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“Freedom is not
a universal and natural opposition to slavery that can be created by a
declaration or speech” Tim Whyte, Kailali, 2001.
It has been more than two years since the system of bonded labor was
declared illegal and to be abolished by the government in Nepal. In the
aftermath of the celebration of liberation the former bonded laborers, also
known as kamayias, found themselves in an awkward situation.
The landlords, who they used to work for, kicked them out instead
of starting to pay salary. Suddenly they were free, but without food or
shelter in the middle of the monsoon rains. The ex-kamaiyas started to
gather in camps in the districts of Kailali, Bardia, Dang, Banke and
Kanchanpur. NGOs and INGOs tried to advocate on behalf on more than 50.000
ex-kamaiyas left with no means to support themselves and silenced by local
authorities, in order to keep up the struggle for getting the government to
provide land to the ex- kamayias.
Two years after the freedom declaration the people in the camps still have a
long way to go before the camps are no longer necessary and the people
living there are all provided with land enabling them to make a living. Many
have already died in the camps. In the camps of Bardia districts twenty ex-kamaiyas
have died during the last two years.
The ex-kamaiyas took the street in Dhangadhi to mark the date for the
declaration of freedom from bonded labor the 17th of july, 2000
and to give the message to the people outside the camps that they will keep
up the struggle not allowing the responsible authorities to act as if the
camps are invisible and the people living there are non-existing.
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