 | |
| Founded | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Hon.Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary |
| Type | Non-profit NGO |
| Location | |
| Website | BASE website |
Backward Society Education (BASE) is anonprofitnon-governmental organization that works withTharu in WesternNepal to fightilliteracy,bonded labor from theKamaiya system, and a number of other issues in the region. The group received the 2002 Anti-Slavery Award from theAnti-Slavery International for its work in combating bonded labor, and theDanish International Development Agency reported in 2002, "BASE is running the only literacy campaign in the country." They are currently working on initiatives to help people who have been freed from bonded labor.
The eventual founder of BASE, Dilli Bahadur Chaudhari, formed a group called the 4-H Club which was funded through intermediaries byUSAID as a forum for discussing agricultural techniques withTharu farmers.[1] This club quickly grew in size and scope, and club meetings often railed against oppression from the upper castes of Nepal against the Tharu. In 1991, the organization was formally founded and renamed to its currently name, Backward Society Education.[2] This was decided partly because it was recognized that landlords who forced people to work in theKamaiya bonded labor system feared that their laborers would be educated, and partly because anEnglish language name and abbreviation would be more successful at receiving international attention.[2] Dilli Bahadur Chaudhari's 1994 Reebok Human Rights Award and his audience with KingGyanendra of Nepal after receiving the award greatly expanded BASE's reputation and it was quickly able to gain grants from foreignnon-governmental organizations.[3][4] After trying to intensely lobby the government to free people stuck in the Kamaiya system, Chaudhari decided to start protests instead.[5]
The government acquiesced to BASE's demands and formally barred the practice of bonded labor in Nepal, following large protests in July 2000 from people in theKamaiya system and pressure from foreign and domestic NGOs, much of which had been instigated by BASE.[6] After hearing the news, BASE went door to door in Western Nepal to tell bonded laborers about their newly decreed freedom and helped to enforce the new law, and theNepali Times noted at the time that BASE's Dilli Bahadur Chaudhari helped to "spark off the movement to free kamaiyas".[4][5] Despite this success, less than half of the families that were freed from bonded labor have received government plots of land, and many still live off of less than $1 a day.[7] One of BASE's main goals today is to work with people who have no way to provide for themselves after being set free.[4]IRIN reported that BASE was "responsible for spearheading the movement against slavery."[8] BASE received the 2002 Anti-Slavery Award fromAnti-Slavery International because of its work on fighting the exploitation and bonded labor of theTharu.[9]
TheDanish International Development Agency (DANIDA) reported that BASE runs the "only literacy campaign in the country" and that the organization runs hundreds of schools in Western Nepal.[2] A number of stories in Nepali news have reported on individual success stories of BASE's educational classes for people who had previously been bonded laborers.[10] Many ex-Kamaiya struggle to adapt, however, as theNepali Times reports that many still worked in exploitative conditions five years after being freed.[11]
The Nepalese Maoists have attacked BASE workers. A large bomb was detonated by the Maoists at BASE's office inDhangadi which forced BASE to suspend operations temporarily.[12] In 2006, Maoists threatened to attack BASE if they did not hand over control of a local radio station inGhodaghodi Tal.[13]