Abu Dhabi: After recently lifting a more than a decade-long ban on the emigration of housemaids to the Gulf, Nepal is likely to impose further restrictions on maids, according to Nepalese media reports.
The Himalayan nation has decided to ban women under 30 from working in the Gulf to prevent possible abuse of women, Nepalese media reported, quoting Raj Kishore Yadav, Nepal’s minister of information and communication. The age bar is aimed at preventing some of the abuse, reports quoted Yadav as saying.
But diplomats at the Nepalese Embassy in Abu Dhabi told Gulf News on Monday they were still awaiting official communication from the Nepalese Government in this regard.
Nepal lifted the ban on the emigration of female domestic workers into the Middle East, including the GCC states, in June 2011. But the country announced new rules and regulations on the recruitment of female domestic workers in November 2011 and prospective employers started approaching the embassy in Abu Dhabi from early this year to recruit maids.
About 607 Nepalese housemaids have arrived in the UAE since October 2011, said L.B. Chhetri, the first Secretary at the embassy. He said most of them were between 25 and 35 years old but the number of housemaids under 30 was not readily available. Chhetri said the figure does not include the housemaids who arrived in the UAE illegally although some of them have amended their status as per the new regulations.
The Himalayan Times, the English newspaper in Nepal, quoted Kumar Belbase, Nepalese Minister of Labour and Employment as saying: “We decided to put an age bar because mature women can better protect themselves. Other South Asian countries also have similar provision.”
Stringent regulations
Bal Bahadur Tamang, President, Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies, shared the minister’s views.
Nepal banned the employment of domestic workers in the Middle East more than a decade ago after receiving complaints of harassment. But Kathmandu decided to lift the ban last year because many Nepalese women were illegally coming to the Middle East via neighbouring countries to work as domestic helps.
After lifting the ban, the Nepalese government imposed stringent regulations on the foreign employment of housemaids. The Department of Foreign Employment in Kathmandu has to give a Foreign Employment Permit to a prospective domestic worker to go abroad for employment, based on the attestation of relevant documents by the Nepalese Embassy in the host country.
A prospective sponsor in the UAE must submit about 14 documents including a police report proving a clean criminal record, a salary certificate showing a minimum Dh10,000 monthly income (excluding cost of accommodation) and an undertaking to pay a minimum Dh900 monthly salary to the housemaid in addition to food and accommodation.
A Dh5,000 refundable security deposit must also be paid at the embassy.
