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India Imposes Ban to Curb Trafficking of Women

The Indian government has banned the emigration of women under 30 as domestic help to several countries in order to check the possibility of their sexual exploitation, the Times of India reported.

The ban will apply to countries for which workers need to obtain emigration clearance from Indian authorities before leaving India, it was reported. These countries include the Gulf nations (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman) Malaysia, Syria, Jordan, Afghanistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Iraq, Brunei, Nigeria, Sudan and Libya.

According to government data, more than 500,000 people leave India for work every year while unofficial estimates put the figure at about a million. Many are women recruited as nurses and maids, usually from India’s southern states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Indian media regularly reports about lowly-paid Indian housemaids being physically and sexually abused by their employers. But complaints are rarely registered.

Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chowdhury had recently visited Kuwait where she received a number of complaints from women who had been brought in as domestic help only to be forced into trafficking after their passports and visas were impounded by their employers.

Adapted from: "India imposes ban to curb trafficking of women." Khaleej Times 15 May 2007 (edited). (Source: UNIAP Cambodia).