‘Address issues of undocumented workers’

KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 6

Stakeholders have stressed that the government needs to address the issues related to undocumented migrant workers.

After the COVID-19 pandemic hit the global economy, a large number of Nepali migrant workers lost their jobs and have returned home. And the process of such workers returning has still not abated.

The government had arranged repatriation flights for the migrant workers to return home during the lockdown and even after the lockdown has been lifted it is still arranging regular flights by prioritising migrant workers.

However, undocumented migrants have been deprived of government’s facility. Since these workers are undocumented, neither the embassy in their respective destinations nor the government here is providing any support to evacuate them, said Saru Shrestha, an expert on migrant issues, during a webinar titled ‘Issue of Undocumented Migrant Workers’ organised by Foreign Employment Journalists Society today.

“Such migrants had to resort to illegal channels to go abroad for foreign employment due to various reasons, however, it is the government’s responsibility to create legal means for people to go abroad to earn their livelihoods,” she said. “Migrants had already been facing such indifferent behaviour from the government in the past and now the pandemic has compounded their problems,” she added.

According to her, there is no exact data on the number of undocumented Nepali workers but she says that there could easily be around 150,000 such migrants spread across the world. Since their status is not legal it has become difficult to rescue and repatriate them.

Shrestha further claimed that the government has failed to address their issue. “Unemployment and lack of education are some of the major reasons behind workers going abroad illegally and among such workers most of them are women working as household workers,” she said. “The number of undocumented workers has been increasing ever since the government restricted Nepalis to go to some destinations,” she mentioned.

“Trying to stop them from going abroad to earn a living is not the solution. The government should instead regularly monitor such destinations so that they are safe,” Shrestha opined. She added that when introducing any policy the government should take an informed decision. “Also, the government should bring a system whereby a service seeker can avail all required services in one office instead of having to run around to different places,” she stated.

Undocumented workers are those who go abroad illegally in search of jobs or travel to the restricted countries for high salary. Likewise, some people who travel abroad on visit visas and decide to stay back and work in the destination are also not listed as migrant workers by the government.

Hence, this has become a major problem in the country, said LP Sanwa Limbu, federal parliament member.

“A study conducted by the International Relations and Labour Committee of the Federal Parliament has revealed that most undocumented workers are people who are uneducated, financially poor and women who are divorced,”

Limbu said. “There are many women also who have gone to Kuwait and Malaysia through the illegal channel out of compulsion to earn a living as their husbands do not work,” he added. “Such people are not listed as migrant workers and the government does not have any policy for them.”

Limbu further said that the committee has already directed the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to address this issue, however, the issue has not been addressed yet.