Editing Debt bondage (section)

=== South Asia  ===
Although [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Kamaiya and kamlari|Nepal]] and [[Bangladesh]] all have laws prohibiting debt bondage, figures by the [[Human Rights Watch]] in 1999 are drastically higher estimating 40 million workers, composed mainly of children, are tied to labor through debt bondage in India alone. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/01/22/small-change/bonded-child-labor-indias-silk-industry|title=Small Change: Bonded Child Labor in India's Silk Industry|date=23 January 2003|website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/india.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/india.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Bonded Labor in India|last=Finn|first=Devin|publisher=HUMAN RIGHTS & HUMAN WELFARE}}</ref> It is estimated that 84 to 88% of the bonded laborers in the world are in South Asia.<ref name=":7" /> 

==== Brick kilns ====
[[File:Child Labour in Brick Kilns of Nepal.jpg|thumb|Child labor in brick kilns in South Asia]]

Research by Kara estimates there to be between 55,000 and 65,000 brick kiln workers in South Asia with 70% of them in India.<ref name=":7" /> Other research estimates 6,000 kilns in Pakistan alone.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last1=Ercelawn|first1=A|last2=Nauman|first2=M|date=2004|title=Unfree Labour in South Asia: Debt Bondage at Brick Kilns in Pakistan|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=39|issue=22}}</ref> Total revenue from brick kilns in South Asia is estimated by Kara to be $13.3 to $15.2 billion.<ref name=":7" /> Many of the brick kiln workers are migrants and travel between brick kiln locations every few months.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8" /> Kiln workers often live in extreme poverty and many began work at kilns through repayment of a starting loan averaging $150 to $200.<ref name=":7" /> Kiln owners offer laborers "friendly loans" to avoid being criminalized in breaking bonded labor laws.<ref name=":8" /> Bonded brick kiln laborers, including children, work in harsh and unsafe conditions as the heat from the kiln may cause heat stroke and a number of other medical conditions.<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Madheswaran|first1=S.|last2=Paik|first2=Saswati|date=2010|title=Labour Vulnerability and Debt Bondage in Contemporary India|journal=Journal of Social and Economic Development|publisher=Business Insights|volume=2}}</ref> Laborers are discouraged from defaulting on loans through fear of violence and death from brick kiln owners.<ref name=":8" />

==== Rice harvesting ====
[[File:Storing rice, India, 1956 (16795758519).jpg|thumb|Workers storing rice in India in 1952]]

An essential grain to the South Asian diet, rice is harvested throughout India and Nepal in particular.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":4" /> In India, more than 20% of agricultural land is used to grow rice.<ref name=":4" /> Rice mill owners often employ workers who live in harsh conditions on farms.<ref name=":4" /> Workers receive such low wages that they must borrow money from their employers causing them to be tied to the rice mill through debt.<ref name=":4" /> For example, in India, the average pay rate per day was $0.55 American dollars as recorded in 2006.<ref name=":4" /> Though some workers may be able to survive minimally from their compensation, uncontrollable life events such as an illness require loans.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":16" /> Families, including children, work day and night to prepare the rice for export by boiling it, drying it in the sun, and sifting through it for purification.<ref name=":4" /> Furthermore, families who live on rice mill production sites are often excluded from access to hospitals and schools.<ref name=":4" />