I was reading a report on ‘Exploitation of Nepal’s Migrant Workers’ on Amnesty International website, where I found some clamorous statements of migrant workers that touched my heart.
“Migrant workers from Nepal and other countries are like cattle in Kuwait. Actually, cattle are probably more expensive than migrant workers there. No one cares whether we die or are killed. Our lives have no value.” –N.R., domestic worker from Ilam district, Nepal.
The youths are being self oriented by the society – with no future in the country – they rush to go abroad for any category of work for their survival as well as to support their family and relieve the burden of indebtedness.
The total numbers of the economically active population are around fifteen million in Nepal and nearly half of them are working abroad. It means, out of two children born in Nepal, on average one must be compulsorily a migrant worker. The life cycle of the Nepalese workforce working abroad is full of problems and exploitations -from recruitments to documentation, flying for destinations till the end of contract and return to home, their sufferings are endless. In addition, the problem of illegal human trafficking of Nepalese people has been a lucrative business for traffickers and it is believed to be deeply rooted up to the state organs as well.
Out-migration of Nepalese youths to foreign countries is not a new phenomenon; however it increased alarmingly, after restoration of democracy and liberalization of the economy in 1990. Migration of people from one country to other countries is a global phenomenon. However, if migration becomes a major source of employment and foreign currency earning for a country that indicates extreme situations of poverty and inequality between the haves and the haves not in the society. Joblessness and job loss have a far-ranging effect on many parts of society. The families of unemployed people have a very hard time in Nepal. Prolonged unemployment harms health, especially mental health, and affects the lifespan. High unemployment can have a self-perpetuating negative impact on businesses and the economic health of the country, which in turn leads to a rise in poverty and instability. Unemployed labor is a waste of the most important economic resource, human labor.
Despite enormous difficulties, Nepalese working abroad are sending money to Nepal and their remittances are vital for the survival of Nepal’s economy. High remittances are accompanied by the increasing vulnerability and exploitation of workers abroad, and a worrying escalation in deaths as close to 4700 Nepalese migrant workers reportedly lost their lives between 2019 and 2023. Most recruitment agencies often deploy intermediaries to find potential migrant workers, who regularly use deception or coercion to hire workers and promise them lucrative jobs. While host countries usually require employers to pay recruitment fees, they often pass on the costs to workers, who take out loans to pay back the costs. The workers then face a heavy debt burden amounting to thousands of rupees even before they leave Nepal. The migrant workers are major targets of loan sharks in Nepal, who have been compelled to take loans to pay for foreign employment. The loan sharks charge extremely high or illegal interest rates to them. Loan sharks operate mostly illegally, thus they often resort to enforcing repayment by terms of blackmail and threats of violence. Although there has been some reform in the system of loan sharks after protests from the sufferers and government interference, there are no effective alternatives to migrant workers to get easy loans to pay for their job agents.
From the time they land in their host country, they are subject to stringent restrictions on their movement and freedoms, as part of the “Kafala” — or sponsorship — system, which gives employers total control over migrant workers’ employment and immigration status. The system is in force in all Arab Gulf countries, except Iraq, as well as in Jordan and Lebanon. Additionally, Nepalese youth who are being illegally deployed in the Russian army and in other security jobs, many are dying there in the war and a huge network of human traffickers who send unemployed youth there, extort hundreds of thousands of rupees from them. Employers in Gulf countries regularly seize workers’ passports, visas and phones, and sometimes also reduce or withhold their wages. While many domestic workers are confined to their homes or even tortured, laborers toiling at construction and industrial sites are relegated to tiny and overcrowded dorms. Gender-based discrimination is rampant with many female domestic workers experiencing abuse, including sexual violence. And the state has no priority to look for women workers who have migrated illegally, their situation does not reach the family and some disappear for a long time in the eyes of the family.
Such torture and harrifying experiences of Nepalese migrant labors are comparable with the acclaimed Indian movie “ The Goat Life”, which portrays the real-life story of Najeeb, a Malayali immigrant laborer, one among thousands of Indians who were forced into slavery in Saudi Arabia as goatherds on secluded farms in the deserts by the native Arabs, who spend their life in lonely desert for indefinite periods.
Sudur Paschim, Karnali and Madhesh provinces are most hit by unemployment problems, from where hundreds of thousand people go for jobs to Gulf countries, Malaysia and India. And the laborers from these provinces are the most sufferers. The contribution of migrant workers is increasing in GDP and it has been a source of highest employment for our workforce. However, the support from the government agencies and recruiters are not considered to be satisfactory to protect and facilitate the migrant workers. Around half of the Nepali work forces are working abroad, the Government of Nepal must provide high priority proportionately, in the planning and programs with adequate resource allocations related to the welfare and support of migrant workers. The Nepalese Embassies abroad should be equipped with increased numbers of officials and budgets related to labor facilitations in those countries, where Nepalese labors are in high numbers.
According to Amnesty International – once abroad, some labor at back-breaking construction jobs for 12 hours a day in the heat of the desert; others work grueling hours in factories with no days off; and some end up as virtual slaves trapped in private homes as domestic helpers. One woman described her harrowing experience working as a domestic worker in Kuwait in this way:
“I was tortured, hit with belts, starved and locked in the toilet all night.”
It shouldn’t be this way. Working abroad can be safe if the Government of Nepal were to enforce its own legislation and regulate rogue employment agencies.
For the protection of the migrant workers, some ILO Conventions cover a wide area of social and labor issues including basic human rights, minimum wages, industrial relations, employment policy, social dialogue, social security and other issues. They stipulate that states actively facilitate fair recruitment practices and transparent consultation with their social partners, reaffirm non-discrimination, establish a principle of equality of treatment between nationals and regular migrant workers in access to social security, conditions of work, remuneration and trade union membership.