KATHMANDU, July 30: People are falling prey to human trafficking and other human risks due to unsafe foreign employment. Various reports show that foreign employment has been used as a means of human trafficking.

The number of people going abroad for employment both legally and illegally is on the increase. They are subjected to various forms of exploitation there.

The number of Nepali people who go abroad for employment through India, especially its capital Delhi is also significant.

Those Nepali people who reach foreign countries in search of jobs in an illegal manner are trapped in many problems. For example, they are forced to do things they are not supposed to do as per the contract they sign. They do not get the salaries mentioned in the contract. Some of them dissatisfied with the working conditions under which they are forced to work are not allowed by their employers to return to Nepal. Some of them have been seriously injured; some of them have breathed their last there.

The condition of Nepali women who were lured to different foreign countries by human traffickers is more pitiable than that of their male counterparts. According to the existing Act on control of human trafficking, those who are found guilty of the crime of human trafficking will be liable to a 20-year jail term and a fine amounting to Rs 200,000. The positive aspect of this Act is that it allows everyone to lodge a complaint against human traffickers.

As many as 251 persons have been rescued from countries such as India, Kenya, Libya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan and Iraq following the establishment of Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau (HTIB) under Nepal Police. HTIB Chief SSP Ishwar Babu Karki said that though the number of Nepali women trafficked for sexual exploitation has decreased, that of those trafficked for economic exploitation has increased.

Most of the foreign employment-related complaints lodged at the HTIB established two months ago are related to human trafficking. One of the complaints lodged at the HTIB involves one Nepali youth who was confined to one room in Iraq where he went for employment for ten months. This video contains the edited version of the conversation with him