“We are left stranded in Iraq and our agent has run away. Spread this message to the media and Nepal’s government,” Kalpana posted this status a month ago on her Facebook handle.
A follow-up done by Onlinekhabar about Kalpana found that the agent had allured Kalpana and other two women, and took them to Iraq through an illegal route. In February 2020, they were taken to Iraq through the UAE, on a visit visa.
According to her, after reaching Iraq, she was made a domestic worker, in a house. The agent sold her to the house owner for 5,000 dollars. There she has to do household chores for 18 hours a day. “On committing a mistake, due to the language barrier, the house owner used to beat me brutally,” she says. “They do not usually give me food.”
Due to the regular mental and physical torture, she got sick. She ran away from there and is currently staying at Nepali’s home. “I would have died, if I did not run away from there,” she says.
She appeals for her rescue and repatriation. Before leaving for Dubai, the agent told Pratibha Bishwakarma of Gorkha, that they would take her to Kyrgyzstan. But she was shaken to the core, when she was taken to Iraq, instead of Kyrgyzstan through Dubai.
In April 2024, she was recruited as a domestic worker in Iraq. She is depressed due to the workload. She cries every day with her husband on the telephone, asking him to rescue her. “She gets scared and anxious when seeing people,” says Basu, husband of Pratibha Bishwakarma. “She was not like that before.”
The government has prohibited travel to Iraq for employment. Travelling to Iraq for employment is illegal because the government does not provide work permits for Iraq. After the murder of 12 Nepalis in Iraq in 2061 BS, the Nepal government has imposed a ban on travelling to Iraq for employment.
Although a ban has been imposed on employment in Iraq, human traffickers are actively sending people there. They lure individuals with lofty dreams, taking them to Dubai on a visit visa before moving them to Iraq.
25 thousand Nepali in Iraq, majority are women
According to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of Nepal Police, Nepali women used to be taken to Iraq through India. However, these days, Nepali people are sent to Iraq from Dubai via the international airport, with the involvement of Nepal’s immigration authorities.
“The nexus of human traffickers is spread from Nepal to Dubai and Iraq, ” says the Spokesperson of AHTB Gautam Mishra. He says, “ The concerned authorities are well aware that the Nepali women are taken to Iraq through a visit visa.”
As stated by him, local agents target women with weak economic status, luring them with big dreams of earning a significant amount of money. According to the Non-Resident Nepali Association, Iraq, there are 25,000 Nepali in Kurdistan, among them 15,000 are female. Most of them reached there illegally.
Unsafe Nepali women workers
According to Indra Lal Gole, president of the Foreign Employment Rescue Organisation, which works for the welfare of Nepalis working in foreign countries, the price of women sold as domestic workers is determined by their body and face.
“The Nepali women are sold at 5000 to 8000 USD in Iraq’s household,” says Gole.
Those women who are sold are unsafe. They have to go through mental and physical abuse, he adds, “Some of them even have to suffer sexual abuse.”
The women who work as domestic workers work at least 15/16 hours per day. Not only in Iraq but also in the Gulf countries, the Nepal government has banned women from working as domestic workers, citing safety concerns.
Nima Sherpa, Vice President of Non-Resident Nepali Association, Iraq, says that male workers in Iraq are not as vulnerable as women. Men work as cooks, helpers, and waiters in hotels, restaurants, and cafes. Sherpa says that even though it is a conflict-ridden country, Nepalis are safe because most of them are in the cities of Kurdistan.
“The area where the Nepalis are currently living is Kurdistan,” he says, “It is 400 kilometres away from the war zone. This is a very safe place.”
Hostage for months
Rita Magar, who was taken to Iraq, has been a hostage for 5 months. Although she is sick the agent has not allowed her to return to Nepal. “They have locked me in a room for a long time,” she says, “They don’t let me go out, instead they beat me.”
The agent wants to sell her again to the house of an Iraqi citizen after she recovers. Five women including Shanti Maya Gole of Makwanpur have been held captive in Iraq for five months. In January, they reached Iraq through Dubai and now they have been held hostage in Kurdistan. The agent took their passports and other documents, demanding Rs 6,00,000, for their release.
Hardship in rescuing
“Rescuing those in trouble in Iraq is difficult because there is no Nepal’s diplomatic body and representative in Iraq,” says Sherpa. It is easy to enter Iraq, but difficult to return. A lot of Nepali have not been able to return to Nepal for years, he adds.
He further says that to return to Nepal from Iraq one needs to go through legal hassle and spend a huge amount of money. It is also hard to rescue Nepali women and return them to Nepal because their passports have been seized by the agent or the landlord.
The affairs of Iraq are handled by Nepal’s embassy in Kuwait. But Nepal’s embassy in Kuwait does not work effectively, says Sherpa. According to Sherpa, Nepalis in Iraq have repeatedly demanded that the Nepal government send a representative.
“Only if there is one government representative, a lot of issues will be resolved,” says Sherpa.
