When migrant labourers leave home in search of a better life abroad, particularly in the Gulf countries and Malaysia, they are not aware of the hurdles that await them. More often than not, these youngsters put in all their savings and assets or accrue massive loans in the process. Only upon arrival in their host countries do they find their passports seized by their employers or that their working conditions are so bad that they are not even allowed sufficient time to eat or sleep—conditions that are sometimes described as “modern slavery”. In places like Saudi Arabia, many young men are made to work in road construction in temperatures well above 45 degrees Celsius, an environment in which only migrant labourers work since national law doesn’t allow their own citizens to work in such conditions. The atrocities faced by women migrant workers are even worse. Mostly employed as domestic workers, they are often subject to all kinds of physical, mental and sexual torture and violence. These issues are often overlooked as remittance continues to flow in, accounting for almost 20 percent of the national income.

Since workers cannot be dissuaded from leaving Nepal and considering that the economy is so reliant on remittances, measures to ensure migrant rights in host countries and to prep them here before leaving are an immediate necessity. On the contrary, unhelpful measures such as the ban imposed by the government on women under the age of 30 from travelling to the Gulf are only furthering the crisis. Essentially, the ban is working to push young Nepali women to seek illegal means and routes to get out of the country, thereby increasing the chances of trafficking and forced labour. As illegal migrant labourers, it is even more difficult to track them down or encourage them to seek help in case they are abused. The government needs to prioritise the plight of migrant workers, particularly females. What it should not do is force them underground.

Taking the recent example of Sita Rai, a migrant worker returning from Saudi Arabia who was robbed and raped, the whole episode could have been avoided had the rights of migrant workers been institutionalised. Rai was travelling on a passport which was not hers because, otherwise, she would not have been able to travel to the Gulf. She was held by immigration officials for travelling under illegal means and ultimately, that led to her being robbed of her savings and raped. Of course, the bigger story here is the injustice that was done to her on her return to Nepal, but the question of why she was travelling on an illegal passport also deserves to be raised. As an illegal migrant, it is impossible to imagine the kind of hardships Rai faced, even before landing in trouble in Nepal. Such cases clearly exemplify the need to make it possible for migrant workers—male and female—to claim rights both in the home and host countries. The Nepali government should be working towards this end, not in attempts to control the movement of people. As the Nepali government is in the process of signing labour agreements with six countries—Malaysia, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon—it’s vital that the rights of migrants are kept at the centre of these negotiations.

Published on: 28 December 2012 | The Kathmandu Post