to 
attract funds to run Phase II of Timebound.  Rozenbergs 
explained that in August 2006, ILO-IPEC would begin a project 
titled "Sustainable Elimination of Child Bonded Labor in 
Nepal."  The project aims to contribute to the eradication of 
bonded child labor and rehabilitation of bonded child 
laborers in eight western districts of Nepal. 
 
WORLD EDUCATION STARTED SECOND PHASE OF PROJECT TO ELIMINATE 
CHILD LABOR 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Rozenbergs explained that although Phase I of the 
Brighter Futures Program (BFP): Combating Child Labor Through 
Education, executed by World Education, will finish in March 
2006, DOL was providing World Education with USD 3.5 million 
over three years in a sole source agreement for Phase II of 
the BFP, that overlapped with Phase I and began in October 
¶2005.  The goal of Phase I of BFP was to reduce the number of 
children involved in six of the 16 worst forms of child labor 
in a total of 22 out of Nepal's 75 districts.  Phase II of 
the BFP focuses on reducing child laborers involved in nine 
of the 16 worst forms of child labor (the same six from Phase 
I plus three additional) in a total of 27 districts.  Noting 
he had been on project site visits with World Education 
officials, Khanal opined that World Education was doing 
important child labor work that needed to be done. 
 
COMMUNITY-BASED INNOVATIONS TO REDUCE CHILD LABOR PROGRAM 
CONTINUES 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) Rozenbergs also visited the DOL-funded CIRCLE 
project that worked to build capacity of eight local NGOs to 
do educational awareness programs, run by non-profit 
international development organization Winrock International. 
 Most of the ongoing projects of the eight NGOs involved in 
CIRCLE are scheduled to finish at various times in 2006.  The 
deadline for new CIRCLE project proposals that would last 
through 2008 is March 24.  As a CIRCLE partner, local NGO 
Aasaman has been successful in increasing school enrollments 
in eastern Nepal by conducting awareness programs about the 
importance of education and registering for children's birth 
certificates.  (Note: Many children are not allowed admission 
to school due to lack of a birth certificate which is 
difficult to obtain when a child is older, but free if 
registered within 35 days of birth.  End Note.)  CWIN has 
conducted community-based awareness programs such as street 
dramas in ten districts in eastern and western Nepal about 
the dangers of child labor. 
 
HMGN OFFICIALS SET FORTH PRIORITIES 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) In two meetings with Rozenbergs, HMGN officials 
reiterated HMGN's commitment to combating child labor and 
trafficking in persons.  The officials explained that the 
Ministry of Labor and Transport Management had revised its 
national Master Plan on Child Labor in 2004 that calls for 
eliminating the 16 worst forms of child labor by 2009 and all 
forms of child labor by 2014.  Nepal had also finalized its 
National Action Plan of Against Trafficking in Children and 
Women for Sexual and Labor Exploitation in 2003.  The 
Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) is 
responsible for coordinating HMGN anti-trafficking efforts in 
the eight action areas outlined in the plan.  Sanjay Khanal 
explained that HMGN was drafting new labor and employment 
policies to address child labor and poverty alleviation.  He 
lamented that there was still no national monitoring system 
for child labor statistics other than collecting information 
manually from NGOs and HMGN's Social Welfare Council.  Hari 
Prasad Mainali, Under Secretary at the Ministry of Women, 
Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW), explained that MWCSW 
priorities included trafficking of children, domestic child 
labor, and child rag-pickers. 
 
TRADE UNION INVOLVED IN INFORMAL EDUCATION TO UNIONIZE PARENTS 
--------------------------------------------- ----------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) In a meeting with Laxman Basnet, President of the 
Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), Basnet explained that 
NTUC's involvement in the non-formal education sector was one 
avenue used to unionize working children's parents.  Basnet 
stated that, through the Timebound program, NTUC had provided 
two hours a day of informal education to 500 child 
bricklayers.  He said that NTUC used the interaction with the 
children's parents, who were also bricklayers, to try and 
unionize them.  The NTUC President asserted that, under 
existing Nepali law, no workers, to include adults, benefited 
from real protections so that it was not possible for NTUC to 
prevent children from working.  He opined that if an employee 
complained about child laborers in the workplace that the 
boss would likely fire the complainee.  HMGN labor law sets 
the minimum age for employment at 14, and permits children 
aged 14-16 to work only six hours a day in non-hazardous 
jobs.  End Note.)  Basnet commented that he thought awareness 
projects were most effective in combating child labor.  He 
cautioned that U.S. government funding for ILO was not having 
a proportionate impact for the amount of money provided. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) It was evident from Rozenbergs' meetings with the 
ILO that the Timebound Program has struggled at times over 
the last four years.  World Education and Winrock have done 
well with the BFP and CIRCLE programs respectively.  The 
elimination of the worst forms of child labor in Nepal, 
however, remains a formidable challenge. 
 
¶9. (U) Vivita Rozenbergs did not clear this cable. 
MORIARTY