EDITORIAL
Police the other day arrested an Indian youth from Bara district in southern Nepal while he was trying to kidnap two children, a nine month old girl child and another two years old boy. This is a heart-breaking story which is happening in the broad day light in different parts of the country time and again. There may be many such incidents happening unnoticed. This shows the fragile security system we do have. Fortunately, the children cried from inside the sack in which they were being wrapped while the man was taking them towards the porous Nepal- India border and the police caught the trafficker on time. This is just a tip of the ice-berg. Human trafficking is happening in our country many forms. Besides children being kidnapped to another country there are instances when women are being taken across the border in the pretext of providing attractive jobs and ultimately being sold in brothels. The third kind of trafficking is taking place in the form of migrant workers going abroad in search of good jobs and being cheated by the brokers.
Migrant workers leave for the foreign destinations through both legal and illegal channels, with the latter especially being used by women as the government has restricted them from working in the Gulf countries. Nepali women and girls have often been found stranded in war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq. Women labourers who land in Gulf countries with the assurance from the brokers or manpower agencies to provide them with attractive salaries, often face sexual exploitation and physical hazards. Our country is dependent on the remittances sent by the migrant workers, who are forced to work under worst conditions and face inhuman treatment after they leave their homeland. Instead of counting foreign currency earned through remittance, the government should provide them with good job opportunities within the country. Even if they have to go abroad in the search of jobs, they should be provided with skill development training and orientation classes before leaving the country. Poverty, illiteracy, lack of awareness and unemployment are the major causes behind the people leaving the country without knowing their real destination and the actual working conditions in the country they are heading towards. The government, the civil society and the concerned agencies should keep their eyes wide open towards such worsening situation of child and women trafficking happening in the country.