Chandan Kumar Mandal

As thousands of Nepali migrant workers remain stranded in several countries amid the global Covid-19 crisis, migrants’ rights groups have called on the government to ensure their safety. 

A group of 20 organisations, working in the sector of migrant workers’ welfare and safe migration, has said that the Nepal government needs to come forward and make sure its citizens who are in foreign countries for employment are getting adequate health services and have access to basic necessities. 

In a joint statement released by the National Network for Safe Migration, these organisations have demanded that the Nepal government should coordinate with its foreign missions to make arrangements to return the stranded workers who want to come home. 

“We have been hearing how a large number of workers have been struggling in labour destination countries since the Covid-19 outbreak escalated,” Krishna Prasad Neupane, general secretary of the network, said. “If they want to come back home, then the Nepal government should make logistic arrangements and request the host governments to return these workers safely.” 

The global pandemic has affected Nepal’s labour migration sector and tens of thousands of migrant workers and their families back home. 

The Nepali workers in the Gulf countries and Malaysia have been feeling the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic in the form of job cuts and reduced income. Others are forced to work even during lockdowns. Many workers are said to be living in fear of coronavirus infection due to substandard living condition. 

“The Nepali missions should study the condition of Nepali workers in labour destination countries and approach the concerned governments for their protection,” Neupane said. 

The network has said those who cannot return due to travel restrictions should be kept safely by providing proper health facilities and those who have returned or wish to return should be kept in quarantine. 

While a massive labour force is languishing in foreign countries, thousands of aspiring migrant workers have also been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Nepal government has imposed travel restrictions and stopped issuing labour permits for now. 

According to the network, the government should introduce a relief package targeting the families of migrant workers too, as the money sent by them in the form remittance continues to paddle the country’s economy. 

“Labour migration and remittance have equally been affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. The income of many migrant workers’ families has been affected. It is time that the government took care of the affected families through a relief package,” Neupane said.

Published on: 31 March 2020 | The Kathmandu Post