Nepal
brick kilns in the Kathmandu Valley pollute the environment,
exploit the poorest of the poor, young children and animals
by Pramada Shah - The Kathmandu Post - Brick kilns dot the Kathmandu Valley like solitary oaks, often on fire, belching black smoke as they have done for decades. But on closer inspection one can see an unsettling scene as serious as the environmental catastrophe these factories pose. A picture of startling torture and abuse emerges.
We knew already that traditional kilns are the number one polluters of the Kathmandu Valley with regards to sulphur dioxide emissions. They are also the second highest polluter when it comes to heavy metals and carbon emissions (second only to vehicle exhaust). We also learned that brick factories abuse available resources by removing fertile soil and extracting precious ground and surface water. But there is more to brick kilns than this.
Bricks factories generally operate away from the public eye. No labour inspector ever visits the kilns to monitor the thousands of migrant labourers, and no government department monitors the over one thousand horses, mules and donkeys that work here. Brick kilns form isolated villages where human and animal labourers toil to produce the bricks needed to build our comfortable, earthquake-proof houses.
The work in brick kilns is seasonal and attracts the poorest of the poor. Although the moulding of bricks only starts in November, the contracting of labourers, both human and animals, starts as early as August. Naikis, or middle men, sign deals with kiln owners on the number of labourers to be provided. They use loans to lure the most desperate to Kathmandu: flood victims from Sarlahi, Tharus from Dang, Dalits from Kavre and Makwanpur, landless from Rukum and Rolpa. Those who cannot afford to go to India or abroad end up working in Kathmandu’s brick factories. Once they have taken a loan from a naiki they are—in a way—bonded; their salaries, minus the loans, will only be paid when the season ends.
A study by Chhimeki, an NGO working in urban health and nutrition, revealed that almost all workers taking up a seasonal job in a kiln live below the poverty line and suffer from a food deficit. Apart from the fire masters, who are young men from Bihar, India, the Nepali workers come with their families. Women and children support the men in moulding and drying the bricks.
Concern for Children and Environment Nepal estimates that some 60,000 children work in brick kilns across the country. The kids work 8-12 hours per day days as they are paid on a piece-rate basis. Due to the long hours and the heavily polluted environment the children are vulnerable to disease. 85 percent of children face at least one illness per season.
Some 85 percent of children staying with their parents in brick factories drop out of school. Their living and working conditions easily qualify for a worst form of child labour. Almost all brick kiln child workers live inside the factory premises. Their make-shift shelter is made of unfired bricks and corrugated sheets. Since virtually none of the kilns use a filtration system, the children suffer from respiratory problems caused by dust particles and black smoke produced by the kilns. Few working children have access to clean drinking water. The available water is supposed to be used solely for brick molding and production. Sanitation facilities are almost absent, further encouraging disease.
We knew already that traditional kilns are the number one polluters of the Kathmandu Valley with regards to sulphur dioxide emissions. They are also the second highest polluter when it comes to heavy metals and carbon emissions (second only to vehicle exhaust). We also learned that brick factories abuse available resources by removing fertile soil and extracting precious ground and surface water. But there is more to brick kilns than this.
Bricks factories generally operate away from the public eye. No labour inspector ever visits the kilns to monitor the thousands of migrant labourers, and no government department monitors the over one thousand horses, mules and donkeys that work here. Brick kilns form isolated villages where human and animal labourers toil to produce the bricks needed to build our comfortable, earthquake-proof houses.
The work in brick kilns is seasonal and attracts the poorest of the poor. Although the moulding of bricks only starts in November, the contracting of labourers, both human and animals, starts as early as August. Naikis, or middle men, sign deals with kiln owners on the number of labourers to be provided. They use loans to lure the most desperate to Kathmandu: flood victims from Sarlahi, Tharus from Dang, Dalits from Kavre and Makwanpur, landless from Rukum and Rolpa. Those who cannot afford to go to India or abroad end up working in Kathmandu’s brick factories. Once they have taken a loan from a naiki they are—in a way—bonded; their salaries, minus the loans, will only be paid when the season ends.
A study by Chhimeki, an NGO working in urban health and nutrition, revealed that almost all workers taking up a seasonal job in a kiln live below the poverty line and suffer from a food deficit. Apart from the fire masters, who are young men from Bihar, India, the Nepali workers come with their families. Women and children support the men in moulding and drying the bricks.
Concern for Children and Environment Nepal estimates that some 60,000 children work in brick kilns across the country. The kids work 8-12 hours per day days as they are paid on a piece-rate basis. Due to the long hours and the heavily polluted environment the children are vulnerable to disease. 85 percent of children face at least one illness per season.
Some 85 percent of children staying with their parents in brick factories drop out of school. Their living and working conditions easily qualify for a worst form of child labour. Almost all brick kiln child workers live inside the factory premises. Their make-shift shelter is made of unfired bricks and corrugated sheets. Since virtually none of the kilns use a filtration system, the children suffer from respiratory problems caused by dust particles and black smoke produced by the kilns. Few working children have access to clean drinking water. The available water is supposed to be used solely for brick molding and production. Sanitation facilities are almost absent, further encouraging disease.
The conditions of the working donkeys of the Kathmandu Valley are as dark as those of the children who work there. Horses, mules and donkeys, brought in all the way from Nepalgunj, increasingly become the backbone of brick production, hauling bricks to and from the kiln. There are no laws that govern their treatment, and no government department represents their needs.
The equines fail to receive basic care such as nutritious food, water, rest, shelter, and are continuously overloaded and overworked. Injuries go untreated; severely ill donkeys are left to die. The animals are beaten relentlessly by their handlers, mostly children, some as young as six years old.
Animal Nepal introduced a Working Donkey Outreach Programme in Lalitpur district in 2008. We conduct medical camps, provide first aid boxes and improved harnesses, and educate factory and equine owners. We run a sanctuary for handicapped and sick equines. By now, the conditions of the 500 or so working equines in Lalitpur have improved but we continue to come across desperate cases such as Shakti and Mukti. In the past two years we witnessed the death of countless donkeys for whom help came too late; factory and equine owners tend to regard these deaths as a calculated loss.
Something must and can be done to end the vicious circle of abuse. Every individual can make a significant difference by using his or her consumer power. In order to help make buyers make the rights choices, a network of NGOs active in environmental protection, children’s rights and animal welfare have joined hands to promote a responsible brick-making industry. They are introducing a certification system that will provide brick factories with a red, orange or green label. Brick kilns with no regard for labour laws, environment or animal welfare get a red label; the ones with improved conditions are allocated an orange one while those with good conditions receive a green label.
Although the preparations for the certification are still on the way, we already urge every citizen to buy ‘clean and green bricks’ from today. Among the responsible factories are the Vertical Shaft Brick Kilns (VSBK). These factories take care of the environment as well as the people. Workers here work all year round and the factories have child-care centres, proper housing, clean drinking water, toilets and access to health care and education. VSBK kilns do not employ animals.
Consumer power increasingly decides what is being produced and in what manner. Next time you order a stack of bricks make sure they have not been produced with the sweat and blood of children and donkeys. For the sake of Shakti and Mukti and thousands of working children please opt for clean and green bricks.
Read more...
Some 1500 equines are employed in brick kilns in the Kathmandu Valley
LALITPUR, March 5, 2013 - My Republica.com - Faced with a workforce deficit due to the growing number of youths leaving the country for greener pastures, brick kilns in Kathmandu Valley have started using donkeys to carry the raw mud bricks.
Asaraf Kajagar, who is from Nepalganj and has brought 20 donkeys to a brick kiln in Tikathali VDC, Lalitpur, said that these beasts of burden fill the demand for kiln workers as the youths in his village prefer going abroad to working in kilns.
“Earlier, kiln workers used to be mostly youths. Now, as they are going abroad for better opportunities, donkeys are employed in their place,” said Kajagar. Kiln owners say it is easier to run the kiln with the use of donkey to carry the mud bricks.
“The work is going smoothly as the donkeys do not strike demanding pay rises and other benefits,” said Sanam Awale of the brick kiln in Tikathali wryly, adding that he had faced frequent strikes and pestering demands by kiln workers in the past.
Awale also informed that a donkey carries 3,000 to 5,000 bricks a day to the furnace. The wage for the donkey is Rs 225 for carrying 1,000 bricks, the same as for a laborer.
Nevertheless, Asaraf said that the cost of feeding the donkeys is relatively higher. The 20 donkeys at his kiln need around 7 kg of maize and 2 sacks of rice husk every day.
“Moreover, the animals need one day´s rest every week,” he said adding that their daily feeding expenses come to around Rs 2,000.
“Half of the earnings are to be spent on the fodder and the rest is profit,” Asaraf said. He had bought the donkeys in the Nepalganj area for Rs 10,000 to 20,000 each.
Similarly, Sonu Kajagar, a petty contractor who used to supply labors to the brick kiln, has brought 12 donkeys to the kiln in view of the diminishing number of kiln workers.
He said employing donkeys is easier than employing laborers. “However, we do not overwork the donkeys,” Asaraf added.
He further informed that he had leant from an animal rights organization in the Valley how to treat the animals and how long they should be put to work.
According to a recent survey conducted by Animal Nepal, an NGO working for animal rights and running a rehabilitation center, 1,500 animals like donkeys, horses and mules are working at 28 brick kilns in the Valley. The survey has found that most of draft animals working at the brick kilns are underfed, overworked and exposed to serious hazard in the course of the work.
Animal Nepal has been providing free treatment and sanctuary for ill and unable draft animals left to die after they become useless for their owners. Its animal sanctuary has been advocating a day´s leave every week for the draft animals. According to Kul Bahadur Maharjan, secretary of Lalitpur Brick Kilns Association, donkeys are used by around 30 percent of the 100 kilns in the Valley.
Meanwhile, the situation of kiln laborers is not very different from that of draft animals. The laborers, who come to Kathmandu from different parts of the country, lack work-place safety and face low pay and health hazards.
Raju BK, 21, a kiln laborer in Lalitpur from Oot-6 in Rolpa, is busy carrying the mud bricks. Raju, who is paid by the number of bricks he carries to the kiln, tries to carry a greater number at cost to his physical safety. He arrived at the kiln two months ago and said he would go to the Indian state of Himanchal Pradesh to work as an apple porter after completing his work at the kiln.
“We Rolpali youths share the same fate-- carry bricks in Kathmandu in winter and work as apple porters in India in the rainy season,” he said, describing how youths in his district are forced to leave their homes as the corps they produced in their land barely keep the wolf from the door.
Bijaya Gharti, 19, who is accompanying Raju to Kathmadu, said he had to leave school after grade 8 due to poverty and came here in search of work.
Similarly, Shanti BK, 17, who is from Thwang in Rolpa, left her studies in grade 9 and came to the capital in search of work to support her siblings.
Bindu BC, who came from Rolpa along with her husband and children, said their life is not different from that of the donkeys working at the kiln. “We cannot make ends meet without carrying loads of bricks,” she said. Most of the kiln workers are from Rukum, Surkhet, Dang, Slayan and Rolpa districts.
What is the condition of draft animals used by brick kilns in the Kathmandu Valley?
It´s pathetic. Brick kiln owners still use draft animals like donkeys, mules and horses and they are made to work in a deplorable condition.
Can you describe the condition a bit more?
In most brick kilns, draft animals are overworked. They are fed food pellets only in morning and evening. Almost immediately after eating in morning, animals are forced to carry loads. They do not get enough time to digest the food. They work until the evening. They are not given water in the day. Consequently, they end up suffering from dehydration. They are not protected from dust particles that enshroud brick kilns. As a result, they eventually suffer from sever pneumonia, lung infection and other health problems.
Has their condition been always like this?
No. their condition was even worse in the past. Earlier, brick kiln owners were not bothered at all about the condition of draft animals. They used to abandon sick and injured animals and left them to die a slow death. We set up this sanctuary in 2009 and have been rescuing and treating abandoned animals. Nowadays, some brick kiln owners even call us if any of their animals falls sick or gets injured. However, a lot needs to be done to improve the condition of draft animals.
Why are brick kiln owners not concerned about their animals?
Most of them do not realize that they stand to get more benefits if they took proper care of their animals. If they are properly fed, treated and given enough time to rest, brick kiln owners can use them for more years. Most brick kiln owners are unaware of this simple fact.
Can the government do anything about this?
Yes, of course. The government should introduce certain guidelines on such animals are used at brick kiln. Such guidelines should clearly outline the maximum hours and weight an animal carries.
What do you do with the rescued animals?
We keep the animals in our sanctuary, which is run by Animal Nepal. We provide medical treatment to the ill and injured animals. We also feed them properly. After the rescued animals get healthy, they are handed over to those who want to take them. However, before handing over the rescued animals, we ensure that they do not end up living in the same worse condition.
Asaraf Kajagar, who is from Nepalganj and has brought 20 donkeys to a brick kiln in Tikathali VDC, Lalitpur, said that these beasts of burden fill the demand for kiln workers as the youths in his village prefer going abroad to working in kilns.
“Earlier, kiln workers used to be mostly youths. Now, as they are going abroad for better opportunities, donkeys are employed in their place,” said Kajagar. Kiln owners say it is easier to run the kiln with the use of donkey to carry the mud bricks.
“The work is going smoothly as the donkeys do not strike demanding pay rises and other benefits,” said Sanam Awale of the brick kiln in Tikathali wryly, adding that he had faced frequent strikes and pestering demands by kiln workers in the past.
Awale also informed that a donkey carries 3,000 to 5,000 bricks a day to the furnace. The wage for the donkey is Rs 225 for carrying 1,000 bricks, the same as for a laborer.
Nevertheless, Asaraf said that the cost of feeding the donkeys is relatively higher. The 20 donkeys at his kiln need around 7 kg of maize and 2 sacks of rice husk every day.
“Moreover, the animals need one day´s rest every week,” he said adding that their daily feeding expenses come to around Rs 2,000.
“Half of the earnings are to be spent on the fodder and the rest is profit,” Asaraf said. He had bought the donkeys in the Nepalganj area for Rs 10,000 to 20,000 each.
Similarly, Sonu Kajagar, a petty contractor who used to supply labors to the brick kiln, has brought 12 donkeys to the kiln in view of the diminishing number of kiln workers.
He said employing donkeys is easier than employing laborers. “However, we do not overwork the donkeys,” Asaraf added.
He further informed that he had leant from an animal rights organization in the Valley how to treat the animals and how long they should be put to work.
According to a recent survey conducted by Animal Nepal, an NGO working for animal rights and running a rehabilitation center, 1,500 animals like donkeys, horses and mules are working at 28 brick kilns in the Valley. The survey has found that most of draft animals working at the brick kilns are underfed, overworked and exposed to serious hazard in the course of the work.
Animal Nepal has been providing free treatment and sanctuary for ill and unable draft animals left to die after they become useless for their owners. Its animal sanctuary has been advocating a day´s leave every week for the draft animals. According to Kul Bahadur Maharjan, secretary of Lalitpur Brick Kilns Association, donkeys are used by around 30 percent of the 100 kilns in the Valley.
Meanwhile, the situation of kiln laborers is not very different from that of draft animals. The laborers, who come to Kathmandu from different parts of the country, lack work-place safety and face low pay and health hazards.
Raju BK, 21, a kiln laborer in Lalitpur from Oot-6 in Rolpa, is busy carrying the mud bricks. Raju, who is paid by the number of bricks he carries to the kiln, tries to carry a greater number at cost to his physical safety. He arrived at the kiln two months ago and said he would go to the Indian state of Himanchal Pradesh to work as an apple porter after completing his work at the kiln.
“We Rolpali youths share the same fate-- carry bricks in Kathmandu in winter and work as apple porters in India in the rainy season,” he said, describing how youths in his district are forced to leave their homes as the corps they produced in their land barely keep the wolf from the door.
Bijaya Gharti, 19, who is accompanying Raju to Kathmadu, said he had to leave school after grade 8 due to poverty and came here in search of work.
Similarly, Shanti BK, 17, who is from Thwang in Rolpa, left her studies in grade 9 and came to the capital in search of work to support her siblings.
Bindu BC, who came from Rolpa along with her husband and children, said their life is not different from that of the donkeys working at the kiln. “We cannot make ends meet without carrying loads of bricks,” she said. Most of the kiln workers are from Rukum, Surkhet, Dang, Slayan and Rolpa districts.
What is the condition of draft animals used by brick kilns in the Kathmandu Valley?
It´s pathetic. Brick kiln owners still use draft animals like donkeys, mules and horses and they are made to work in a deplorable condition.
Can you describe the condition a bit more?
In most brick kilns, draft animals are overworked. They are fed food pellets only in morning and evening. Almost immediately after eating in morning, animals are forced to carry loads. They do not get enough time to digest the food. They work until the evening. They are not given water in the day. Consequently, they end up suffering from dehydration. They are not protected from dust particles that enshroud brick kilns. As a result, they eventually suffer from sever pneumonia, lung infection and other health problems.
Has their condition been always like this?
No. their condition was even worse in the past. Earlier, brick kiln owners were not bothered at all about the condition of draft animals. They used to abandon sick and injured animals and left them to die a slow death. We set up this sanctuary in 2009 and have been rescuing and treating abandoned animals. Nowadays, some brick kiln owners even call us if any of their animals falls sick or gets injured. However, a lot needs to be done to improve the condition of draft animals.
Why are brick kiln owners not concerned about their animals?
Most of them do not realize that they stand to get more benefits if they took proper care of their animals. If they are properly fed, treated and given enough time to rest, brick kiln owners can use them for more years. Most brick kiln owners are unaware of this simple fact.
Can the government do anything about this?
Yes, of course. The government should introduce certain guidelines on such animals are used at brick kiln. Such guidelines should clearly outline the maximum hours and weight an animal carries.
What do you do with the rescued animals?
We keep the animals in our sanctuary, which is run by Animal Nepal. We provide medical treatment to the ill and injured animals. We also feed them properly. After the rescued animals get healthy, they are handed over to those who want to take them. However, before handing over the rescued animals, we ensure that they do not end up living in the same worse condition.
Did you know that…
- Kathmandu alone counts some 125 brick factories?
- Brick factories are the nr 1 polluters in terms of sulphur dioxide emissions?
- They remove fertile top soil and extract ground and surface water?
- They employ an estimated 60,000 child workers and 1500 donkeys and mules?
- The working equines are generally underfed, overloaded and overworked?
- 85% of donkeys outside Animal Nepal's working area have open wounds?
- Most donkeys suffer from dehydration and malnutrition?
- Pregnant donkeys work up to the day of delivery and are given only a few days to recover?
Anyone who pays a visit to any one of the 125 brick kilns in Kathmandu Valley will agree the situation is desperate. Every year around 25 donkeys die from exhaustion in Nepal’s brick kilns that have been called a ‘medieval hellhole’. The conditions of these working donkeys are as dark as those of the human laborers who work there. Horses, mules and donkeys, brought in all the way from Nepalgunj, increasingly become the backbone of brick production, hauling bricks to and from the kiln. There are no laws that govern their treatment, and no government department represents their needs.
The equines fail to receive basic care such as nutritious food, water, rest, shelter, and are continuously overloaded and overworked. Injuries go untreated; severely ill donkeys are left to die. The animals are beaten relentlessly by their handlers, mostly children, some as young as six years old. Animal Nepal's project addresses the needs of these animals.
The animals are literally worked to the bones!
Lubhu, April 12, 2013 – Animal Nepal’s working equine outreach team was shocked to find a grave case of animal abuse in New Bhairab brick factory in Lubhu, Lalitpur. A mule, which was literally worked to death, died from deep trauma saddle wound on its back. The wounds were so severe that the mule’s spine and vertebrae were exposed!
Donkey Sanctuary India’s managing vet Ramesh Kumar said he had never come across such a serious case of equine abuse. “I am deeply saddened to see the conditions of equines in Kathmandu’s brick factories, and vow to do whatever possible to improve their lives,” said Dr Kumar. Already 15 equines died in a similar manner in the factory since December. Over 30% of surviving 47 equines suffer from malnutrition, saddle wounds, blindness or other injuries.
Animal Nepal’s team of paravets is presently being trained in wound management, PRA methods, hoof cutting and tooth rasping.
Animal Nepal, apart from providing training to equine owners and child handlers, conduct regular mobile clinics in brick factories. The organisation has launched a campaign to improve the conditions of ‘brick donkeys’.
What you can do
1. Please sign this petition on Care2.com
2. Please copy, paste and send the following letter (provided by Animal Nepal) to the Federation of Nepal Brick Factories
To Mr. Mahendra Bahadur Chitrakar
President Federation of Nepal Brick Industries
Kathmandu
Fax : 977 1 4672433
Email : [email protected], [email protected]
Dear Mr Chitrakar,
As a representative of brick factory entrepreneurs in Nepal I request you to take immediate action to address the suffering of equines working in brick factories. I have been shocked to see the images of horses, mules and donkeys covered in wounds, and continuously being overloaded, overworked and beaten. They are literally made to work till they drop. I have no words to express my sadness and disgust about the abuse that these hard working animals are facing.
The brick industry will be condemned for producing ‘Blood Bricks’ and continue to misuse working equines, as well as child handlers, underaged workers and bonded labourers. On top of the abuse against human and animal life, the industry creates irreversible damage to the top soil and air quality.
I believe it is time to stop the abuse. It is time for Nepal’s brick industry to become a responsible, clean industry.
I trust you will take action today to make this happen. In the meantime I vow NOT to buy ‘Blood Bricks’, and instead opt for clean and green bricks.
Yours,
[your name]
President Federation of Nepal Brick Industries
Kathmandu
Fax : 977 1 4672433
Email : [email protected], [email protected]
Dear Mr Chitrakar,
As a representative of brick factory entrepreneurs in Nepal I request you to take immediate action to address the suffering of equines working in brick factories. I have been shocked to see the images of horses, mules and donkeys covered in wounds, and continuously being overloaded, overworked and beaten. They are literally made to work till they drop. I have no words to express my sadness and disgust about the abuse that these hard working animals are facing.
The brick industry will be condemned for producing ‘Blood Bricks’ and continue to misuse working equines, as well as child handlers, underaged workers and bonded labourers. On top of the abuse against human and animal life, the industry creates irreversible damage to the top soil and air quality.
I believe it is time to stop the abuse. It is time for Nepal’s brick industry to become a responsible, clean industry.
I trust you will take action today to make this happen. In the meantime I vow NOT to buy ‘Blood Bricks’, and instead opt for clean and green bricks.
Yours,
[your name]
3. Please copy, paste and send the following letter (provided by Animal Nepal) to the Nepal Embassy in your country, to put further pressure on the Nepal government (you can find the Nepalese embassy in your country easily in the following portal):
To the Embassy of Nepal
Your Excellency,
As a representative of the Nepal government I request you to take immediate action to address the suffering of equines working in the brick factories of your country. I have been shocked to see the images of horses, mules and donkeys covered in wounds, and continuously being overloaded, overworked and beaten. They are literally made to work till they drop. I have no words to express my sadness and disgust about the abuse that these hard working animals are facing. I hope you will understand that tourists such as myself will avoid visiting your beautiful country until this unspeakable animal suffering has been eradicated.
The brick industry will be condemned for producing ‘Blood Bricks’ and continue to misuse working equines, as well as child equine handlers and other child workers, underaged workers and bonded labourers. On top of the abuse against human and animal life, the industry creates irreversible damage to the top soil and air quality.
I believe it is time to stop the abuse. It is time for Nepal’s brick industry to become a responsible, clean industry.
I trust you will take action today to make this happen.
Thanking you in advance,
Kind regards and Namasté,
[Name and Address]
To the Embassy of Nepal
Your Excellency,
As a representative of the Nepal government I request you to take immediate action to address the suffering of equines working in the brick factories of your country. I have been shocked to see the images of horses, mules and donkeys covered in wounds, and continuously being overloaded, overworked and beaten. They are literally made to work till they drop. I have no words to express my sadness and disgust about the abuse that these hard working animals are facing. I hope you will understand that tourists such as myself will avoid visiting your beautiful country until this unspeakable animal suffering has been eradicated.
The brick industry will be condemned for producing ‘Blood Bricks’ and continue to misuse working equines, as well as child equine handlers and other child workers, underaged workers and bonded labourers. On top of the abuse against human and animal life, the industry creates irreversible damage to the top soil and air quality.
I believe it is time to stop the abuse. It is time for Nepal’s brick industry to become a responsible, clean industry.
I trust you will take action today to make this happen.
Thanking you in advance,
Kind regards and Namasté,
[Name and Address]