ABSTRACT
In Nepal, nearly one in every three children between the ages 5 to 14 are a child labours. The growth of labour intensive industries and rapid urbanization have created additional demand for child labour in Nepal and many children now work in these industries in the manufacture of carpets, garments and wood products. Hiraoka and Rana highlighted the lack of uniformity in estimating child labour in Nepal. The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that 36 per cent of the children in Nepal remain out of school and the number of such children is higher among girls. In 1997, Nepal signed the Amsterdam Declaration on Child Labor and the Oslo Declaration on Child Labor and it has ratified the ILO convention 138, on the minimum age of employment. The Nepal Rugmark Foundation, was launched to identify the number of children under 14 years working in the carpet factories that have signed up for bonding labour.
