As part of the CLARISSA consortium, CSC is aware of the significant impact that the pandemic has had on children working in the Adult Entertainment Sector in Nepal. As a result, we were pleased to address the Human Rights Council this morning, during the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children. During the interactive dialogue, the Special Rapporteur presented her recent report entitled ‘Impact of the coronavirus disease on the sale and sexual exploitation of children’.
An Interactive Dialogue offers States and NGOs the opportunity to discuss the report, and pose questions to the Special Rapporteur to seek her expertise. CSC therefore highlighted the particular impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had upon the sale and sexual abuse of children in street situations and the worst forms of child labour.
You can read our full statement below:
Statement by the Consortium for Street Children on the occasion of the 46th Session of the Human Rights Council, Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Abuse of Children, Monday 1st March 2021
Thank you, Madam President. The Consortium for Street Children thanks the Special Rapporteur for her timely and urgent report, in particular for its focus on the worsening situation of street-connected children as a result of this pandemic. The serious rights violations highlighted in her report are reflected by members of our global network.
We wish to draw her attention to the particular situation for children in Nepal. The Adult Entertainment Sector in the country is a fertile ground for the employment and abuse of children in a range of venues, including massage parlours, dance bars, and restaurants. The sector was forced to shut down as part of the government’s Covid-19 response, but these children were not included in the government’s support packages, which resulted in children being pushed into more dangerous, hidden forms of work in order to survive.
We welcome recommendations made to Nepal on this issue during their recent UPR and urge the Nepali government to accept these recommendations, which we offer our support to implement through the Child Labour Action Research programme we are undertaking in Nepal, alongside partners: the Institute for Development Studies, Terre des Hommes, ChildHope, CWISH and Voice of Children.
We wish to ask the Special Rapporteur, how can States ensure they listen to the voices of the most vulnerable children in response to and recovery from the pandemic?
I thank you.
You can read more about the situation in this expert blog from Sudhir Malla, Country Co-ordinator for the CLARISSA Programme in Nepal: