Protests Erupt In Nepal As Government Proposes New Travel Ban On Women

Travel ban on women: The government of Nepal has proposed a new law that if passed will ban women from travelling abroad without the permission of their families and government officials.

The law has been seen as "ridiculous" and unconstitutional by the women activists of the country. Department of Immigration in Nepal, who proposed the law, require women under the age of 40 to seek permission from the authorities and family members before going to Africa or the Middle East. The department has said that only "vulnerable" women will be asked to so in order to prevent human trafficking.

This made women come on the streets as they protested the proposed law. The protestors highlighted the issue and called it a threat to the rights of women.

“What is extremely dangerous is the thought process behind it. The very fact that a policymaker is thinking about drafting this law restricting the movement of adult girls and women tells us how deep-rooted the patriarchal mindset is," said Hima Bista, executive director of a women's rights organisation Women Lead Nepal.

She added that the "blanket approach" which targets girls and women does not work. "More homework is required if immigration rules are to be changed, across all genders and within the immigration department itself.”

A former election commissioner of Nepal, Ila Sharma called the law a "preposterous" and that the educated bureaucracy by doing this is objectifying women. She added that the proposed law is proof that policymakers do not see women as adults.

Sharma said, “Instead of empowering and building the capacity of women, as well as the rest of the emigrant labour workforce, they are being regressive, unconstitutional, not to say ridiculous.”

According to the data given by Nepal’s Human Rights Commission, 35,000 people were trafficked in 2018 and 15,000 of them were women.  Activists have said that since women were not the only ones being trafficked, the law should consider men and women equally.

Earlier, the Nepal government had put a ban on Nepali citizens from working in the Gulf as domestic workers. That law had also targetted women.

South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch Meenakshi Ganguly said that the proposal can force women into riskier, undocumented employment which will increase the danger of trafficking and abuse. She suggested that instead of the travel ban, the Nepal government should "regulate agencies, work with destination country governments to put protections in place and respond effectively to provide protection services when abuses occur."