Κατμαντού, Νεπάλ (CNN) -To Νεπάλ έχει απαγορεύσει τις γυναίκες κάτω των 30 ετών να εργάζονται στα Κράτη του Περσικού Κόλπου εν μέσω αυξανόμενων ανησυχιών για κακοποίηση και εκμετάλλευση.
Nepal has banned women under the age of 30 from working in Persian
Gulf nations amid increasing concerns over abuse and exploitation.
Nepalese women are among
thousands of Asians who travel to the Middle East in search of
employment..
They often arrive willingly, but subsequently face
conditions that the U.S. State Department says is indicative of forced
labor -- the withholding of passports, restrictions on movement,
nonpayment of wages for work up to 20 hours a day, threats, deprivation
of food and sleep, and physical or sexual abuse.
The age bar is aimed at
preventing some of the abuse, Raj Kishore Yadav, Nepal's minister of
information and communication, said Thursday. He said the hope is that
the risks are lower with more mature women.
The Nepalese government
says 58,000 Nepalese women are working in these Gulf states -- Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Oman. However,
human rights agencies estimate that number at about 200,000, saying that
the official figure does not take into account all those who have
traveled illegally, many through India.
Nepal had imposed a
complete ban on women working in the Gulf states after the suicide of a
domestic worker, but lifted those restrictions in 2010.
Recently, CNN spoke with a
Nepalese woman who was beaten and raped by her employer in Kuwait and
managed to escape to the Nepalese embassy. Kumari, who is not fully
identified because she is a victim of sexual abuse, returned home
pregnant.
"My landlord would beat me, they (he and his wife) both would beat me," she said. "My body would ache."
One day, she said, the
landlord came home when the rest of the family was out, and called her
into the bathroom. When she refused he came to her.
"He beat me up," she
said. "First he covered my mouth so I could not scream." After he raped
her, Kumari said, she asked for her passport. "He wouldn't give it to
me," she said.
Human Rights Watch,
which has documented abuse of Asian women workers in Middle Eastern
nations, says Nepal's age limit policy does not go far enough to address
the gravity of the problem.
"Imposing a ban on women
under 30 from migrating to the Gulf fails to solve the underlying
problem of how desperate women are for decent work," said Nisha Varia,
senior researcher for the rights group's Women's Rights Division.
Varia said she once
visited a hospital in Kuwait that had an entire ward devoted to domestic
workers who had spinal cord and back injuries from botched escape
attempts or attempted suicide from high-rise residential buildings.
She said the priority should be not to set limits but to work to improve working conditions and local justice systems.
"Instead of a blanket
ban on its own women that denies them important employment
opportunities, Nepal's government should work with other labor-sending
governments to demand stronger protections for migrant workers in the
Gulf," Varia said.
Migrant worker advocate Manju Gurung agreed.
"We are not happy with
the decision," said Gurung, who heads Pourakhi, a Nepalese agency that
promotes the welfare of women migrant workers.
"This is a protectionist
approach," she said. "The government should negotiate with destination
countries and have bilateral agreements. There is a demand for women
workers."
About 2.5 million
Nepalese who work abroad, other than in India, contribute 21.4% of the
Nepal's GDP, according to the government. Remittances from the Gulf play
a huge role in the Himalayan nation, where about 30% of the people are
unemployed.
"The government is right
to be concerned about abuse against migrant women, but the correct
response is not to stop them from going, but to ensure they can migrate
with guarantees for their safety," Varia saidπηγη
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