Dozens of Nepalese men are being cheated out of their wages by employers in Kuwait, despite laws designed to protect them.

The men say they are promised high monthly wages by recruiters in Nepal but find they can barely survive on what they are paid once they get to Kuwait.

A growing number of Nepalese workers are joining the hundreds of thousands of other South Asian expatriates in the oil-rich Gulf state.

They come to work mainly as cleaners and housemaids even though they are often over-qualified for the job. But of all the Asians working in Kuwait, the Nepalese are the most at risk of exploitation.

They have no embassy to protect their interests. Many of the contracting companies that employ them know this and take full advantage of it.

Sexual abuse

For Nepalese women, working in Kuwait can be even more hazardous than for the men. Due to past cases of abuse their government forbids them from working there as housemaids.

Yet hundreds are smuggled regularly across the Nepalese border to India, where the recruiting agents arrange their work visas.

While many succeed in earning the high salaries of their dreams, many more fall victim to physical and sexual abuse.

One Nepalese housemaid who was a mother of five was recently raped repeatedly by her Kuwaiti employer's son. When she complained to his father the son took his revenge by pushing her off a top-floor balcony.