Kathmandu, March 28

International Relations and Labour Committee of the Parliament today said racketeers were working in collusion with customs officials at Tribhuvan International Airport to traffic Nepali women to Gulf countries.

Upon arrival at TIA after conducting field study on the situation of Nepali migrant workers in the Gulf, committee chairperson Prabhu Sah told mediapersons that trafficking of women was not be possible without collusion with customs officials. A team lead by Sah had visited Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates as part of the study mission.

He informed that the team found many Nepali women in hellish conditions and said the government would be directed to deal with the situation. “Nepal is turning into a source country of human trafficking due to inaction by Department of Immigration and diplomatic missions abroad,” Sah said.

The committee also observed that Nepali migrant workers were not given jobs as promised in the contract before leaving country and manpower agent were cheating them.

“Though the government has a free visa policy, we did not find a single respondent who benefited from this provision. Many Nepali women have been trafficked to restricted countries like Iran, Iraqm and Oman via the Gulf,” he said.

Nepali women and girls trafficked by organised crime syndicates used to end up in Indian cities like New Delhi and Mumbai. Now trafficking is not limited to neighbouring countries. The web of trafficking has gradually spread to the Gulf, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Lack of mutual agreements and extradition treaty with the new destination countries has posed a

serious challenge to Nepal Police’s efforts to bring home many accused of human trafficking, said security

officials.

According to Nepal Police, many women and girls were being trafficked out of the country under the cloak of foreign employment, marriage and abroad study.