Nepal bans young women from working in the Middle East over exploitation fears...

Nepal has officially prohibited women under the age of 30 from emigrating to Middle Eastern countries to seek work as domestic help, over reports of abuse and exploitation in the host nations, particularly Saudi Arabia.

South Asian and East Asian housemaids and other servants have long complained of abusive treatment at the hands of their Arab employers, including sexual assaults, violence, the confiscation of passports and the withholding of wages.

In 2010, 15 Nepali servants committed suicide in Lebanon due to gross abuses.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the African nation of Kenya have also implemented or proposed similar bans on women going to the Middle East to work.

Nepalis were outraged many years ago by the suicide of a woman after suffering abuse from her employers in Kuwait. That led to a 12-year ban against young women migrating to the Persian Gulf until it was lifted in 2010. Now, that ban has been restored. Full story...

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