Yadav Raj Josh

Nepalis women migration to Gulf countries — Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain— and Lebanon have been linked to human trafficking than foreign employment.

Human traffickers have been operating job racket in the destinations, said former labour attaché of Nepali embassy in Saudi Arabia Chandeshwor Acharya.

Most women have been reaching Gulf countries via illegal routes bypassing procedure set by the government, he said, adding that even the local agents are fueling trafficking.

Outsourcing agencies and their agents have been cheating women migrant workers from passport making to their salary pay in the destinations.

“Therefore, women migration to Gulf countries is mainly associated with human trafficking,” he said explaining from his experience as labour attaché. According to him, more than 70 per cent of rescued 351 women in last two years have reached the destination by illegal agents.

“Over 90 per cent of women migrant workers did not have knowledge about the destination and their job nature,” he said. Research from Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS) also supports the

experience as only 8.2 per cent, five per cent and 18.2 per cent women in Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia had attended orientation programmes.

“Their migration process also took more than three months,” said migration expert Dr Ganesh Gurung.

About 225,000 women migrants are believed to be working in Gulf countries but just 60,000 Nepali women migrant workers have left the country for foreign employment since 2006-07.

About 15,345 Nepali women migrants have joined foreign jobs through formal channel in the last eight months of the current fiscal year.

Moreover, the research

showed that only two-third women migrant workers have used Tribhuwan International Airport to reach Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Lebanon.

About 33.3 per cent, 45 per cent, 17.2 per cent and 29.6 per cent have used other routes to reach the destinations respectively. “There is a clear indication of human trafficking,” said Rameshwor Sah, vice president of Non-Resident Nepalis Association.

Foreign Employment Act 2007 has a mandatory provision that every migrant worker must left the country for foreign job via the country’s only international airport.

The provision has been included in the law to control il

legal/undocumented migration that is slowly turning towards human trafficking in recent years, said Gurung.

The Department of Foreign Employment agreed that human trafficking have been growing in the name of foreign employment.

“Outsourcing agencies have been trafficking women taking the benefit of political instability,” said director general of the department Purnachandra Bhattarai. “We want to punish them but the law of foreign employment did not envision it six years ago. Now, we do not have parliament to change the law,” he said.

According to him, existing laws targeted to address hu

man trafficking have only focused on sending women to brothels, forcing them to work as prostitute. “Therefore, it is an issue of political parties and leadership,” he said, adding that they should address the problem as soon as possible.

Regulating agencies can enforce the law, he added.

UN Women programme manager Saru Joshi said that all stakeholders should unite to control women trafficking in the name of foreign employment. Stakeholders including Non-Resident Nepalis Association, non-governmental organisations and outsourcing agencies should work together to eliminate dark side of foreign employment, Joshi said.

Published on: 30 March 2013 | The Himalayan Times