Situation of access to justice to Nepalese returnee female migrant workers

Abstract

The recent trend of women in foreign employment has increased considerably. The significant rise of WMWs is mainly grounded on government policies and the various ban imposed by Nepalese government on WMWs urging the need to protect the women from exploitation and abuse in the destination country. The paper explored the extent to which States protect the interests of women migrant workers in receiving countries under international and human rights standards. The purpose behind writing this paper was to identify the gaps within the existing legal frameworks and determine obstacles to access justice for returnees. Purposive sampling was used to determine the participants for interview. Out of 15 participants, 5 representatives were from government sectors and 10 representatives were from the civil societies working on the behalf of women migrant workers. The data were analyzed using content analysis approach with narrative reflection. The conclusion was that the social status of the returnee women migrants in relation to social, economic, cultural, living standard and psychological aspects are poor. Nepal as a member State to many international treaties which declared standards to protect the civil and economic rights of the people should have a responsibility to adopt a strong policy, international agreements and national laws which align with the international standards to ensure the protection of the rights of these workers. However, the rights are still violated massively. The paper evaluated the existing laws and policies and suggested to strengthen the prevailing policy and laws regarding Nepalese returnee female migrant workers and take appropriate measures to ensure that women migrant workers' rights are not violated.