Residents pay between Emirati Dirham 7,000 (Rs 165,000) and 9,000 (Rs 212,000)

Nepali girls are being sold in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as housemaids for between Emirati Dirham 7,000 (Rs 165,000) and 9,000 (Rs 212,000), The News reported, quoting Dipak Adhikari, counsellor and deputy chief of the Nepali embassy.

“Some agencies bring women here and keep them until they find good buyers.They sell the girls against their will,” he said, adding that selling women is human trafficking. According to him, employers in the UAE preferred to hire housemaids without fulfilling basic requirements set by the Nepali government.

The government had made it mandatory for employers to submit personal documents to be attested at the Nepali embassy, put up a guarantee of Emirati Dirham 5,000 (Rs 118,000), and ensure wages of Emirati Dirham 900 (Rs 21,000) per month, and a separate room for housemaids to hire Nepali women migrants last year. The government has also banned women below 30 years to join jobs as housemaids in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.

However, recruitment of women below 30 years has not stopped. “Clandestine agents exploit them with big promises. When they arrive in the UAE an unscrupulous agency receives them and sells them to willing residents,” he said. The embassy receives three to four women below 30 years every week, who have run away from their employers due to exploitation and abuse. The embassy repatriated about 100 such housemaids last year. It is currently sheltering 11 women, all between the ages of 22 and 26, with the aim of repatriating them.

About 17,567 Nepali women have joined foreign jobs in the last seven months — mostly in Gulf countries — and they were working as housemaids, according to Department of Foreign Employment. Number of undocumented women migrants is also expected to be at the same level. However, there is no study on it.

 Published on: 21 February 2013 | The Himalayan Times