The government has said that it has been negotiating with major source countries to make the recruitment process free of cost for Nepalis migrant workers. 

“We have been advocating for zero recruitment cost for Nepali migrant workers. To materialize this idea, the role of countries seeking migrant workers is crucial,” said MoLE spokesperson Buddhi Bahadur Khadka. The MoLE, which has forwarded drafts of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to Malaysia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia long time back, however, hasn´t received any reply. 

Speaking at a ´Consultation Program on the Colombo Process´ organized by International Office for Migration (IOM) in the capital on Monday, Khadka also informed that the government has also urged the destination countries to give direct access to the employer to ease the recruitment procedure. 

Addressing the event, Chief of Mission of IOM Nepal Maurizio Busatti opined that the recruitment agencies play essential role in migration procedure. “Migrants need to have adequate knowledge in a bid to make rational choice,” he said. He, however, lauded the effort of government in Nepal to minimize the risks of migration. 

Presenting a paper on ´ethical recruitment practices globally´, Yuko Hamada, senior regional labor migration, IOM Regional Office for Asia, stressed on the role of recruitment agencies to minimize the impacts of unethical recruitment.  “The role of migrant receiving countries is very crucial to minimize the risks. There should be MoU between the sending and receiving countries,” she said. She also focused on the need of waiving recruitment fees to the job seekers and transparency in the recruitment sectors. 

Officials from different diplomatic missions, civil society and the governmental agencies had participated the consultation meeting. The participants had stressed on the need of making recruiting rules same for sending and receiving countries. They also said that Nepal need to produce more skilled workers in coming days so that the workers can get a good deal overseas. 

The recommendations from the regional consultation will be taken to the upcoming Labor Migration Consultation to be held in October in Sri Lanka. With an aim of providing a forum for Asian labor sending countries to share experiences, consult on issues faced by migrant workers and enhance dialogue with countries of destination, the Colombo Process is being organized since 2003. 

The first meeting of the Colombo Process was held in Sri Lanka. Nepal, Afganistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam are the eleven member countries of the Colombo Process. According to data, more than 2.5 billion Asian workers leave their respective countries every year for foreign employment.

Published on: 19 August 2014 | Republica