A high-level delegation of Qatari officials, led by its Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Abdullah Saleh Mubarak al-Khulaifi, is arriving in Nepal next month to discuss labour issues.

During the three-day visit (from April 4 to 6), the delegation will hold discussions with concerned Nepali government authorities on labour issues, including problem of dual contract, higher fee being collected by recruiting agencies and possibilities of supply of skilled workers from Nepal. Minister al-Khulaifi will be accompanied by four officials from Qatari labour-related authorities.

Qatar is the second largest Nepali migrant workers absorbing country after Malaysia. “The discussion is likely to be more focused on workers’ rights, safety and possibility to send more workers,” said Buddhi Bahadur Khadka, spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE). He said that with Qatar building infrastructure for FIFA World Cup 2022, the destination will require more workers.

Even though the date for the visit of the high-level Qatari delegation has been fixed, MoLE officials said they are yet to get the details of the scheduled visit.

The delegation is visiting Nepal at a time when Nepali workers are reportedly getting salaries that are lower than promised in the initial agreement, manpower agencies are charging higher fees and there have been increased concerns over workers’ safety, as Qatar is boosting its infrastructure development drive to host the World Cup in 2022.

According to the Nepali embassy in Qatar, a total of 173 Nepali workers lost their lives in Qatar in 2014, which is the second largest number of deaths recorded in Gulf nations. Saudi Arabia topped the list with the death of 249 Nepali workers last year.

To attract more workers, Qatar has been providing free visa and free ticket facility to Nepali workers and Nepal government has fixed a maximum of Rs 20,000 as service charge.

“We found many cases of Nepali workers paying service fees higher than the maximum permitted amount and them being compelled to sign a second contract in Qatar,” said Tika Bhandari, director of Foreign Employment Promotion Board (FEPB), who had led a six-member study team to Qatar last month.

He added that the team came across cases where workers had signed an agreement for monthly salary of 900 riyal (approximately Rs 25,000) before leaving for Qatar. However, after reaching there, they were forced to sign another contract, which would pay them only 600 riyal (approximately Rs 16,500) in salary.

Bhandari’s study team comprised State Minister Tek Bahadur Gurung’s Personal Secretary Ananda Prasad Sharma, Rabindra Acharya (section officer of MoLE), Kirti Ballav Poudel (FEPB assistant director), and Sushil Kumar Dhakal (FEPB accounts officer) as members. It is estimated that there are around 400,000 Nepalis working in Qatar.

After completing the visit, the team concluded that as the country was absorbing more unskilled workers, Nepal should lobby and send semi-skilled and skilled workers, who could earn more. Bhandari said since there was huge possibility to send more workers in infrastructure development sector, they had requested Qatari officials to hire Nepali safety engineers and engineers.

In response, Nepali officials were suggested to send more workers in speedy manner. During the visit, the study team had found problems such as lack of sufficient workforce in Nepali Embassy in Doha to handle cases related to workers, no proper safe house and haphazard attestation of demand letters by local notary public and chamber of commerce.

Published on: 25 March 2015 | The Himalayan Times