From the mountains to the sea – Nepalese workers banned from Lebanon
The global interconnectivity of nations is no surprise, but the specifics of the engagement can be intriguing. Nepal, the evocative remote mountain Kingdom, has long been a source of domestic workers for Lebanon. Nothing so unusual about that. There are large numbers of Asian laborers in the Middle East.
However, as is sometimes the case in international labor markets, there is often a dark underbelly to the trade. In many cases, Asians sell or mortgage their little patch of hereditary land to fund their journey overseas for work. Current economic conditions have seen many having to return home, large number of construction workers from Dubai just as one example. These workers return home destitute and are now often absent the family land that would have supported them in nations with no welfare systems. Their future is dire
This lack of options leaves many workers depressed, and sometimes suicidal. In the case of the Nepalese workers in Lebanon, it is estimated 10 have died or committed suicide since October alone. Many of these workers hand over their passports on arrival as surety to gain employment and end up in situations equivalent to domestic servitude. In a drastic step to curtail this problem, the Nepalese Government a work deployment ban to Lebanon ceasing the ability of workers travelling there for work. While the intent of the ban is admirable, the consequence may well be an absence of economic opportunities for Nepalese laborers
Nepal reintroduced last week a work deployment ban for Lebanon, highlighting growing international concern over the treatment of migrant domestic workers following a wave of suicides over the last two months. According to a report published Saturday by Nepalese newspaper The Himalayan Times, Nepal’s Department of Foreign Employment reintroduced the ban, lifted in May, because of the recent suicides of two female nationals.
Sunit Bholan, 22, allegedly committed suicide October 8, and Mina Rokaya, 24, died in hospital on October 23. A police report seen by Human Rights Watch (HRW) says she died from a heart attack. The women are among at least 10 migrant domestic workers to have died since October.
“The ban … is a necessary emergency step in the face of an alarming rise in the number of suicides by domestic workers in Lebanon,” said Fatima Gomar, editor of Migrant-Rights.org. “There is a growing understanding among Asian governments that they need to step up and bar their citizens from working in countries where their rights are not protected.”
Still, Gomar doubted the ban would halt Nepalese workers travelling to Lebanon illegally.
Nepalese workers, the majority of them women, count for some 17,000 out of approximately 200,000 migrant workers in Lebanon.
The Daily Star – Lebanon News – Nepal bans migration to Lebanon amid abuse fears
