Roshan Sedhai

Despite potential security threats, many Nepalis are being drawn to high-risk, war-torn countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. While deepening poverty and the lack of employment opportunities in the home country are push factors, migrants are attracted by the high salaries offered. 

“Since these countries have a scarcity of human resources, they are offering good salaries to workers,” said Bal Bahadur Tamang, chairman of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies. However, the government has banned Nepalis from entering these countries for employment, which has led to agents exploiting potential migrants, said Tamang. “The government needs to lift the ban.”  

Despite the ban, unofficial figure claim that there are around 40,000 Nepalis each in Iraq and Afghanistan. “There are many Nepalis where I am working,” a Nepali working at Dyn Corps International in Afghanistan told the Post over the phone. “Since we work inside the security camp, we are safe and the work is easy.” According to him, Nepali workers earn between Rs 100,000 to 1 million a month depending on the nature of their work. “The only problem we face is the compulsion to pay exorbitant fees while coming into and getting out of the country,” he said. 

The temptation of good wages has also attracted Nepalis to lucrative jobs with the army, police and security forces in countries like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. As these countries suffer from an apparent scarcity of workers, they offer salaries much higher than others in the Gulf. Hence, workers also need to pay more to smugglers while entering these countries. “They said they would manage a job with a minimum salary of Rs 50,000 and that there would also be overtime. But upon reaching Iraq, we went through completely different circumstances,” said Mohan Lal Sapkota, 35, who returned from Iraq in September last year. Sapkota, along with Rupen Chhantyal, 25, Hari Chhantyal, 25, and Man Bahadur Sunar, 30, were deserted by their agents once they reached the Iraqi province of Kurdistan. Another prospective migrant from Dharan, who was undergoing an interview at the Hyatt Regency in Kathmandu for the Abu Dhabi Police, said he had been asked to pay Rs 600,000 to be recruited. 

Experts point to the government’s weak monitoring and inaction for these cases but government officials are not ready to shoulder the blame. “We have realised that the greed of workers is the source of this entire problem. Most of the workers going to these countries are comparatively well-off, educated and know the risks involved,” said Purna Chandra Bhattarai, director general of the Department of Foreign Employment. Bhattarai said these workers usually complain to the department once they are betrayed by agents. 

Chairman Tamang further accused that government of not punishing some employment agencies for charging much higher fees while recruiting workers for security jobs in the army and police. Stating that there is no provision to pay more than Rs 80,000 in to go to the Gulf, Tamang urged officials to strictly monitor malpractices.  

However, it is not just war-torn countries that are favoured destinations for their high wages. Many Western countries, especially the US, are high on the list of Nepali migrant workers. Records show that hundreds of gullible workers have been cheated by traffickers on promises of getting them to the US. Some have returned home having reached as far as Mexico and El Salvador. In August 2012, Costa Rican authorities detained seven Nepalis without immigration papers who were headed to the US with the help of agents. Another group of workers, held for several months in India and Indonesia, claimed to have paid Rs 2 million to get to the US. 

Published on: 20 March 2013 | The Kathmandu Post