Domestic servitude

Banning women from work is not the answer, says Caritas

Banning women from work is not the answer, says Caritas

Nepal’s August 2012 ban preventing women under 30 from working in Gulf countries is well-meaning but misguided, according to Caritas migration experts. The ban is intended to protect young women from suffering abuse while they work as maids in private homes. For years, Caritas has worked with survivors of such abuse. “We appreciate the government ...

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Photo exhibit highlights plight of Nepali women

Photo exhibit highlights plight of Nepali women

Caritas staff members and colleagues from six continents were in Rome for Caritas Internationalis governance meetings this week. They also had time to  see a photo exhibit showcasing Caritas’ work to stop human trafficking and unsafe migration. The exhibit, hosted at the residence of U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Miguel Diaz and funded by ...

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FAQs on human trafficking in Nepal

FAQs on human trafficking in Nepal

What is human trafficking?  Human trafficking is a crime in which traffickers deceive and recruit people, often across national borders, for the purpose of exploitation (forced labour, beggary, prostitution or removal of organs). Traffickers often lure impoverished victims with false promises of good jobs. When a person is working against their will, is not being ...

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Sold out: Migration and human trafficking in Nepal

Sold out: Migration and human trafficking in Nepal

In Asia’s slums or impoverished villages, women and teenage girls will listen when a well-dressed stranger offers them a job. In Nepal, a poor country on the northeast border with India, thousands of young women leave their homes in search of work abroad. Sometimes the jobs offered are legitimate—the women earn money and help their ...

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Alem’s life is over, but her story is not: ending domestic worker abuse in Lebanon

Alem’s life is over, but her story is not: ending domestic worker abuse in Lebanon

Recently, a viral video showing the abuse of an Ethiopian migrant in Lebanon shocked those who saw it. The Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center (CLMC) has worked with abused housemaids for years and sends us this timeline in the life of Alem, who was known to CLMC staff. By Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center Staff Like over ...

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Caritas in Mexico: Standing alongside migrants who are hostage to violence

Caritas in Mexico: Standing alongside migrants who are hostage to violence

Criminal gangs are not the only danger that migrants must face. Private security forces responsible for the protection of trains and goods, and some representatives of the State (federal police, migration officers) also take part in exploiting the weakness of migrants.

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On board trains to the United States, migrants are not alone

On board trains to the United States, migrants are not alone

It is 7:30pm, in Amatlan, in the province of Cordoba Veracruz. The train whistle blows in the distance. In Norma Romero Vazquez’ kitchen, headquarters of the “Patronas “, women bustle about.. Carmen, 90, the oldest of the women in the family, takes a crate filled with bags of food. Along with her daughters and granddaughters, Carmen ...

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Domestic worker abuse: Battered, bruised but back in Nepal

Domestic worker abuse: Battered, bruised but back in Nepal

By Laura Sheahen, “When I got home, my family saw my condition and cried.” Twenty-four-year old Damber Kumari Gurung had left her village in Nepal for Saudi Arabia to work as a maid. More than a year later, she came back covered with bruises. She’d worked long hours in a private Saudi home, getting about ...

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