After receiving multiple calls from Sunar, Pabitra approached police, Maiti Nepal, Nepalgunj, and many other organizations seeking help to rescue her aunt but without success. "She says she has no option to taking her own life, if her aunt is not rescued from Saudi Arabia," said Pabitra.[break]
Likewise, Tej Bahadur Damai of Sorhawa Municipality-2 too has been trying to rescue his wife Laxmi Damai who went to Kuwait a year ago and wanted to come back after her first day at work. Dami who has gone to different organizations for help does not even know the exact location in Kuwait where his wife is.
Along with the rise in the trend of women from rural Nepal going to Gulf countries for employment, there has also been a rise in the difficulties these women are facing. These women who choose foreign employment to earn money often come back with horrifying experiences and a lot of pain. Instances of sexual abuse and extreme physical abuse is common among these women.
Even though the number of requests for rescue of such women is on the rise, actual rescue, however, has been significantly low. In 2010 alone, relatives of 242 women who are in the Gulf countries have requested for assistance in rescue in Nepalgunj branch of Maiti Nepal alone but only 21 of them were rescued. And in 2009, families of 159 women requested for rescue but only 26 of them could be contacted.
As per Maiti Nepal´s data, only 159 out of 879 women who have been reported missing since 2002 have been rescued till date. Mostly aged between 25-42 years, majority of these women come from the Dalit community in Banke, Bardiya, Dang and Surkhet.
According to Kesab Koirala, coordinator of Maiti Nepal, lack of resources has made it difficult to rescue these women. "It is easier to rescue women who have been sold in India than rescuing these women," he said.
Apart from India, women go to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman in search of employment, mostly via India. Researches conducted by various organizations reveal that in the recent years 10,000-12,000 women go abroad annually for employment.
Related story
Unwanted Pregnancies: The unimaginable pain of Nepali Gulf retu...
