Sthaneswor Devkota, executive director, Foreign Employment Promotion Board, said preparations were underway to open temporary refuges in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, where a sizable number of Nepali women is working.
Likewise, a shelter house will be set up in Kathmandu to accommodate the traumatized women immediately after their arrival in the country before rehabilitating them in the society.
“It is high time that we established shelter houses in those destinations to temporarily settle the,” Devkota added.
The government came up with the idea to address the social stigma faced by migrant women workers, who return home after getting victimized abroad.
Devkota said the government was going to award the contract to run the shelter houses to non-governmental organizations.
“Paurakhi, an organization working for women victims, has forwarded a proposal to run the shelter house in Kathmandu to accommodate 20 persons,” Devkota said. He said the NGO has estimated a cost of Rs 3.2 million a year to run the shelter house.
Nepalese embassies abroad are learnt to have demanded budget to assist the women workers, who are in problems in foreign land.
According to Devkota, Nepalese embassy in Israel has demanded US$10,000 (Rs 800,000) while the UAE-based embassy has demanded Rs one million to cover the annual costs of the shelter houses.
The government has provided US$ 2000 each to the embassies in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Malaysia for the purpose.
Nepali women workers are victims of sexual violence, under payment, misbehavior, swindling and breach of job contract by employers and brokers.
Though the existing Foreign Employment Act envisages setting up of shelter houses in major job destinations to address the plight of women victims of abuses, the same has not been materialized yet.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
Related story
14,000 Nepali workers perish abroad in 16 years of foreign empl...
