The Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (Nafea) started an indefinite strike on Wednesday protesting government’s decision to provide free visa and free air ticket to migrant workers going to the Gulf countries and Malaysia for employment.

Around 2,000 service seekers from across the country were affected as the recruiting agencies and agents shut down the front desk office of the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) on the first day.

Nafea protest starts just two days after the government made it mandatory for employers in seven work destinations to issue free visa and free ticket in order to hire Nepali workers.
Recruiting agencies said they would continue obstruction at the department until the government rolls back the “controversial” provision. Bimal Dhakal, Nafea chairperson, said the government should have taken the labour receiving countries into confidence before enforcing the provision but it was announced in haste to displace them from the business.

“We are ready to support the free visa and free ticket decision if the government signs labour agreement with the concerned destination countries clearly mentioning the provision. One-sided decision of Labour minister is not acceptable,” Dhakal said. Earlier, most of the recruiting agencies had pressed the Ministry of Labour and Employment to take concerned stakeholders into confidence before enforcing the new provision.

The government decision, taken in an effort to prevent economic exploitation of workers in the name of recruitment fees, came into effect on July 6. Migrant workers going to Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait will benefit from the provision. Some 3.5 million Nepali migrant workers are employed in these countries.

According to the new provision, aspiring migrant workers will have to pay only for their health check-ups, orientation training and the migrant worker’s welfare fund. They may have to pay a maximum of Rs 10,000 as service charge if the concerned employer does not provide such charge to the recruiting agency. Earlier, over 80 percent of migrant workers had to pay at least Rs 70,000 to recruiting agencies before going aboard. Recruiting agencies argue that the new provision is “immature” as most of the amount taken from migrants goes to accredited agents in labour receiving countries and layers of grassroots agents working in Nepal.

State Minister for Labour and Employment Tek Bahadur Gurung said the provision was aimed at ending the exploitation of workers. “This provision will help make the foreign employment sector more organised and decent. I don’t think it will lead to a decline in demand of Nepali workers,” he said. Bhola Prasad Shiwakoti, secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, on Monday had said the government would scrap the license of recruiting agencies if they were found taking visa and ticket charge from migrants.
‘Fraudulent activities widespread’

The government’s policies and programmes presented to the Legislature Parliament on Wednesday have acknowledged widespread fraudulent activities in the foreign employment sector and vowed to control such anomalies.

Unveiling the government’s policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2015-16, President Ram Baran Yadav said the government intends to launch awareness programmes at grassroots levels throughout the country to control such fraudulent activities.

Foreign employment fraud has grown endemic in the shadow of a corrupt system, lack of monitoring and ineffective law. Though exact data is hard to come by, stakeholders believe a majority of Nepali migrant workers face some sort of exploitation during the migration process.
The government also plans to sign bilateral labour agreement with major destination countries in order to safeguard the rights, welfare and security of migrant workers. Around 70 percent of approximately 3.5 million Nepali migrants, except those working in India, are employed in countries where Nepal has not signed any labour agreement.

The government has so far signed labour agreement only with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and South Korea. The government announcement to sign such agreements with other labour destinations, including Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon and Oman, have not yet materialised.

Experts say Nepali migrants are facing abuse, exploitation and various other problems in getting legal redress due to the lack of labour agreement. The government also plans to formulate a provision for rapid rescue and repatriation of migrant workers from work destinations. “Labourers who have become physically disabled and fallen victims to violence during their employment can benefit from such provision,” the paper states.

The government also plans to establish a labor bank and the proposal is under review at the Ministry of Finance. Officials concerned said the document is gathering dust due to the lack of fund. The proposed labour bank intends to better utilise remittance and help migrant workers in many ways that include providing collateral free loan.

Similar attention has been paid to the improvement the internal labour market by bringing a unified social security law.

A mechanism consisting of government, employment providers and labourers will be arranged to resolve conflicts that arise between employers and workers. The welfare and security of employees will be assured by running social security programmes based on contribution,” the government document has stated.

Published on: 9 July 2015 | The Kathmandu Post