For Nepalese Girls, Slavery is Decided at Birth

by Amanda KloerSeptember 08, 2010 Topics: Child Trafficking, Prostitution, Sex Trafficking, Slave Labor

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In many parts of the world, people are trapped in modern-day slavery due to circumstance and need. But in some parts of Nepal, children are born into a life of slavery. That's because caste-based slavery is still thriving in Nepal, even in the 21st century.

Researcher Siddarth Kara recently interviewed girls from two castes in Nepal, the Badi and the Kamaliri. Both groups are lower castes, meaning that in a socially-stratified society like Nepal they often don't have the same opportunities as people from upper castes. Couple that with the poverty in many rural areas of the country, and you've got a situation perfect for ancient customs to be exploited by modern criminals.

Centuries ago, the Badis were entertainers to upper-caste Nepalese and Indians. But years of poverty and displacement left the community destitute, forcing many women and girls to turn to prostitution. Now, commercial sex is the common industry for Badi girls. When a girl hits puberty (or sometimes before), she is forced into the commercial sex industry. For awhile the prostitution was confined to her village, but increasingly Badis have moved to towns farther away, and even to India. Traffickers will take advantage of this tradition and the lack of options many Badi girls face, luring them to Saudi Arabia or India with the promise of better opportunities. But whether abroad or at home, their caste has marked them for the commercial sex industry.

The Kamaliri also have a traditional industry, domestic service, but hardly any of them are self-employed. Girls are usually sold to brokers around the age of nine or ten and sent to work in nearby cities. There, they clean private homes, hotels, and restaurants. They usually work sixteen and seventeen hour days, making as little as $20 a year, sometimes just sent directly back to their families. But many of the Kamaliri domestics' employers don't see the situation as exploitation, pointing out the girls' lives are better in domestic service in the city than if they were starving in their village or forced into prostitution. Still, the Kamaliri have the same extremely limited choice that the Badi do.

There is a fine line between that which is culturally relative and that which is universally exploitative. A social system in which girls from a certain caste are singly pushed into one industry or another, regardless of their talents or preferences, isn't human trafficking per se. But it certainly allows trafficking to flourish and prevents girls from making empowered choices about their lives. And as we tackle issues like poverty and lack of education which allow human trafficking to take hold in some communities, it's important to remember that some still see modern-day slaves as born into that life.

Photo credit: Pixel Pocket  (change.org)