Yadav Raj Joshi

Qatar — the most preferred job market for Nepali workers in the Gulf region — is all set to frame migrant workers-friendly policies.

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development has launched a plan to enhance its migrant workers’ quality of life through curbing unfair employment practices, states press note of the foundation.

About 1.3 million migrant workers, mostly from South Asian countries, will benefit from the scheme. Nearly five lakh Nepali workers have been working there and 80 per cent of them face difficulties, ranging from cheating in salary to poor living condition. They are mostly unskilled workers employed in construction sector.

International Trade Union Confederation had slammed Qatar as ‘21st-century slave state’ in its report published in February. The Kafala (sponsorship) system prevalent in Qatar makes the nation worst for migrant workers, where foreign nationals cannot leave the country without consent of the employers, who are their sponsors. Qatar government will launch the reform package through Qatar Foundation — a private non-profit organisation founded in 1995 by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

The reform programmes will be first enforced in construction sector, informed Vice-president of Capital Projects and Facilities Management of the Foundation Saad Al Muhannadi. “It will execute a comprehensive set of standards of the migration cycle - from the moment they are recruited and until they are repatriated to their home countries,” he said, adding that the reform plan will be based on Qatari Labour Laws and international practices.

The programme will help Nepali migrant workers deprived of basic rights of workers, said President of Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee Mahandra Pandey. He said the Qatar Foundation has good record of accomplishment in education and health sector reforms in Qatar.

According to him, the reforms are the fruits of pressure from international trade unions and rights-based organisations.

Published on: 10 June 2013 | The Himalayan Times