1. Caste-based slavery in Nepal was officially established by the Muluki Ain of 1854, endorsing slavery and creating a hierarchy of untouchability. Certain castes were deemed so impure they required ritual purification
2. Nepal officially ended caste-based slavery a century ago, but its deep-rooted legacies persist, leaving lower-caste communities, especially women, vulnerable to labour exploitation
3. These legacies manifest in landlessness, lack of citizenship, high unemployment, economic inequality, lower education levels, health disparities, gender-based violence, cultural stigma, and social, legal, and political exclusion.
4. Many women resort to labour migration as their only viable option. Labour migration often leads to seasonal work in Nepal & India, entertainment jobs, sex work or domestic work in Gulf countries - the most profitable one, allowing for some escape from caste-based legacies
5. However the government of Nepal has historically blocked migration for such jobs under protectionist policies. Whilst sex work and sex work migration are legally prohibited in Nepal, there has been a ban on domestic work migration since 2017.
6. These migration bans have unintended consequences: they strip individuals of agency, stigmatise lower-caste women as vulnerable to exploitation, stigmatise their places of origin, reinforce upper-caste biases, and lead to further oppression and violence during transit.
7. The anti-trafficking industry in Nepal, including NGOs, government agencies, and foreign donors, often enforces these bans through awareness campaigns (discouraging mobility), transit monitoring (violating human rights), and rehabilitation programs (fails to address the systemic issues)
8. Anti-trafficking organisations should recognise the limitations of their interventions and instead demand reparations for women from the state and those who have historically benefited from caste-based slaver
9. These reparations include, but are not limited to: apologies and acknowledgement of the historical harms of caste-based slavery, job opportunities, financial compensation, scholarships and reserved spots in top schools and universities, land and citizenship rights, reservations in social and political spaces, free high-quality healthcare, free legal aid, affordable housing, childcare, and social support
10. We believe that true liberation and equality for millions of Nepalese women can only be achieved by addressing deep-seated injustices through reparations
11. The first step the anti-trafficking industry in Nepal can take is to pressure the government to abolish migration bans, which continue to undermine the lives of lower-caste women and force them to bear the burden of the legacies of the caste-based slavery!!