Despite the constant threat of abuse and exploitation faced by thousands of Nepali women in the Middle East, the government has failed to press labour-receiving countries to sign a separate labour pact for domestic workers. 

Nepal is yet to sign a single labour pact regarding female migrant workers with any labour-receiving countries, despite thousands of Nepali women currently working in Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan and Lebanon. 

Most of these countries are yet to bring domestic workers under the purview of national labour laws, while denying basics rights including the requirement for weekly rest days, limited hours of work, a minimum wage, and overtime pay under the Kafala System, a sponsorship system under which domestic work is often administered.

The accumulated record of Nepal’s embassies in the Gulf shows they rescue around 150 women each month from exploitative and abusive employers. 

Concerned stakeholders, however, believe it would be far-fetched to expect a separate labour pact for domestic workers while major labour destinations remain reluctant to sign an overall labour pact. 

Nepal has so far only signed labour agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Korea. The Ministry of Labour and Employment said agreements with Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman are currently being pursued, despite slow progress. 

MoLE spokesperson Buddhi Bahadur Khadka said his ministry is making efforts to first sign overall labour pact with the relevant countries. He said that the disinclination of labour-receiving countries is responsible for the lack of progress. 

“The drafts that are in the pipeline have also envisioned a separate provision to safeguard the rights of female migrants. This will be helpful in safeguarding rights if they comply with the agendas proposed in the draft,” said Khadka, 

adding that the responses from concerned destination countries have not been encouraging. 

Workers rights groups and recruiting agencies, however, claim the government’s “unwillingness, poor diplomacy and weaker stance is mostly to be blamed”. 

Ramesh Lekhak was the last sitting labour minister to visit a destination country. 

“The government thinks it’s done with its duty by just issuing the work permit. Every worker goes abroad planning to earn, not to get exploited and die. The government should ensure their rights,” said NAFEA Chiarman Bal Bahadur Tamang. Due to government prohibitions on women under 30 working as domestic help in the Gulf, reliable records on the exact number of female migrant workers are hard to find. Though DoFE data shows only 22,795 women left the country in the last five months, unofficial data has cited at least 350,000 Nepali women working abroad. 

Though some states in the Middle East have amended laws concerning domestic help, such laws often remain below the benchmark set by international law. In July 2013, Saudi Arabia, home to nearly two million workers of which an estimated 60,000 are Nepali, passed a law aimed at protecting the rights of domestic workers.   Though Saudi Arabia recently incorporated provisions entitling domestic workers to nine hours of free time daily, a monthly salary, sick leave and a one-month paid vacation every two years, it has restricted the mobility of workers and further empowered employers. Rights groups say countries in the Middle East are grim places for migrant workers, with abuse and exploitation rampant. “Even though the Middle East and North Africa are home to some of the worst abuses against domestic workers, the pace of legal reforms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar and Lebanon has dragged on for years with little to show,” reads a report jointly released by International Domestic Workers Network, the International Trade Union Confederation and Human Rights Watch in October. 

“And even the proposed reforms fall short of international standards and the comprehensive protections other countries are implementing.” 

Published on: 28 January 2014 | The Kathmandu Post