The children who have been trafficked should be brought back to Nepal in order to join their families from abroad where they are working as ‘domestic’ slaves

Shocking news have surfaced about Nepali children being sold to rich British families. This news appeared in British newspapers. As per their reports, children as young as 10 years old are being trafficked to Britain from Nepal by criminal gangs working in Jalandhar, Punjab. Most of the young  victims who are trafficked are those who have been displaced by the devastating earthquakes of last year. Children from destitute families of India are also being sold. The gangs are selling the children for as much as Rs 800,000. The British tabloid Sun says that its home secretary has referred to this as a “truly abhorrent crime”. She has asked the tabloids to provide them with more information so that this racket could be brought to a halt.

The traffickers are targeting Nepali children and even women under one guise or the other. They are lured by being told that they would go shopping or visiting towns. They are then trafficked to different parts of India and also other countries, including Britain. The kids are lined up as if they were slaves and the buyers are able to pick children from them. This is a blatant violation of human rights and should not be condoned under any circumstances. It calls for stern action against the criminals who are minting money from this illegal, clandestine trade. These disturbing findings should be taken up seriously by the authorities and other concerned organizations and security personnel. The human trafficking is mostly carried out at the border check points. Every one crossing the border should be asked to say whether they know where they are going to bring to halt this cruel racket. All suspicious movements at the border points should be strictly monitored. It appears that those responsible for checking the rampant smuggling of children and women from Nepal are not doing their job well. Because of this laxity countless numbers of children and women suffer in alien lands where they are abused.

After these revelations were made public the government, which must be aware of what is going on, is saying that it would be taking the necessary action. It plans to thoroughly probe the claims made by the British tabloid and nab those involved in this inhuman activity. Trafficking of children from Nepal to India is nothing new, and the kids who are refugees and victims of the earthquakes should be allowed to remain with their family while it has come to light that they are being ruthlessly trafficked to countries like Britain which comes as a surprise to many. Also to be blamed are the Britons who ‘buy’ the young kids. They also need to be punished in the strongest possible manner as per the law. Meanwhile, the children who have been trafficked should be brought back to Nepal in order to join their families from abroad where they are working as ‘domestic’ slaves. Finally, the undercover team of the British tabloid deserves accolades which found that Nepali children were being sold like cattle.   Children should under no circumstances be taken away from their home to work elsewhere like slaves, as is happening now.

Abide by the rules

The privately-run institutional schools have not abided by the Institutional School Fee Fixation Standard Directives introduced by the government in March. The directives were issued after comprehensive consultations with the management of institutional schools, umbrella bodies of the private schools and stakeholders. A joint meeting of Guardian Association of Nepal and Nepal National Guardian Association demanded that the Ministry of Education implement the directives that it issued.

The government had to introduce the directives after various students unions and parents stood united against the institutional schools for charging exorbitant fees from children in the name of quality education. Not only the private schools charge more fees from the students but also make the parents pay more under other heads not allowed by the directives. What is the most disturbing fact is that the parents are compelled to pay admission fee every year after the students are promoted from lower to higher classes. This is cheating. The institutional schools cannot be made accountable to the public unless the concerned ministry strictly implements the directives aimed at bringing them under the ministry’s scrutiny.