Kathmandu, July 25 :

With a view to streamline the foreign employment sector, the government is all set to bring a new Foreign Employment Law in the parliament soon.

“A draft Bill has already been prepared and once the Foreign Employment Advisory Board at the ministry of labour and transport management endorses it, we will table it in the House,” disclosed Ramesh Lekhak, state minister for labour and transport management, on Tuesday.

The new law has proposed structural and institutional overhauling of labour and foreign employment sectors, bifurcating the department of labour and employment promotion into department of foreign employment and department of labour.

“A separate department has been envisaged to ensure prompt and efficient delivery of services for both domestic labour and foreign employment issues,” Lekhak added, “The government has felt

the need for timely and relevant legal and institutional framework to promote employment more effectively.”

To check increased cases of cheatings and charging of exorbitant amounts from aspirant job seekers, he said, the new law proposes to set up an independent tribunal, which will be authorised to deal with all cases related to cheating, fake documents and legal issues involved with foreign employment.

Lekhak further said that the proposed law will annul all restrictive provisions of the existing Foreign Employment Act 2042, making it open and free to all. “A high level Foreign Employment Promotion Board has been envisaged in order to make foreign employment sector more transparent, competitive and broad,” he informed.

The board will comprise of senior government officials from line ministries, experts, private entrepreneurs and other concerned stakeholders and will work as a think-tank as well as policy advisor of the government.

The law will be gender friendly and all the discriminatory measures will be scrapped, ensuring equal opportunities for both men and women. While doing so, priorities will be given to Dalits, marginalised community and women, Lekhak said.

He further said that the new law will be promotional rather than traditional and restrictive, while measures will be taken to make manpower agencies more accountable, responsible and transparent.

Meanwhile, Society of Economic Journalists of Nepal (SEJON) with help from United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has released two study reports on women in foreign employment and its economic impact.

Despite restrictions either by law or a conservative social structure, the number of women going abroad for employment is increasing at a rapid rate every year. It is evident in a report of the Central Bureau of Statistics that shows women’s contribution to total remittance earnings has already crossed 11 per cent.

However, the traditional conservative social structure and discriminatory policies have caused many difficulties to the prospect of foreign employment for women. “Women are increasingly being exploited, beginning from making passports to finding employment agents and to flying abroad. The saga of exploitation doesn’t end here and they often become victims of physical and many times sexual and mental exploitation during their employment,” reads the report.