Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08KATHMANDU1223
2008-11-20 09:47:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEPAL: NOMINATION FOR IQBQAL MASIH AWARD

Tags:  ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI KTIP NP 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5577
PP RUEHCI RUEHMT
DE RUEHKT #1223 3250947
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 200947Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9470
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 6724
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 7016
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 2329
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 5062
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 6251
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 2729
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA PRIORITY 4373
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL PRIORITY 0007
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
UNCLAS KATHMANDU 001223 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI KTIP NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: NOMINATION FOR IQBQAL MASIH AWARD

REF: SECSTATE 99123

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 001223

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI KTIP NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: NOMINATION FOR IQBQAL MASIH AWARD

REF: SECSTATE 99123


1. Post is pleased to nominate the organization "CWISH" for
the United States Department of Labor's Iqbqal Masih Award
for Elimination of Child Labor.

Full Name of the organization: CWISH - Children and Women in
Social Service and Human Rights
Address: P.O. Box 21433, Chabhil, Kathmandu, Nepal
E-mail: cwish@wlink.com.np

Executive Summary
--------------


2. CWISH is a non-government organization in Nepal working to
combat child servitude. Over the past fifteen years the
organization has been waging an on-going and sometimes
unpopular battle to stop the exploitation of children as
domestic servants by the urban middle class. The
organization works with a large number of mostly migrant
children who are brought to Kathmandu to serve as domestic
servants. Employers often entice parents in remote and poor
communities by promising to educate their children in
exchange for work. Too often this promise is never
fulfilled.


3. By going door to door, building awareness and keeping the
pressure on employers through constant visits, CWISH has been
able to reach thousands of hidden children. To date the
organization has offered protection and the chance for an
education to over ten thousand children, and over the last
decade their work has resulted in fewer and fewer young
children being brought to Kathmandu for domestic work. For
the children already in the work force, CWISH has worked
diligently to ensure that employers send these children to
school or to alternative education programs. Through the
organization's scholarships, vocational programs and
non-formal education these children are given a chance for a
brighter future. Once a working child is placed in a school
CWISH ensures that the child's employer takes over the cost
of their education. The organization is also working with
inner city public schools to improve the quality of education
provided, up-grade the physical conditions, support teaching
activities and mobilize school management committees and
parent teacher associations.


4. CWISH staff and volunteers work under difficult conditions
often abused by irate employers who resent the interference
with their "domestic arrangements." The only thanks or
recognition they usually get is from the gratefull children
to whom they offer respite and a new chance for a future.
The organization has worked tirelessly to get policy makers
to take notice of these children and their plight. In April,
the organization's chairperson, Shanti Adhikary, was elected
to the new Constituent Assembly where she continues to
advocate for the rights of these most hidden and exploited
child laborers.
POWELL