SOUTH ASIA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

2257Bonded labor, the result of a private contractual relationship whereby a workerincurs or inherits debts to a contractor and then must work off the debt plus interest,is illegal but widespread. The Government estimates that between enactmentof the Bonded Labor (Abolition) Act in 1976 and March 1999, 280,340 bonded workerswere released from their obligations. Other sources maintain that those releasedconstituted only one-twentieth of the total number of bonded laborers. State governmentsprovide a sum of money to workers freed from bondage for their rehabilitation.In response to the 1997 Supreme Court decision requesting the NHRC to overseeimplementation of the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act, the NHRC formeda high-level ‘‘Central Action Group,’’ which reviews compliance routinely. The NHRCalso appointed a special rapporteur to work in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala,and Tamil Nadu and report on compliance. In addition the NHRC briefed state governmentson their responsibilities and instituted a system for receiving regular reportsfrom the states. The NHRC also assessed the bonded labor problem, identifyingdistricts in which it especially is acute. It identified and evaluated NGO’sworking in these areas, and conducted training in bonded labor law enforcement fordistrict officials in the acutely affected areas. In November 1996, the Supreme Courtdirected each state to undertake a survey of bonded laborers. The surveys were carriedout and identified 28,916 bonded laborers throughout the country. In Feburary1997, the Supreme Court required state governments to file detailed affidavits onthe status of bonded laborers. Some press reports indicate that Tamil Nadu alonehas an estimated 25,800 bonded laborers, in response to which the state governmentbegan implementing and continues to work on rehabilitation plans. In 1999 alone,it allocated $1.25 million (54.4 million rupees) for these plans. According to UnionMinistry of Labor Statistics, from 1976 to March 31, the Tamil Nadu governmentidentified and released 63,894 bonded laborers. Government officials worked to releaseother bonded laborers in many of the country’s states. In West Bengal, organizedtraffic in illegal Bangladeshi immigrants is a source of bonded labor (see Section6.f.).The working conditions of domestic servants and children in the workplace oftenamount to bonded labor. Children sent from their homes to work because their parentscannot afford to feed them, or in order to pay off a debt incurred by a parentor relative, have no choice in the matter. There are no universally accepted figuresfor the number of bonded child laborers. However, in the carpet industry alone,human rights organizations estimate that there may be as many as 300,000 childrenworking, many of them under conditions that amount to bonded labor. Officialsclaim that they are unable to stop this practice because the children are workingwith their parents’ consent. In addition there is a reasonable basis to believe thatproducts were produced using forced or indentured child labor in the following industries:Brassware; hand-knotted wool carpets; explosive fireworks; footwear; handblownglass bangles; hand-made locks; hand-dipped matches; hand-broken quarriedstones; hand-spun silk thread and hand-loomed silk cloth; hand-made bricks; andbeedis (hand-rolled cigarettes). A number of these industries expose children to particularlyhazardous work conditions (see Section 6.d.). In its first attempt to addressthe issue of domestic child labor, during the year the Government issued a notificationprohibiting government employees from hiring children as domestic help. Thoseemployers who failed to abide by the law would be subject to penalities providedby the Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act (such as fines and imprisonment), butalso to disciplinary action at the place of work.In 1998 an HRW team headed by the Karnataka state labor commissioner conductedsurprise inspections on silk twining factories in and around the town ofMagadi. The team found 53 child workers under the age of 14 years working in theplants, forbidden to talk to each other, and beaten for slow work. The labor commissionerestimated that there were 3,000 bonded child laborers in the Magadi silktwining factories. In response UNICEF has started a non-formal education programfor the estimated 3,000 bonded child laborers working in the industry. By year’send, about 260 children had been enrolled. In addition UNICEF began a micro-creditprogram for the parents of these children to create income-generating opportunitiesas an alternative to child labor.Female bondage, forced prostitution, and trafficking in women and children forthe purpose of forced prostitution are widespread problems (see Section 6.f.). Accordingto press reports, prison officials have used prisoners as domestic servants andsold female prisoners to brothels (see Section 1.c.). Devadasis, prepubescent girlsgiven to a Hindu deity or temple as ‘‘servants of God,’’ are taken from their familiesand required to provide sexual services to priests and high caste Hindus. Reportedly,many eventually are sold to urban brothels (see Sections 5 and 6.f.).In Punjab persons routinely are sold in an organized trade in weekend bazaarsfor the purposes of forced domestic labor and forced sexual service. 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