Kathmandu, July 16 -- On March 17, just a week before Nepal imposed a nationwide lockdown, 17 Nepali women arrived at the Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE was supposed to be their layover destination before they flew to Kuwait and Iraq for employment. The women, who had travelled all the way from the Indian capital of Delhi, were received by a Bangladeshi man, who called himself Rupen, at the airport. Rupen was their recruitment agent.

Upon landing in the UAE, Rupen told the women that they would have to stay in Abu Dhabi for a few days before their connecting flights to Kuwait and Iraq were arranged. However, two days into their arrival in the UAE, the Persian Gulf state suspended all flight services ...