More Nepali women leave country for work but struggle with 'nightmare' of illegal recruiters, abusive employers

Binita, 39, is preparing to leave her home in Nepal's capital of Kathmandu, for the first time ever, to fly more than 3,200km (2,000 miles) to Kuwait, where she will work as a domestic worker.

"It is hard to go alone, but I'm doing this for my family. We do not have good income here, even though we work hard," she told This Week in Asia, requesting to go by a pseudonym to protect her identity.

Binita has two children, a nine-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter. She hopes that with the money she makes working in Kuwait, her daughter will be able to get a university education.

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"I'm going alone to help secure my daughter's future. I am hopeful that, one day, she will be successful and help us back," she said.

Binita is one of thousands of women who migrate from Nepal to work overseas, taking up jobs primarily in domestic care.

Government data from Nepal show that between 1985 and 2001, only 161 women migrated abroad for work, but that figure shot up to 21,421 between 2014 and 2015.

However, experts contend that the official numbers grossly underestimate the true scale, with many Nepalese women opting for unlicensed migration.

This heightened particularly after 2012, when Nepal banned women under the age of 30 from travelling to work in informal sectors like domestic care in Gulf countries. Women who use these unlicensed routes are more vulnerable to exploitation, say activists, at both the hands of illegal recruiters and abusive employers.

Protections for these workers are severely constrained, as is the government's ability to assist migrant workers without licensed labour permits, according to Manju Gurung, co-founder of Pourakhi, an organisation in Nepal that supports and shelters female migrant workers.

"As undocumented workers, they can face financial exploitation, physical harassment, abuse and sexual exploitation," she said. "And there is little to no support for them."

A 2017 report by UN Women showed that 59 per cent of migrant women from Nepal reported facing issues in their destination countries, including long working hours, the withholding of salaries, as well as physical and verbal abuse.

Binita's sister, Muna, spent eight years as a domestic worker in Lebanon and Dubai. While in Lebanon, she was forced to work up to 18 hours a day, with virtually no breaks.

"I remember I had to wash so many dishes with hot water and chemicals, and there were rashes all over my hands," she said. "They would also lock away the food, so I could barely eat. There are some painful memories."

She fears that Binita may endure similar hardships.

"I hope that her experience will be better than mine, but it is difficult not to worry."

According to Alia El-Yassir, regional director for UN Women Asia and the Pacific, more women from South Asia are migrating for work abroad.

"From what we know, restrictive policies and complex procedures are forcing women migrant workers to use irregular channels that remain largely under the official radar," she said.

"[They] may be deceived about the nature of the job, the conditions of employment, the location of their workplace, as well as the payment of recruitment and other migration related fees," she added.

Renu* left Nepal as an undocumented worker to escape a deceptive marriage after she found out that her partner had lied about his age and background when she was 17. But she was not formally educated, and knew she would struggle to find a job by herself.

She had heard of agencies who could help women get work abroad as domestic workers and applied, hoping to find her own financial security outside Nepal.

The agency brought her and five others to Syria, under the pretence that they were travelling with their husbands. Once they got to Syria, they were all sent to different houses to work as domestic helpers.

But Renu told This Week in Asia that she knew immediately that something was wrong. Her employers did not pay her, and she worked under extremely abusive conditions.

"All day I worked from 6am until past midnight. They would not give me any food or time to rest, and I was being physically tortured," she said.

"The landlord and landlady would beat me. Their sons were monsters. It was like a nightmare."

Despite being told by her agent that she would have the option to return to Nepal after three months, Renu said nobody came back for her, and she was unable to leave her employer's home.

After a year, things took a turn for the worse when Renu learned her employers had planned to force her into prostitution.

"I found out that they were offering me to unknown men for sexual relations. When I said no to this, my landlady beat me and threatened to kill me. I knew I had to get away," she said.

Renu said she escaped through an unlocked gate, and ran through a forest for days. On the third day, she was woken up by a man who told her she was in Lebanon.

She spent the next seven years in Lebanon, where she got married and had three children. She eventually returned to Nepal, but has been shunned by her community.

"My family does not accept me, my mother sees me as someone who is immoral," Renu said.

"I do not like to remember my days [as a migrant worker], but I will say all this because I don't want any of my sisters from Nepal or any other woman to face what happened to me," she added.

Pourakhi co-founder said her organisation's emergency shelters house at least 380 to 400 women every year who have stories like Renu.

"But these are only those who seek help, we do not know how many more women are out there," Gurung said.

"The patriarchal mindset of Nepali society sees it as a social stigma when women go and work abroad. Once they come back, society sees them as a bad woman with an impure character," she added.

El-Yassir from UN Women concurred, adding that women returnees, particularly those who faced sexual abuse or trafficking abroad, may also face violence at the hands of their husbands or in-laws at home.

To ensure comprehensive protection, preventive and supportive measures must be implemented throughout the entire migration process, she added.

This includes establishing safeguards during the recruitment stage, providing resources and help to women already abroad, and offering support upon their return to their home countries.

"Governments can play a critical role in addressing the needs of women at all stages of migration, particularly in the recruitment and pre-departure phases," she said, urging engagement and increased accountability for private and public recruitment agencies.

Binita, who is waiting for her documents to be finalised through a licensed agency before she heads to Kuwait, is sad to leave her children but hopes she can provide a better future for them.

"I was not educated, so I know the importance." she said. "I am sad to leave my family and children but I am hopeful I can do this for their sake."

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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