Norma Kang Muico

Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai’s comment that corruption among Nepal’s political elite is equivalent to a cancer will not be news to the majority of Nepali citizens.

As 2012 draws to a close, not one but two Ministers of Labour and Employment have been dismissed due to allegations of corruption. Sarita Giri continues to reject the claims, but for Kumar Belbase, shown on video asking for bribes from a recruitment agent, such strident denials have proved more difficult. Indeed, corruption is so endemic in Nepal that it is easy to lose sight of the impact it has on people’s lives.

The recruitment industry in Nepal makes substantial profits — just in 2007-08, a staggering US $710,000 was paid to the sector per day. Recruitment agencies appear, meanwhile, to have cultivated uncomfortably close relationships with government officials, not least, unsurprisingly, with those overseeing labour migration. The result is an industry given carte blanche to act with impunity.

Overwhelming evidence gathered by Amnesty International in a report published in December 2011 documented how migrant workers were consistently deceived by recruitment agencies on fundamental aspects of their terms and conditions of work. Trafficked to countries such as Qatar and Malaysia, hundreds of thousands of Nepalis ended up working in slavery-like conditions — saddled with huge debts and faced with a Government unresponsive to their plight.

Yet despite their dire predicament, virtually no recruitment agent was prosecuted, jailed, suspended or fined for violating Nepali law.

Attempts by the Government to protect those migrating for work, such as the August ban on women under the age of 30 years from going to the Gulf, are well-intentioned but fruitless, knee-jerk reactions to the public outcry. They fail to address the very serious problems faced by these women, largely employed in domestic work.  

A ban with an arbitrarily set cut-off age makes a false and dangerous assumption that women 30 years and older are not subjected to exploitation and abuse. Amnesty International’s research clearly indicates that no such correlation exists.

Nepali women know all too well the endemic corruption in the migration process, particularly the notorious “setting fee” at Tribhuvan International Airport, a bribe by any other name.
And the consequences of the recent ban are all too predictable — women younger than 30 years will continue to migrate for work abroad because of the urgent necessity to support their families.

But now they will be forced to use more dangerous, irregular routes via India to get there.
Their undocumented status not only increases their exposure to exploitation by unscrupulous agents, but also denies them access to government assistance.

Concerns have also been raised regarding the rise in minimum wage in Malaysia from MYR 546 to MYR 900. What should be a welcome boost to migrant workers’ wages has been usurped by recruitment agencies as an opportunity to further inflate already exorbitant fees.

Does the Government have the will and commitment to crack down on this and ensure that workers are the real beneficiaries? Life for many Nepali migrant workers is hard and gruelling — they labour for excessive hours in harsh conditions for a pittance.

What they need most from their Government is support. A good start would be an effective weeding out of exploitative recruiters, the provision of accessible and timely assistance to migrants facing difficulties, and the championing of their rights abroad.

These are people whose remittances provide nearly 21.2 percent of the country’s GDP and they certainly deserve more respect.

For the money they earn is not only a vital contributor to the country’s economy, but also to its development, providing life support to some of the most marginalised communities.
Politicians ignore this issue at their peril — with over 2 million Nepalis working abroad, this is a significant constituency.

Furthermore, even though at present Nepali workers abroad cannot vote, their families can and with a general election on the not-so-distant horizon, political parties need to be formulating policies that ensure safe migration. Frequent changes in government and ministers mean that greater effort is needed to push this agenda through.

That is why Amnesty International is urgently calling for cross-party agreement on safe migration policies.

Is this a pie in the sky? Not necessarily. A group of politicians from across the political spectrum are already working together on improving the migration process for its citizens. What is now needed is for their respective party leaders to recognise the importance of this issue through political will and commitment.

Norma Kang Muico is the Researcher for Asia-Pacific Migrants’ Rights at Amnesty International

Published on: 18 December 2012 | The Kathmandu Post