UAE | Employment
Nepal plans to lift restrictions on recruitment of maids to Mideast
Nepal is considering lifting a ban on the recruitment of housemaids in the Middle East, said Mohammad Aftab Alam, the Nepalese Minister of Labour and Transport Management.
- By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter
- Published: 22:54 August 29, 2009
Dubai: Nepal is considering lifting a ban on the recruitment of housemaids in the Middle East, said Mohammad Aftab Alam, the Nepalese Minister of Labour and Transport Management.
Alam who is in Dubai for the third two-day Non-Resident Nepalese (NRN) conference, said this would being done to counter unregistered recruitment agencies who get Nepalese women to the Middle East via neighbouring countries India and Bangladesh.
However, key Nepalese participants at the conference were of the opinion that prior to lifting the ban on housemaids, their government should ensure that Nepalese diplomatic missions in the Middle East were given the capacity to assist to Nepalese housemaids who approach the embassy in times of need.
Nepal opened an embassy in the UAE in 2004. It was then headed by a Charge d'Affairs, but a year and a half ago, Arjun B. Thapa was appointed as the first ambassador to the UAE.
There are 125,258 Nepalese citizens in the UAE. Of this number, 75,000 are in Dubai.
"We are encountering certain problems because of the non-registered agencies in Nepal who target women from villages.
"These women, when they end in a problem, approach our diplomatic missions. We are unable to track down the culprits who were behind recruiting them in illegal manner.
"By lifting the ban we will be able to streamline the recruitment of housemaids to this part of the world and will also be able to bring their agents to book if we come across an irregularities," said Alam.
The NRN conference will also serve as a curtain-raiser for the Global NRN conference that is scheduled to take place in October in Katmandu this year.
Ambassador Thapa said its was difficult to check monitor the illegally recruited Nepalese housemaids in the Middle East.
He said the embassy had received cases and had tried to solve them.
"It is often the case [that] victims, when they approach us, do not even know who had exactly recruited and sent them here to the UAE. As a result we are unable to get to the culprits and refer them to the law," Ambassador Thapa said.
He also added that Nepal facilitates orientation programmes for its nationals who travel overseas for employment.
'[The] majority of Nepalese in the UAE are employed as construction workers, security guards and in the hospitality sector," said Thapa.
A Nepalese citizen has to pay 70,000 Nepalese rupees (Dh3,352) to accredited recruitment agencies to register for an overseas employment. This amount is fixed by the government.
More from UAE Employment
More from UAE
Latest news
- Youngsters dance and raise cash for charity
- Dubai departments upgrade services
- New Smart e-Gate ‘will speed passenger flow'
- Get yourself a free test for diabetes
- Breaking down cultural barriers with photographs
- Ensuring a safety net for intellectual property
- Reader's issue addressed
- 5,552 illegals held in Dubai this year
- Man cleared because he took drugs in France
- Secret source scheme reaps rewards
- Man charged with trafficking women
- Auditors to probe Mizin graft case
- Abu Dhabi Crown Prince visits Islamic centre
- Transfusion centre launches new toll free number
- Car seats for children: Unsafe at any speed
Community Reports
-
Mirror, mirror show me the way
Driver on Salam Street had so many boxes and fruits piled into car, he would not be able to view rear or right side mirrors
-
Parents should be more vigilant
Reader's picture highlights risk of negligence by caretakers
-
Warming up to ‘Mobilise the Earth' theme
Dubai school dedicates a whole week to celebrating Earth Day with can-collection drives, sapling plantation and painting competition among others
-
Drivers using mobiles put others' lives at risk
Speeding is dangerous for the driver and other motorists
