Kathmandu, May 5

The National Human Rights Commission has taken stock of the situation of 44 women who were rescued from Dubai and sent home yesterday.

A press release issued by the constitutional rights watchdog said its officials visited the women and took stock of their situation. The women were being trafficked to Kuwait via Dubai from New Delhi. Immigration officials at the Dubai International Airport sent them back to New Delhi, citing they did not have visa to Kuwait. The NHRC also informed that it had launched further investigation into the case.

The women were set to be trafficked to Kuwait and other countries with the promise of job as housemaid by using fake travel documents. Earlier, the International Relations and Labour Committee of the Parliament had said that racketeers were working in collusion with immigration officials at Tribhuvan International Airport to traffic Nepali women to Gulf countries. According to the Parliamentary committee’s report, trafficking of women is not possible without collusion with immigration officials. A team led by Sah had visited Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates as part of the study mission.

The committee also observed that Nepali migrant workers were not given jobs as promised in the contract before leaving the country and manpower agents were cheating them. Earlier, Nepali women and girls trafficked by organised crime syndicates ended 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 Gulf countries, the 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 trafficking victims, said security officials.