Around five dozen Nepali housemaids returned Nepal today under Kuwait amnesty plan announced four months ago.

According to Nepali embassy in Kuwait, those returnees were in shelter of the Nepali embassy from last few weeks after they runaway from their employers.

“They returned to Nepal in travel documents, as they did not have passports,“ said an officer at the Nepali embassy in Kuwait Madhuban Paudel. Their air fair has been paid by the government.

The embassy has sent about 88 maids to Nepal in last three weeks under the amnesty that ended yesterday. About 166 Nepali women are still living in Nepali embassy's shelter in Kuwait City.

According to Poudel, about 3,500 Nepalis working illegally in Kuwait applied for amnesty but 350 manage to get legal status in Kuwait. “Around 3,150 Nepalis have left Kuwait since February under the amnesty plan for illegal migrant workers announced in the 50th anniversary of Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Almad.

About 52,000 Nepalis are believed to be working in the Gulf country and majority of them are women working in the domestic sector. However, the government has record of only 37,236 Nepalis, who have joined Kuwaiti job in last one decade. Nepalis joining Kuwaiti jobs have increased this year as 12,779 Nepalis have reached the destination in the last eleven months.

Majority of women working in Kuwait are illegal, who reached there either directly from Nepal or via third countries by the help of labour traffickers involved in foreign job business.

About 20-30 Nepali women trafficked to Kuwait per day. But, there is not an exact figure of illegal Nepali migrants in the embassy and with the government.

Kuwaiti authorities are planning to take strong legal action against illegal workers who do not abide their amnesty order.

Published on: 2 July 2011 | The Himalayan Times