Carpet weaver, Nepal     1993


There are between 60 and 115 million child laborers in India; of these, at least 15 million work as bonded laborers. Bonded labor refers to working in a condition of servitude in order to pay a debt. Most often the debt is incurred by a child's parents or relatives. The debt is paid-off by labor. Children sold into debt bondage work long hours for many years in order to pay the debt.

According to Human Rights Watch, "while India leads the world in the number of bonded child laborers, debt servitude is a significant problem in Pakistan and Nepal as well. Nor are contemporary forms of slavery confined to South Asia; previous Human Righ ts Watch reports have document forced labor in Kuwait, Brazil, Thailand, and the Dominican Republic."

In India and Nepal there are an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 children who work as bonded laborers making carpets. Shop owners say that they need the good eyesight and fine fingers of children to make carpets. However, adults, not children, produce the h ighest quality, more finely-knotted carpets.