Kathmandu, Shighra gharfirta aauna ashraya liyeka kaamdaar haruko pradarshan. KATHMANDU: A group of 28 Nepali housemaids who are taking shelter at the Nepali embassy in Kuwait have been staging protests for a week demanding their early return home. Emerging from the shelter, they started picketing the premises of the embassy from last Tuesday to pile pressure to either facilitate their early return to Nepal or create working opportunities in Kuwait. The embassy said most of the protesting housemaids were newcomers at the shelter, and stated their demand couldn’t be met immediately as some housemaids had been waiting to return home for more than one-and-a-half year. “We have been executing the return process on the basis of first-come-first serve,” Charge d’Affaires at the embassy Bishal Bhattarai told THT over phone. “Some housemaids have been waiting for one-and-a-half year. We cannot bypass them.” According to him, most of the 28 housemaids had come to the shelter in the last two months. Currently, some 240 Nepali housemaids are taking refuge at the Embassy shelter after facing physical, sexual, and financial exploitation from their employers. The Nepali mission has been running the shelter for workers who face hardship and need help. On September 30, a group of housemaids had emerged from the shelter saying they no longer wanted to remain there, but work in different places in Kuwait. Sanat Acharya, a human rights activist associated with Freedom Forum charged the Nepali mission was not doing the needful. “The housemaids have the right to work and also to return home,” Acharya said. “It seems the Nepali mission has failed to clear their cases and help them to either return home or resume work elsewhere in Kuwait.” Charge d’Affaires Bhattarai said the issue of housemaids was complicated. He said even though the maids suffered harassment and sexual and mental exploitation, many employers had filed “fake cases” such as theft against the maids. When a case is filed, it must be cleared otherwise they cannot return to Nepal. Such cases take months, even years to clear up, Bhattarai said. The same problems are faced by countries like India, Indonesia and the Philippines. “In Kuwait, the domestic law does not govern housemaids’ issues,” he said. “The fate of housemaids is based on the mercy of their employers. Even if our sisters are victimised, we need the help of their employers’ to get their passports back and ensure other processes.” About 55,000 Nepalis are officially working in the Gulf state. An additional 20,000 undocumented housemaids are also working there. The government has stopped sending housemaids to the Gulf countries since April, citing various challenges.