INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Employers withhold salary of women workers as a strategy to continue their exploitation
Kathmandu, August 25
Nearly 41 per cent of females
working in entertainment and hospitality sector have been subjected to forced labour.
A report on ‘Status of Women and Children Working in
Entertainment and Hospitality Sector& released recently by the National Human Rights Commission stated that concerned entrepreneurs were
imposing forced labour either deliberately or inadvertently
Twenty per cent females have been victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking in this sector.
&When women and girls are forced or
coerced into sexual exploitation, concerned agencies responsible for crime investigation and prosecution pay no heed to the plights of the
Instead the victims of sexual exploitation
are framed as culprits to grant impunity to the entrepreneurs,& it says.
Though Nepal lacks
specific law related to entertainment and hospitality sector, perpetrators can be booked under existing Civil and Criminal Code Act,
Children Act and Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act.
The report said that there was no adequate coordination and
collaboration among labour office, district administration office, police and office of district attorney to put an end to child labour,
human trafficking and sexual exploitation of workers by promoting decent labour in this sector.
Entertainment and hospitality sector
includes dohorisanjh, rodhighar, dance bar, discotheque, massage parlour and cabin restaurant where people go for relaxation, food and
There are around 3,500 such facilities throughout the country and only half of them have been registered.
Nearly 60,000 people, mostly
females, have been working in this sector concentrated urban areas like Kathmandu valley, Pokhara, Narayanghat, Itahari and
Dharan.
According to the NHRC, as many as 56 female workers (37 below 18 years) had participated in the study.
Sixty-eight per cent of them
were from outside Kathmandu valley and ranged from literate to college students
Four female workers said their employers forced them into providing sex service to clients, while three were pressurised to act as sex
worker.
Their salary was often withheld by the employers to ensure that the workers didn&t quit work or reported to police about their work
condition.
The report has suggested concerned authorities to work hard for ending anomalies in the industry therebydelivering justice to the
victims by enacting a separate law.
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