Transnational traffic
Foreign nationals are increasingly taking illegal third country routes through Nepal
For much of the past few decades, human trafficking was inextricably linked to the devastating realities faced by Nepalis either willingly or forcibly taken across the border and the sexual exploitation and forced labour they faced in India. However, with the growth in commercial flights, technology and the migrant labour revolution, human trafficking is becoming more difficult to characterise. Last year, four Nepalis were discovered among 519 people in Mexico bound for the US. Nepalis have previously been found in other South American, Latin American and European countries, en route to developed countries and often with non-Nepali passports. Nepal’s Department for Foreign Employment suggests that some three million have migrated—illegally and legally—from Nepal to various destinations worldwide, not including India.
According to the Nepal Police and TIA authorities, Nepal is becoming a “regional hub for human trafficking.” Just last Thursday, the police arrested 13 Burmese and Bangladeshi nationals with Nepali Machine Readable Passports. In November last year, two Tibetans were held with Nepali passports. The police say that there are hundreds of Nepali passports in the hands of foreign nationals. If the narcotics trade is one reason that brings smugglers to Nepal, then labour migrants, whose routes to destination countries include Nepal, is another. Migrant workers seeking to go abroad— to Gulf countries, in particular—are increasingly being found with Nepali passports on hand. Some labour-receiving countries have barred work visas for nationals of countries like Bangladesh, and as a result, they are travelling on Nepali passports to get to and work in their destination countries. Other hindrances like complicated procedures for visas and passports, female bans on working and past criminal records compel foreign nationals to take third country routes through Nepal with the support of human traffickers.
Easy accessibility of passports; strong connections between human traffickers and government officials; lax entry and exit regulations at TIA; and rampant corruption have turned Nepal into a hub for transnational human trafficking. Various actors involved in human smuggling to and from Nepal have found convenient loopholes in the visa-granting, border control and movement mechanisms. To address the growing dimensions of trafficking, the Nepali government will need to work hand-in-hand with regional states. A good place to start would be to channel more resources into state institutions like the Narcotic Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit and put pressure on the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies to help curb illegal activity.
Published on: 26 February 2013 | The Kathmandu Post
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