The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has formally urged Nepal to completely lift foreign employment restrictions currently in place for housemaids. As the first meeting of bilateral labour-related joint working committee between the two countries concluded here today, UAE has urged the Nepal government to permit domestic workers under different categories to be able to seek jobs in the Gulf country.

Ram Prasad Ghimire, joint secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security who had led the Nepali delegation, said the UAE government has expressed interest to hire a large number of domestic help from Nepal. As per him, the UAE government is keen to hire governesses, nurses, housekeepers, cooks, among others. The Nepal government has barred women from seeking jobs as domestic help in the Gulf countries following reports that they faced severe abuses there.

“The UAE government’s request to lift restrictions on Nepali women to work as domestic helpers in the Gulf will be discussed thoroughly during the next meeting before any decision is taken,” Ghimire said.

As per him, both governments have agreed to effectively implement and enforce bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on labour agreement signed on June 14. Moreover, from now onwards, both the governments will set up a labour database, which will be linked between the UAE’s employment database and demand list, Nepal’s Embassy in UAE, Department of Foreign Employment, the foreign employment management information system (FEMIS) software at the labour ministry. This is expected to make the entire migration process of Nepali workers going to the UAE for employment more transparent. The two-day meeting also finalised issues concerning effective enforcement of the MoU and fixing of the cost in regard with recruitment of workers, employment and their return, among others. The meeting also finalised the modality for enforcement of the MoU.

Published on: 4 November 2019 | The Himalayan Times