Kathmandu, February 26

Due to loopholes in the law, people going for foreign employment and victims of human trafficking have been deprived of justice.

Many illegal manpower companies are involved in human trafficking in the name of sending youths for foreign employment. Foreign Employment Act 2008 and Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act 2008 ensures justice to the victims of foreign employment and human trafficking respectively.

However, due to lack of clarity in both the acts, if a person is trafficked to other countries in the name of foreign employment, he/she is deprived of justice.

“Due to loopholes in both the acts, many victims of human trafficking are still awaiting justice,” said Sabin Shrestha, an advocate.

He said the government is planning to amend both Acts by the end of this year. He further added that traffickers had found new ways of trafficking women and girls.

According to data with Ministry of Labour and Employment, there are 4,777,634 registered migrant workers engaged in various countries. “But there is no record of people who went for foreign employment illegally,” said Roshna Pradhan, an advocate at Forum for Women, Law and Development Nepal. She informed that there should be clear law that gives prompt justice to people cheated by manpower companies and people trafficked to other countries in the name of foreign employment.

Speaking at an interaction organised by Forum for Women, Law and Development Nepal here today, Pradhan said the government should make clear laws to punish people and manpower companies involved in human trafficking in the name of providing foreign employment service and should compensate victims.