KATHMANDU, JULY

The National Human Rights Commission has issued a press release urging the government to provide compensation to 156 migrant workers who were stopped by immigration authorities from flying to two Gulf destinations - Jordan and Kuwait.

According to President of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies Rajendra Bhandari, immigration authorities had stopped 156 migrant workers between July 11 and July 13.

The NHRC urged the government to make the authorities concerned responsible for their actions and protect workers' rights as recommended by the NHRC in the past.

The NHRC said its serious attention was drawn to 156 migrant workers who were prevented by officials of the Department of Immigration at Tribhuvan International Airport from flying to Jordan and Kuwait. Out of 156 migrant workers, 15 had booked tickets for Jordan.

The rights body said that immigration authorities' action of preventing migrant workers from flying to their destinations and the allegations and counter allegation be-tween government bodies over the issue had clearly created obstacle in the enjoyment of workers' rights.

The NHRC said preliminary investigation indicated that the workers rights were violated mainly due to lack of sharing of information between the agencies related to labour and immigration.

It urged both labour and immigration departments to be serious about workers' rights.

NAFEA President Bhandari said immigration officers' action against 156 migrant workers not only violated their right to work but also caused economic loss. Those were non-refundable tickets, and manpower agents lost at least Rs 45,000 per passenger. According to Bhandari, manpower agencies incurred a whopping loss of 12 million rupees.

Some are staying in hotels and others have returned home.

No government agency has taken care of them. Bhandari said if any worker did not have proper document as alleged by the Department of Immigration, DoI officials were required to immediately verify and take a call, but in this case, DoI officials acted irresponsibly by preventing them from flying.

'The visas of some workers who were trying to fly in the final hours of their visa duration have expired,' Bhandari said and added that foreign employment agencies also suffered loss as they had to take care of the migrant workers. Hiring companies who want migrant workers to reach their destination on time are angry with manpower agencies responsible for sending those workers,' Bhandari added.

Founder President of People's Forum for Human Rights Shom Prasad Luitel said that as per passport laws, the DoI was responsible for ensuring that the fliers' passport and visa were valid and it had no business to check employment related documents.

He said DoI's action violated workers' right to movement and right to work.

Director General, DoI, Jhalak Ram Adhikari said immigration officers acted within their jurisdiction but some people were spreading rumour that DoI acted beyond its brief. It's worldwide practice that immigration officers check documents to ensure that the purpose of visit is valid. These officers prevented 156 people as they did not carry proper documents. He said when immigration officers tried to verify the visa, destination countries' website did not open and in some cases, visa approval status showed 'awaiting.' Adhikari said he had a case where 37 people got visas from one passport using photoshop.

He also said there were cases where people got Qatar ID without actually going to Qatar.

He said his office had formed a probe committee to look into document issues six months ago.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 20, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.