The new Foreign Employment Act will likely repeal the ban on Nepali women going to work in Gulf countries. In recent months women have bypassed the prohibition by travelling out via India. After 15 Nepali women were stopped on 20 September at the border by police and Maiti Nepal workers, numerous stories came to light of women being promised jobs in Dubai then being sold to brothels in India or abused and mistreated by Gulf employers (\'Trafficking tactics', #320).

Representatives from the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management, the Department of Labour and Employment Promotion, and UNIFEM met last week to discuss "the safety of women employed as domestic workers in foreign countries".

There was a general consensus that the ban should be repealed, as a way to monitor overseas employment, and ensure women have legal recourse if mistreated. Advocate Som Luitel said the ban was a violation of women's human rights, adding that it "has caused more illegal migration, putting women in danger of being abused."

Official records for 2006 show that so far 175,000 Nepalis have legally gone abroad to work, which means about 500 leave every day. However, there are few estimates for how many women go without government permission or help from manpower agencies. The Association of Foreign Employment Entrepreneurs says that of the roughly one million Nepalis in the foreign work force, about 40,000 are women.

Dambar K Shrestha