Similarly, the migration of Nepalese people for other employment purposes, such as working in the tea states of Darjeeling and the forest of Assam, began in the second half of the 19th century. Economic migration to the Middle East from South Asia and other parts of the world was spurred-on by the oil boom in the early 1970s. International labour migration, mostly to Gulf States, Malaysia and other South East Asian countries is a new phenomenon of migration in the Nepalese context with about a 30 year long history. Unexpectedly, foreign labour migration has developed in such a way that it has shifted the agricultural based economy towards remittance based economy. According to figures released by the government, there are more than 565,000 documented migrant workers abroad, whereas other estimated figures put the number at more than one million Nepali migrant workers including 100,000 female migrant workers. This figure does not include the population who migrated to India
The reasons behind migration are almost same in Nepal as in other parts of the world. Poverty, limited employment opportunities, deteriorating agricultural productivity, and armed conflict are some of the motives behind international labour migration. There are many villages in Nepal where labour migration has been established as a culture of a community; that is, going abroad for work for awhile and returning with some money and the experience of living in a different geographical location. The influence of friends, relatives and well-wishers have also played a prominent role in the promotion of international labour migration.
Ongoing armed conflict in the country has displaced people from their usual place of residence and the alternative means of employment for displaced youth has been established as foreign employment. The conflict has also limited development activities throughout the country and expansion of industries has ceased. This situation has created more difficulty in securing employment within the national borders and the final step of many people is to go abroad for employment. Though concrete research has yet to be conducted, the young people from conflict prone areas are compelled to leave for foreign employment to save their lives.
So far in the Nepalese context, foreign labour occupation has developed as an emerging business. But the business has not remained a dignified profession at all. The reports about irregularities in foreign labour migration and problems faced by potential labour migrants before and after their departure for foreign employment are not properly addressed at the policy level. A migrant worker has to face numerous problems while he/she makes the decision to migrate for foreign employment. Most of the migrant workers are taking a blind decision to migrate for work without any consideration of actual income that he/she will receive in the country of destination. Similarly, he/she has to face the problem of finding sufficient money to go abroad and the only way to get money is through a loan with a high interest rate. The government, except some cases, does not offer special provisions to subsidize loan interest rates.
Information is lacking in each and every step for potential labour migrants. Most of them are not aware of where they are going, what work they have to do, the actual cost they need to spend to go for work and other social and cultural information about the country of destination. As a result, there are numerous real stories of the suffering of Nepalese migrant workers abroad.
Most of the migrant workers abroad are working in vulnerable situations without any effective legal protection by the Nepalese government or the receiving countries’ government. Workplace exploitation by foreign companies is well known but the Nepalese government has not adopted any specific labour diplomacy policies, except in some cases. While workers are not allowed to work in each and every country around the world, there are several serious cases about the pathetic situation of Nepalese migrants working in unauthorized countries without any legal or social protection by the host countries. The massacre of 12 Nepalese workers by an extremist group in Iraq on August 2004 can be taken as a good example of that. There are many other cases where illegal Nepalese workers are kept in prison for a long time on both fake and genuine charges. Nevertheless, the Nepalese government has not adopted proper political diplomacy to rescue them and assure their safe return to the homeland.
As a response to physical and sexual abuse of women migrants to the Middle East, His Majesty’s Government of Nepal officially banned female migration to the Gulf States in 1998. The migration of females is a bit restricted. To obtain a passport women have to produce a permission letter from their guardian, that is, from their husband if they are married or from their father if they are unmarried. This provision indicates not only the violation of women rights but also neglects the fundamental spirit of the constitution of Kingdom of Nepal in the 1990s.
Statistics show that remittances sent by migrant workers nears one hundred billion each year and this amount holds great importance to the national economy. Some economists have analysed the Nepalese economy as a remittance economy, in which the contribution of remittances has played a prominent role in keeping the national economy in balance during difficult financial times. The amount of remittances sent through informal channels has not yet been calculated but it is estimated to be equal to that which comes in from the formal channel.
An analysis of government policies and programs indicates a significant deficiency in protecting the rights of migrant workers and assuring their safe migration to the country of destination. The government has promoted policies regarding foreign employment but at the same time paid less attention to the provision of domestic services and facilities. Some of the provisions mentioned in the Foreign Employment Act-2042 involve the controlling of foreign employment business rather than promoting it.
On the one hand the importance of international labour migration has increased due to newly developed sources of income for Nepal’s households and on the other hand, until the late 1990s and according to the emphasis of most studies and the National Planning Commission (NPC), agriculture has been hailed as the key to rural development. In reality, the economic climate has changed from an agricultural based economy into a remittance based economy, according to several studies conducted by governmental and non governmental agencies. Thus, the issue of international labour migration needs to be addressed at the policy level, which could assist in promoting safe migration and the management of labour migration in an effective way.
The Nepalese government now intends to actively promote international labour migration and to safeguard the interests and welfare of migrants; however, only a few initiatives have been taken so far. Among these are bilateral talks with the governments of the Gulf States in order to increase the number of posts for Nepalese, increase security as well as improve the migrants’ conditions of employment. Furthermore the government is trying to regulate the procedure of recruitment. Therefore, a number of Gulf States and Asian countries to which Nepalese workers may be officially recruited are listed and conditions for registered recruiting agencies are defined, including the condition that these have to be based in the Kathmandu valley, that is, in or near the capital.
For all households involved in migration it the lack of opportunities in Nepal for employment and for secure livelihood strategies that leads to migration whether within the country or region, or overseas. Households that are poor have fewer choices with regard to migration opportunities and the very poorest households are the most vulnerable when it comes to illegal migration and various forms of trafficking. The recent Maoist insurgency also basically reflects frustration of youth with poverty and the lack of opportunities, which is again exerting migration pressure from the affected areas to other parts of Nepal or overseas, particularly India
The number of people going abroad for work has increased in the last few years, especially since the onset of armed conflict in Nepal. The major concentration of Nepali migrant workers abroad was traditionally in the Gulf States but the dynamics have changed and while the number of people going to the Gulf States is still significant people are have also been migrating to Malaysia over the past three years. A class division among the labour migrants is also found to select the country of destination, i.e poor people are to India, the Gulf States and Malaysia and rich people towards Japan, South Korea, North America and Europe.
There are various problems faced by migrant workers both in the home country and the country of destination. If the problems of migrant workers are not addressed at the policy level, solutions are far behind. The Nepalese government is on the one hand incapable of properly implementing existing policies and on the other hand there are several things yet to do in the regulation and management of foreign labour migration. Basic things that are found to foster improvements include amending existing laws, promoting labour markets through labour diplomacy, and administering manpower agencies and welfare activities to the best benefit of labour migrants.
Female migrant workers are found to be more vulnerable in comparison to male migrant workers. The existing law is itself found to be discriminatory towards women and the issues facing women migrant workers are not considered sincerely enough. That said, the migration of women to foreign employment occupations has assisted in the economic empowerment of females to some extent.
International provisions are found to be very sound and applicable in the protection of the rights of migrant workers but governments in both sending and receiving countries do not seem genuine in their domestication of the spirit of international instruments, conference recommendations and plans of action.
Manpower agencies are almost unfair in their dealings with the workers and their professionalism is questionable. The role of trade union organisations is also found to be ineffective in addressing the issues of potential labour migrants in the home country as well as in the country of destination.
Consequently, the current need is for more effective migration management to reduce the vulnerabilities of migrant workers and safeguard the rights of migrant workers.
« return.