Kathmandu, September 15:

The government is making preparations to lift the ban on migration of women workers to the Gulf countries, Deependra Bikram Thapa, the director-general of the Department of Labour (DoL), said today. Thapa was speaking at an interaction on the ‘Importance and Need of Pre-departure Orientation for Safe Migration’, which was organised by the Sancharika Samhua and the UNIFEM in the capital.

“Representatives of the DoL and the UNIFEM will visit Saudi Arabia soon to address the issues of women migrant workers,” Thapa said. He added the DoL will provide training for aspirant migrant workers and generate awareness on safe migration practices. “Since the DoL collects nine million rupees every year from migrant workers, it can make improvements in this sector by overcoming managerial obstacles and attitudinal changes.” Another speaker, advocate Basanta Basnet, said orientations should be conducted in other parts of the country, too, for the benefit of a large number of people.

He urged the government to monitor institutes that impart training to the workers aspiring to go abroad. “The training programmes should be qualitative and inform the aspirant migrant workers about culture, geography, and religion of the destination countries, address the issues of trainees, and inform them about potential risks. “Rather than resorting to unfair competition, the recruiting agencies should work together.” Stating that recruiting agencies can play a vital role in imparting skills and orientation to the aspirant migrant workers, Tirtha Gurung, the vice-president of the Foreign Employment Association, said: “Pre-departure orientations should be made effective.” Bijaya Gurung, a former migrant worker, suggested that former migrants should be hired as facilitators for the benefit of aspirant migrant workers.