Press Statement

End Gurkha Recruitment: Imperialist Exploitation Must Stop

December 3, 2024
Kathmandu, Nepal

We, the undersigned organizations and parties, stand in solidarity with the British Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s Organization (BGAESO) in their fight to end the longstanding exploitation of Nepali youth through foreign military recruitment. For over 200 years, this practice has perpetuated imperialist interests and inflicted grave violations of human rights.

The 1947 Tripartite Agreement, which formalized this practice, continues to bind over 42,000 Nepalis to unequal pay, inadequate pensions, and discriminatory treatment. Recruitment programs like India’s general army recruitment, "Agnipath" reduce service to four years without meaningful benefits, treating Nepali youth as disposable labour. Britain, too, deploys Gurkhas in its foreign wars under similarly exploitative conditions. We demand countries such as the UK, India, Singapore and Brunei to immediately cease these programs of recruitment of the youth of Nepal.

This practice is an outright violation of fundamental human rights, and it is a blatant form of human trafficking. It strips young Nepalis of their dignity, exploits their labour under discriminatory conditions, and disregards their basic entitlements to equality and justice. The grave unemployment pushes the Nepali youth to participate into these types of programs without knowing the deep exploitation that is waiting for them.  No person should be subjected to such systemic abuse, and it is our moral duty to condemn it unequivocally.

We commend the relentless efforts of BGAESO to bring these injustices to light. We join them in calling for the immediate abolition of these exploitative recruitment programs and stand firmly in solidarity with the people of Nepal as they demand justice and respect for their rights.

 Thank you

International Delegates/Observers of

Marxist Leninist Party Germany,

CPI (ML) Mass Line

TKP-ML  Communist Party of Turkey- Marxist Leninist

PBSP/Bangladesh