The National Human Rights Commission of Nepal and Qatar on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on protecting the rights of migrant workers.

The MoU says it aims to enhance cross-country cooperation, with closer collaboration in the exchange of information from migrant worker complaints to legislative procedures.

Top Bahadur Magar, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal and Mohammed Saif Al-Kuwari, deputy chairman of the Qatari National Human Rights Committee, signed the pact on behalf of their respective organisations.

Al-Kuwari said that signing the MoU was the best way for the two countries to cooperate on human rights issues.

“I think it’s a good opportunity to exchange information about migrant workers, especially now, when we have invited more than 400,000 workers from Nepal,” he said.

Magar said that despite the presence of frameworks such as international human rights laws, international and regional mechanisms and guidelines, as well as national legislation, workers migrating overseas are facing a lot of challenges.

“This calls for an institutionalised and effective approach to implement existing measures, timely adoption of policies and legislations and saving the international and regional cooperation for harmonisation of the policies and regulations,” said Magar.

“There is an urgent need to make sure that businesses respect the human rights of migrant workers with internationally recognised standards.”

Qatar is one of the major labour destinations for Nepalis. But, Nepali workers in the country, which hosted the World Cup Football last year, have often been subjected to human rights and labour rights violations.

International human rights organisations, migrant rights groups, families of workers, labour unions and fans around the world have been demanding Qatar compensate the workers for the injustices they have suffered.

Though Qatar announced the end of the exploitative Kafala system, which restricts workers from changing their jobs or leaving the country without the permission of the employer in 2020, employers in the country continue to create trouble for workers looking to change jobs, a recently published report says.

“To restrict workers from changing employers or leaving the country, the employers often file charges of abscondment or theft against them, which results in their arrest,” the report says.

Nearly 102,000 Nepalis have received labour approval, including new and reentry, for Qatar in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which ended mid-April, according to the Department of Foreign Employment.

The recently published report shows that workers going to the Gulf and Malaysia were made to pay exorbitant and illegal recruitment charges, faced contract breaches, wage theft, difficulties in access to justice and hassles for returning home, and getting their rightful benefits and compensations.

This is, however, not the first time the two national human rights bodies have signed such an agreement. A similar pact was signed back in November 2015.

Published on: 9 June 2023 | The Kathmandu Post