Forty-year-old Krishna Bahadur Budha of Rukum and Jabar Singh Darlami,
25, of Nawalparasi had never met each other before in Nepal. They were
both caught without passports by immigration in Iran as they were trying
to make their way into Europe. Their case would have languished in the
local courts had Nepal’s ambassador to Pakistan Bharat Raj Poudel not
intervened. Poudel, who is also in charge of Nepali affairs in Iran,
took their case up to Iran’s vice president and the two men were
pardoned. Although they are technically free to go, Budha and Darlami
can’t go back to Nepal because they don’t have money to buy a ticket.
Budha and Darlami are not the only ones taking the backdoor to
Europe. A new route for human trafficking has hundreds of Nepalis flying
to the United Arab Emirates, crossing the Persian Gulf, and then going
over land via Iraq and Turkey over to Europe. In the past year, Poudel
says his embassy managed to return home dozens of Nepalis, sometimes in
groups as large as 15.
Migrants caught in Turkey are usually handled by the International Red Cross, International Migrants’ Alliance,
and other human rights organisations and eventually sent back. Since
these organisations aren’t as active in Iran, it is difficult for those
caught to make a case. And if the guilty parties cannot convince
authorities that they have the means to return immediately, they are
treated as ordinary criminals by Iran’s courts.
According to an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
countries like Iran and Iraq are not as open to other countries and
their administration tends to treat those without papers on par with
local criminals, instead of considering them victims of human
trafficking.
