The Gulf is turning out to be a deathbed for Nepali women migrant workers, as the number of housemaids committing suicides there has been increasing each year. According to the UN Women, about 82 Nepali women have killed themselves since January 2011.

“About 82 Nepali women have committed suicide in Gulf countries in the last 18 months,” said UN Women South Asia Coordinator Saru Joshi. “A UN Women study reveals Gulf states — Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait — as vulnerable places for women migrant workers.”

Vulnerability at a young age had forced the government to set the minimum age criteria of 30 years to be eligible to join jobs as housemaids in Gulf countries two months ago. In November last year, the government had set certain criteria for aspirants wanting to travel abroad as housemaids based on the suggestions of Nepali diplomatic missions there and a high-level team coordinated by Ganesh Gurung.

According to UN Women, about 2,822 Nepali women were rescued from their workplaces in the last 18 months till June 2012. Most of them were from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, said Joshi.

Sexual exploitation of Nepali women in Gulf countries has had a wide impact among unmarried girls. The survey found that about 25 unmarried girls working as housemaids had returned home with a child during the period.

About 244,000 Nepali women are believed to be working in Gulf countries and a majority of them are illegal as the Department of Foreign Employment has recorded only 57,099 women since 2007-08. DoFE does not have records of women migrant workers before that period.

Women are not safe in Gulf countries, so they should not be encouraged to go there, said labour expert Chiranjivi Nepal. “We have to again explore safe destinations like Israel and Hong Kong,” he suggested.

Hong Kong closed the door for Nepali migrant workers in 2006 after they started seeking asylum. Similarly, Israel banned Nepali women in April 2009, following a high rate of illegal caregivers. Israel had recorded about 1,000 illegal caregivers among the 12,000 from Nepal.

Israel opened the door for Nepali migrant workers in September 2011, but the destination is not encouraging caregivers, which is probably the most women-friendly job. Currently, the destination has been hiring men and women in the agriculture sector but at a very slow pace.

Woman commits suicide in Kuwait

A Nepali housemaid, identified as ‘Halima’, committed suicide by hanging herself on Monday, Kuwait Times said. She was working at Rumaithiya of Kuwait City. Security sources said the sponsor and his wife had gone to a cooperative society in the vicinity for shopping when the incident allegedly took place. There are no details about the housemaid.

Published on: 8 October 2012 | The Himalayan Times