It is distressing that so many of Nepal’s female migrant workers return home carrying the terrible trauma of abuse. According to the Nepali Embassy in Saudi Arabia, over 600 of them working as domestic help were rescued in the last two years. Every single month, around 30 women appeal to the embassy for help. These are staggering numbers. These women, mostly poor, uneducated and naive, are exploited by their employers—physically, mentally and sexually. Despite an official ban on women under the age of 30 migrating to the Middle East for work, thousands of them find alternate routes and unscrupulous agents who promise them high-paying jobs. Oftentimes, these women reach foreign lands with little to no knowledge of their new environment, the language, the laws and customs. Many don't even know how much they are supposed to get paid.

There is much ado about the amount of remittance coming in to the country, which is close to a fourth of Nepal’s GDP. The remittance has largely been credited with spurring the country’s growth rate from a dismal 2.75 in 2006-07 to an optimistic 4.6 in 2012. It has helped raise living standards and purchasing power but the growth has not been comprehensive. According to the Nepal Living Standards Survey III, 56 percent of households across the country receive remittances but there is an “astronomical difference between the per capita remittance received by individuals in the poorest and richest consumption quintiles”—Rs 2,630 and Rs 21,433 respectively. As such, poverty is still a driving factor for many who choose to go abroad for work. Despite hearing horror stories of abuse and exploitation, a lack of employment opportunities at home means that the poorest still have no choice but to migrate to nightmare lands.

Saudi Arabia, as most other Gulf states, offers little legal recourse to the victims. The roughly 50,000 Nepali migrants who work there are prime targets of abuse under the kafala system, which accords far too much power to employers over their employees. Migrant workers need the permission of their employers to change jobs and leave the country. This medieval practice leads to slavery-like conditions.

The embassy in Saudi Arabia claims to have alerted the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Labour and Home to over 100 known human traffickers. But no action has been taken yet. It points at government apathy towards the working class whose earnings have helped keep Nepali economy afloat. But there is a larger problem here. Nepal's under-development and lack of employment opportunties will continue to push Nepalis abroad.

Published on: 28 May 2013 | The Kathmandu Post