Why Nepali migrant workers are being buried in Iraq instead of home

High repatriation costs, legal hurdles and policy gaps leave families with no choice but to bury their loved ones overseas.

At 2 pm on Friday, Kharimaya Ghale watched her only son being laid to rest, not from a cemetery but through a video call from Iraq. Like a growing number of Nepali families unable to afford the cost of bringing home the bodies of migrant workers, the Lamjung woman was forced to bid him a final farewell from thousands of kilometres away.