With nearly 2,000 leaving the country to work abroad every single day, it should not be surprising if some of the three million Nepalis in the Gulf end up behind bars in host countries. And those incarcerated might have been punished for valid reasons. But most of those arrested, most commonly for overstaying their visas or getting into the country through illegal channels, cannot afford lawyers to fight their case in the court of law, which denies them their inalienable right to fair trial.

Thus there is also a distinct possibility that not all of the Nepalis serving time abroad might have been arrested for valid reasons. It has now emerged that around 500 Nepalis are currently languishing at various jails and detention centers in Malaysia; many more have gone into hiding after recently losing their legal status. Most troublingly, the loved ones of those who have died while working in Malaysia have not been able to get the bodies for the final rites. 

The government has, at long last, initiated a process to help the troubled Nepalis in jails and to repatriate dead bodies. In the first phase, around Rs 2 million is being released for the purpose. But this is nearly not enough. 

For these problems are far from unique to Malaysia. Recently, there have been reports of some new Nepali mothers being jailed in Saudi Arabia after they failed to properly identify the fathers of their newborns. These women are in a limbo as most fathers are foreigners and Nepali law bars travel papers to those born of foreign fathers. Qatar has been another destination where an untold number of Nepalis are behind bars. Again, most of these workers have been rightly punished, in keeping with the local (albeit a little harsh and often questionable) laws. But however they got there, there is always a moral responsibility on the country of their origin to look after their wellbeing, wherever they are—and even if some of them might have committed genuine crimes. 

Ideally, all illegal channels of export of foreign laborers should be closed so that many of these arrests abroad can be preempted. Yet this will be an extremely difficult task at a time the country has miserably failed to provide employment opportunities to its growing ranks of working-age population. The situation is so bad that currently, it does not even have enough energy to keep its semi-functional factories humming for half the day. Yet it will call for a delicate balancing act. 

Tighten the noose too much and those prevented from working abroad might revolt, demanding gainful employment at home. But make the rules too lax and the risk is that more and more Nepalis could get into trouble abroad, with Nepali government always having to come to their rescue, at great cost to the exchequer as well as the country’s bargaining power in the comity of nations. The best way would be to help would-be migrants leave through proper channels by providing them credible information and timely assistance, for instance in vetting the credentials of the companies they have applied to. 

Currently, a system to deal with these issues that are mounting by the day is missing. But surely, at the rate they are cropping up, they will be impossible to deal with solely through ad hoc mechanisms. 

Published on: 12 May 2014 | Republica