Death of migrant workers 

Some chilling numbers have emerged from Malaysia, the constitutional monarchy that is the favorite labor destination of Nepalis (bar India). Currently 700,000 Nepalis are working in Malaysia, and many of them are at risk. In 2014 alone, 361 Nepali laborers have died there, which means a young Nepali dies an unnatural death in Malaysia every single day. According to the Nepali Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, in 2014, of the 361 reported cases of deaths, 52 died of chronic illness, 36 died of road accidents while 46 Nepali migrant workers committed suicide. The cause of deaths of other 216 Nepalis is classified as ‘unknown’. The Nepali mission in Malaysia attributes most deaths, from both known and unknown causes, to the failure of recruiting companies to take proper care of their workers who are injured. These injuries might have occurred while they were operating some dangerous equipment on factory floor or, as often, while these workers, untrained on Malaysian traffic rules, were crossing dangerous road intersections outside. The main reason Nepal has not been able to push the Malaysian government to do more to protect Nepali migrant workers is that it does not have a labor agreement with Malaysia—not yet. But this could soon change. 
 
Responding to an earlier draft of a prospective labor agreement sent by Malaysia, Nepal has recently proposed a draft of its own, which includes some points proposed by Malaysia. A proper labor agreement between the two countries will create a bilateral legal framework whereby the Malaysian government will be obliged to meet certain conditions like minimum agreed wage, maximum work hours, proper food and accommodation for laborers and, when they get sick or injured, to cover their medical bills. These provisions will help. Depression attributed to poor pay, unusually long work hours and a feeling that they were cheated into substandard jobs by wily manpower agencies often make workers take their own lives. A labor agreement with Malaysia will provide not just legal but also psychological protection for Nepali workers. Yet even that won’t be enough. 

Hundreds of women migrant workers from Nepal (no one knows exactly how many) are reportedly raped in Malaysia every year. Even though the Nepali Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has been preventing Nepali women from working in companies deemed unsafe, still far too many Nepali women are raped in their workplace. In most cases, the guilty are never identified. Then there are the Nepalis being held at various detention centers for overstaying their visa or for illegally entering Malaysia. Of the around 650 illegal Nepali migrants held in these centers earlier this year, around 400 have already been deported to Nepal. The Nepali Embassy is coordinating with the Malaysian authorities to repatriate the remaining ones. These are complicated issues; and there really are no easy solutions. The only way to solve them would be for Nepal government to keep nudging their Malaysian counterparts to improve the working and living arrangements of Nepali workers. Besides Malaysia, Nepal, to its credit, is also working on similar labor agreements with Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Saudi Arabia. In light of the mounting evidence of forced labor and poor pay and health benefits in these hotspots of Nepali migrant workers, such agreements have been long overdue. 

Published on: 30 December 2014 | Republica