Nepalese women, who came from Nepal to Sulaymaniyah due to financial distress in Nepal in order to build a better life, have worked under unsecured working conditions as waitresses at cafés or restaurants, domestic workers, and babysitters.

ŞÎNYAR BAYÎZ

Sulaymaniyah- Women facing financial difficulties in Nepal have been brought to some cities of the Kurdistan Region by private companies with the cooperation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kurdistan Regional Government. They have worked as waitresses at cafés or restaurants, domestic workers, and babysitters, and they speak Kurdish very well. These women, who have lived miles away from their own country, have worked under unsecured working conditions. The resolution of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kurdistan Regional Government for these women and other foreign workers, who even cannot resort to the jurisdiction for rights violations they have faced, is Social Consensus Commissions… There is no laws protecting these women, and they are often afraid to even tell what they face.

Laws don’t protect women

Baxê Giştî Park in Sulaymaniyah is like a place reserved for them every Friday. They come together, cook their local food and spend time together there. Most of them are women from Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Ghana. These women have worked as waitresses at cafés or restaurants, domestic workers, and babysitters. These women, who come to Sulaymaniyah, miles away from their countries in order to deal with economic problems and survive, are like pictures of the trauma and tragedies formed in human life by the economic crises in poor countries.

“I had a hard time when I first came”

Nakshimi is a Nepalese woman living in Sulaymaniyah for five years. She has worked as a domestic worker for a private company. Nakshimi told us that she came from Nepal to work in Kurdistan, “Because you cannot receive recompense for your work in Nepal. I had a hard time when I first came. However, after I started working, I felt a little better. We rarely visit our country because the government gives us a rough time when we want to visit our country. We spend our weekly leave day at this park; we try to have a nice day together.”

“We came here due to financial distress”

Nurgin Lama is one of the women who moved to Sulaymaniyah with their family. She also came from Nepal to Sulaymaniyah due to financial distress in Nepal. She has lived in Sulaymaniyah for eight years. She doesn’t work but her husband wage is not enough for them to earn a living so she cooks their local food and sells them at the Baxê Giştî Park with her husband. “I come here with my husband to sell our local food. Our local food is very different from Kurdish food.”