For three generations, poverty was used against families in rural Bihar. Small advance payments, taken just to survive, bound parents to labor contractors. Whole families were then trafficked hundreds of kilometers to a brick kiln. There, men, women, and children worked in
At 11 years old, Saminder* should have been in a classroom. Instead, he spent ten hours a day at a commercial shop in Bihar, washing vehicles, scrubbing floors, and hauling heavy auto parts. He earned about 24 cents (₹20) a day. His
For years, Parveen* and his family were bonded to a brick kiln near Gaya, Bihar — not seasonal work, but a year-round cycle they couldn’t see a way out of. The wages were meager, and the highest price was paid by his
[Image above: Land owner applying fertilizer to the garden.] In January 2015, 101 individuals from 38 families in a small village in northern India were freed from bonded labor after four generations of exploitation. Although freedom marked the beginning of a new
When confirmed reports reached our Justice Hub partners in Nepal, the warning signs were unmistakable: African women lured to Kathmandu on tourist visas with false promises of legitimate work, allegedly coerced into prostitution, and some trafficked onward to countries including China, Singapore,
[Image: Example of a trench where bonded laborers are forced to work and the structure where they live.] Suhani* is a 16-year-old girl from a scheduled caste family in the western region of Bihar. At the time of this story, her family
When two brothers were found working long days in a motorcycle garage, a timely intervention changed the course of their lives and their family’s future. Kanu* and Manu* are brothers from a rural community in eastern India. Their father lost his job as a daily wage laborer
Nandkishore Rishi Dev* spent most of his life trapped in the cycle of bonded labour. Being in a poor household with no land or stable livelihood led to accepting advance payments from local contractors and employers; these advances forced him to labor long hours under
Freedom Begins: Reclaiming the Right to Choose When Hareram* was freed from bonded labor in May 2023, freedom meant more than leaving exploitation behind. For Hareram and others in the lowest caste Musahar community of northern India, it marked the beginning of
Seeking to escape a difficult childhood, Rosie* married at an early age to an abusive man who treated her cruelly. Unable to bear the mistreatment, Rosie left home and was sitting at a nearby railway station, hoping for a way out, when a woman approached her with the promise of a new job. However, the
