Kamaiya is the oldest living traditional system of bonded labor in southern Nepal. The people who work as laborers under this system are also called Kamaiyas. This system was similar to most of the bondsman systems in the 17
th century, where people without land or work could take land in loan (saunki) from landowners, giving them a source of income to sustain minimum livelihood in exchange to working and living in the landowner’s land as slaves until the time the loan was cleared, which took generations. The exorbitant debts charged made them bonded to their lenders and were forced to sell labor to repay the loan taken.
Following the plague that affected the southern Terai region of Nepal in 1950, the area saw a great number of migrants from hilly regions. Naturally resistant to Malaria, the Tharus lived undisturbed for generations in the swampy marshlands of Western Nepal. The hill tribes moved to the fertile marshlands and displaced the Tharus, taking their land. This marginalized the Tharu tribe which traditionally owned the land, since they had no records of their land ownership. The settlers registered lands in their names and got the Th
arus to work as farming laborers. The practice of getting the people from the tribe to help in the family business was gradually transformed into a forced labor system. This system was most prevalent in the central and western region of Terai, where there are more indigenous tribes living in the areas. This system most affected people from ethnic groups Tharu and Dalit.
Tharu settlement in rural western Terai
In the 1990s, prior to the enactment of the 2002 Act, the Ministry of Land Reform and Management conducted surveys in western Nepal, confirming that 18,400 families, of whom 13,461 were identified as landless, were in bondage under the Kamaiya system.
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THE LAW:
The Kamaiya system of bonded labor was abolished by the Nepal government in 2000 A.D, following years of protests from the community. The government announced official ban on the system, and ordered all Kamaiyas to be freed and their debt be cancelled.
In 2002, the Kamaiya Labor (Prohibition) Act (henceforth referred to as the 2002 Act) was adopted, which prohibited bonded labor among kamaiyas, declared all loans taken as null and void, and declared all persons working as kamaiya labourers free. The Act established freed Kamaiya Rehabilitation and Monitoring Committees. It also established fines for anyone in violation of the law, ranging from between NPR15, 000 (US$198) to NPR25, 000 (US$330), alongside fines for any failure to return mortgaged property. The 2002 Act also provided that, upon completion of housing construction, the government would hand over an additional grant of NPR 2,000 (approximately US$27) for income generating activities, which included chicken, goat or pig farming.
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Though intended primarily for the kamaiya bonded laborers, by prohibiting labor or services provided by a person to his creditor without any wages or at low wages to repay loans, the 2002 Act has the potential to include in its scope other forms of bonded labor.
