Country: Nepal

Group: Tamang

Date Finalized: 10/23/2020

Team: Colleen Clauss (lead), Alexa Hager, Zeenat  Hammond

Content Warning: forced labor, sexual slavery, physical violence, violence against women and children

Approximate Time Period: 1760-present

There is substantial evidence that the Tamang in Nepal have and are currently experiencing forced labor. The evidence quality was rated at a 3.

The Tamang are one of the 59 indigenous groups in Nepal, making up 5.36% of the population. They descended from the famous historical conquerors, the Mongols, but lost their independence, political and economic power, and sovereignty over their territories when Nepal was established in the 1760s (Nama, 2012). Many indigenous groups in Nepal experienced various forms of enslavement during the unification of Nepal and as part of the caste system. Due to their proximity to the capital city Kathmandu, the Tamang performed almost all of the labor required by the government, including compulsory labor for the military. “During the Rana regime (1846 -1950 AD),” Tamang men were forced to work for free “as servants and porters,” while Tamang women were forced to be concubines in palaces and “sold to India for prostitution” (Nama, 2012). In the 1950s, Tamang lands became income generation properties for members of higher castes, land “endowed in support of an institution,” through a system called rakam (TamansamajUK, 2013). The punishment for not complying included physical violence and confiscating land (Kukuczka, 2011). In 2001, the International Labor Organization estimated that each year, “organized gangs” force 5,000 to 7,000 girls from Nepal, mostly “from the Tamang and other minority communities,” to work in brothels in India (Freedom house, 2001). While forced labor is illegal, it still affects the Tamang in Nepal today (Nama, 2012). This is a case of forced labor because Tamang individuals were forced to work without compensation and captured to be sold as slaves to other countries. This is a case of the Tamang being enslaved by other ethnic groups, because it occurred after other ethnic groups took control of the government, and included working for people of higher castes.

The data is rated as a 3 because the sources found include two scholarly articles (including a dissertation). The information in the scholarly articles lacked specific details, but the source posted on the UNHCR’s website had more specific information.

Sources

  1. Freedom House. (2001, December 18). Freedom in the World 2002 – Nepal. Retrieved October 16, 2020, from https://www.refworld.org/docid/473c53e02.html
  2. Kukuczka, A. (2011). Negotiating Ethnic Identity in the Himalaya – The Tamang in Nepal. South Asia-Chronicle, 393-437.
  3. Nama, G. (2012). Global Poverty – Local Problem: Institutional Determinants of Poverty Among Indigenous Peoples of Nepal. All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs).
  4. Freedom House. (2001, December 18). Freedom in the World 2002 – Nepal. Retrieved October 16, 2020, from https://www.refworld.org/docid/473c53e02.html
  5. Kukuczka, A. (2011). Negotiating ethnic identity in the Himalaya-the Tamang in Nepal. South Asia Chronicle, 1, 393-437.
  6. Tamang, P. (1992). Tamangs under the Shadow. Himal, May/June, 25-27.
  7. TamangSamajUK. “Why Do Tamangs Stay Marginalized in Nepal ?” Tamang Samaj UK, 1 Aug.  2013, www.tamangsamajuk.com/history_info/why-do-tamangs-stay-marginalized-in-nepal.html.