July 3: A study conducted by the People’s Forum for Human Rights, an organization that provides free legal aid to those who are in trouble during foreign employment, found that Nepali nationals who go to Saudi Arabia for foreign employment with a labor permit are mostly cheated.

The report was prepared after studying the condition of about 3,000 victims who received legal aid from the organization in a year.

In the current fiscal year, 64 percent of the people who were duped in course of foreign employment filed complaints in Nepal itself, while 15.45 percent filed cases in Saudi Arabia and 10.45 percent in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The study revealed that Nepali migrant workers visiting Malaysia, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan for employment are also being cheated. The study report states that 48.21 percent of people were duped by agents and 51.79 percent people were duped by the manpower companies.

Adviser to the People's Forum and Advocate Som Prasad Luintel said that fraud cases in the name of foreign employment has not improved much in recent times. He says that the number of people involved in cheating by sending people abroad on visit visas has increased considerably.

Another advocate Sudip Devkota said that the problem of fraud cases increased after the government amended some laws in 2075 BS to make it illegal for manpower to hire agents. In addition, it is difficult to take action.

According to the People’s Forum, free legal aid has been provided to 26,145 people who were the victims of duping in foreign employment since 2011.