Victory! “Kamlari” Child Slavery System Ends

This year we achieved a victory for the girls of Nepal and for girls everywhere — a victory that all of you who support the Nepal Youth Foundation have helped to win.

On June 27, the government of Nepal declared the abolition of the Kamlari system, an amazing development in our 13-year campaign to end child slavery. This means the government is finally committed to enforcing existing laws that have long been ignored, a move prompted by the growing power of the freed Kamlari girls and a shift in the attitudes of people throughout Nepal.

Thanks to your support, NYF has freed and educated more than 12,000 formerly bonded girls, offering a roadmap for everyone fighting to end modern-day slavery and oppression.

Yet our work is not over. We must rescue the approximately 300 girls still held in Kamlari servitude. And we must empower the newly freed girls through vocational training, leadership development and economic opportunities. Our strategies include:

Education and Vocational Training – This is the key to helping freed girls build a new life. We provide training for hundreds of former Kamlari girls who are taking courses in engineering, computer technology, health care, dress making, cosmetology, cooking, poultry farming and more.

Cooperatives – NYF is helping the freed girls establish income-generating business cooperatives, launching 32 co-ops with over 1,800 members to date. The co-ops offer low interest loans to help members start their own businesses.

Action and Advocacy – With training and support from NYF, the girls have established their own advocacy action group — the Freed Kamlari Development Forum (FKDF). More than 1,300 girls are now affiliated with FKDF and participate in leadership training, peer counseling, and community organizing to raise public awareness about children’s and women’s rights.

As the Kamlari system comes to an end, we thank our community partners in Nepal, our global nonprofit partners, our allies in the government, and especially you — the friends who have supported NYF through the years. With your continued support for the next phase of our work, we will help to build a world that ensures freedom and wellbeing for all of Nepal’s children.

Learn more:

Read about our Empowering Freed Kamlari Program.

Watch the CNN Freedom Project video about NYF’s work to free girls from slavery.