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Nepal must recognise and protect its undocumented female domestics in West Asia while legalising migration
03 February 2025
Ayushman Bhagat and Sunita Mainali
Photo: GOPEN RAI
Nepal is set to lift its ban on domestic workers migrating to West Asia, starting with a pilot agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This decision marks a major victory for advocacy groups, human rights organisations, the ILO, activists, media, and scholars who have campaigned against the restriction, saying it increases the vulnerability of workers to exploitation.
This legally binding agreement with a country that employs hundreds of thousands of Nepali domestic workers should be a cause for celebration, but lifting the migration ban on a pilot basis raises pressing questions.
How will the government select the 5,000 domestic workers? How will it reach prospective workers? And what provisions will be made for those migrating to the UAE without permits?
We also need to look at how the government plans to reintegrate returnee workers, and engage rights organisations, activists, and scholars in the consultation and negotiation process, and recognise unrecognised Nepali migrant domestic workers already in the UAE.
The lack of information on Nepali domestic workers abroad stems from long-standing migration bans imposed by the government as a protectionist policy. For years, Nepal has imposed various degrees and forms of bans on domestic workers' mobility, mainly affecting women, culminating in a blanket ban since 2017. This was eased in 2020 with the introduction of seven preconditions, but it only reinforced barriers instead of offering a solution.
Read more: https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/ban-on-female-migrant-workers-to-be-lifted