Families' long wait for justice over deaths

Compensation for Nepali migrant workers who died while working in Saudi Arabia can be hard to come by

- By Pete Pattisson SIRAHA, NEPAL

For years, Sitaram and Binita Das had longed for a son.

The couple loved their five daughters, but on the deeply conservative southern plains of Nepal, they faced having to raise large sums to pay for each of their dowries. With no way to afford such costs, they decided that Sitaram should join tens of thousands of other Nepalis going to Saudi Arabia in search of work.

The Gulf kingdom has seen a rise in demand for cheap migrant labour as it seeks to rebrand itself on the world stage, in part through large construction projects including futuristic cities, luxury resorts, theme parks and the hosting of the 2034 men's football World Cup.

Such rapid transformation is attracting global attention and, along with it, greater scrutiny of the alleged treatment of migrant workers such as Das in the country. When he left Nepal for Saudi Arabia, he knew his wife was pregnant, but not that he would never meet their baby.

In February 2024, a month before Rudke Krishna was born, Das was at work in a deep trench when, according to witnesses, the ground above him collapsed, crushing him to death.

Friends and strangers rallied round. Das's colleagues collected some money for the family, others heard about the tragedy on social media and chipped in and Binita received compensation from an insurance scheme in Nepal that her husband had paid into. But from his company and the Saudi authorities, said Binita, there was only silence. Even his outstanding salary-a paltry $213 a month-remains unpaid, she said.