Nepali envoy to Saudi Arabia Hamid Ansari who is presently in Kathmandu, said it was difficult to tackle problems faced by Nepali workers due to the lack of legal documents with individual coming there for work.
"The problem of Nepali workers there is severe," said Ansari while addressing an interaction on Nepalis working in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday in the capital jointly organised by Sewa Nepal, Paurakhi and Nepal Institute of Development Studies. He said that 98 percent of problems related to passport, visa and work contract emerged from Nepal which made it impossible for the embassy to take necessary steps for action against the job providing company or house owner.

Saudi Arabia is one of the largest labour markets for Nepali foreign employment aspirants. The country currently has provided jobs to around 500,000 individuals including 63,000 women working in different fields such as agriculture, hospitals, security and as domestic workers. "There is a huge job scope for Nepali for the next 50 to 60 years as Nepalis enjoy better goodwill compared to workers from India, Bangladesh and Indonesia," said Ansari. "But we need to send skilled workers in the formal sector because jobs in the informal sector are not safe and it is also hard to keep in touch with such workers."

Amidst growing cases of exploitation of women workers in Saudi Arabia, the government has restricted sending women workers in the informal sector for jobs such as domestic workers. However, many women workers are found leaving the country for work via India.

According to Khadga Prasad Dahal, first secretary at the embassy, only 2 percent of the work force leaving for work in Saudi Arabia had legal documents with attestation from chamber of commerce and foreign ministry in Saudi Arabia and the Nepali Embassy there.

Published on: 1 April 2010 | The Kathmandu Post