The Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB) has asked women aspiring to migrate for foreign jobs not to use the Indian route while going abroad. The board has warned them that using illegal routes via India may put them in difficulty. 

Everyday about 30 to 40 women migrants go abroad via New Delhi, Mumbai and other Indian cities but it is not safe, FEPB said. “Those undocumented or illegal migrant workers will not receive help when needed, so it is better to use the prescribed route,” said acting executive director at the board Girija Sharma. “For safety reasons and welfare benefits women should use the legal route.” 

The board has been providing medical, health and legal aid benefits to legal migrant workers. Similarly, it provides a compensation of Rs 150,000 to families in the case of death of migrant workers. 

The Foreign Employment Act 2007 has clearly mentioned that every migrant worker must use Tribhuwan International Airport for departure. Using Indian airports is illegal. 

However, the nexus between Nepali and Indian outsourcing agencies has abetted the trafficking of Nepali girls. They are luring girls below 30 years from villages and sending them to Gulf countries — Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. 

The government banned women below 30 years from joining jobs as domestic helps in Gulf countries in August, following a report of exploitation, abuse and even sexual abuse among hundreds of domestic helps. Domestic helps are not protected by labour laws and are governed by the Kafala system which Human Rights Watch has termed as ‘modern day slavery’. 

“Using the Indian route is a crime and agents involved in it will be punished according to trafficking laws,” she warned. The government will not remain silent on it, she added. 

About 244,000 women are believed to be working in Gulf countries but one-fourth of them have reached the job market legally. The Department of Foreign Employment has recorded just 58,000 women migrants since it started keeping records from fiscal year 2007-08.

Published on: 12 January 2013 | The Himalayan Times