Yadab Raj Joshi

Nearly one-fifth of migrant workers have received foreign job permits without job orientation — a prerequisite to join foreign jobs as per the Foreign Employment Act 2007.

The Department of Foreign Employment has issued foreign job permits to 65,214 Nepali migrant workers without orientation in the last 10 months. Its data reveals that about 347,759 Nepalis received foreign job approvals for the first time and only 282,545 got orientation. The gap is about 18.75 per cent.

Clause 19 (a) of the Foreign Employment Act 2007 has made orientation mandatory for a foreign job permit for individual and outsourcing agency mediated job contracts. But, the department has been violating the law by issuing foreign job permits to workers who have not been through the orientation process.

We have been trying our best to enforce the provision but have not succeeded in making it mandatory for all, said director general at the department Binod KC. “However, instances of people buying orientation certificates have reduced in the last one year,” he said, adding that ‘orientation for all’ was a major suggestion of the committee led by Dr Ganesh Gurung.

The committee, which was commissioned by the government, has submitted a 30-point reform plan to the government to strengthen the orientation system. “Strict monitoring of orientation institutes is a must to reduce risks at the job place, so we have asked for it to be enforced,” said Dr Gurung. Workers are not supposed to get permission without orientation according to law, he added.

Similarly, a study of Migration Policy Institute and International Organisation for Migration has also identified ‘insufficient and improper orientation’ as a major problem in Nepal. The study has recommended the government to build a strong monitoring mechanism for it.

Migrant rights activists believe that ineffective orientation is the main source of problems for migrant workers. “We have been urging the department to make orientation mandatory according to the law. It is strange how the department issued job permits to workers who have not attended any orientation classes,” said coordinator of Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee Prabata Adhikari.

Orientation was envisioned in the law to educate migrant workers about the language, culture, legal boundaries and workplace safety of the destination. “If they do not know about these issues then there are high chances of risks. The increasing number of runaway workers and accidents in destination countries is due to weak orientation or no orientation at all,” she said, adding that the government must be serious about it.

The department’s data shows that it issued foreign job permits to 15,639 migrant workers who had not received any orientation in Magh (mid-February to mid-March). The lowest number of foreign job permits — 439 — issued to migrant workers who had not received orientation was reported in Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September).

Published on: 27 May 2013 | The Himalayan Times