Credit: Nepali Times

By Upasana Khadka
KATHMANDU, Feb 15 2021 (IPS)

A proposal by Nepal’s Immigration Department requiring consent from a guardian and local government for women under the age of 40 travelling to the Gulf or Africa has sparked public fury, and is taken as yet another proof of a misogynist, bungling bureaucracy. 

The Department made the recommendation to the Home Ministry on Wednesday, saying it was needed to curb the trafficking of Nepali women without labour permits, especially to the Gulf countries.

However, instead of clamping down on the ‘setting’ and collusion between recruiters, immigration officials and foreign-based agents to curb trafficking, the restrictions overlook womens’ agency in making decisions, their freedom to travel and work.

Teknarayan Poudel at the Immigration Department told Nepali Times that an earlier 2009 directive had to be amended because of “rampant misuse”. The following changes have been proposed:

1. Women travellers on visit visas need a travel insurance of at least Rs1.5 million
2. They will need to show a voucher/receipt as evidence for currency exchange
3. Women under 40 traveling for the first time to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries or Africa on their own are required to obtain permission from family members and the local ward.

It is the third proposal that has caused public outrage, and it ignores that in the past labour permits have been prone to misuse when unnecessarily restrictive, especially for women.

The reactive ban or restrictions on travel that disproportionately target women are lazy because the alternative requires stakeholders to be proactive, engage in bilateral discussions with destination country governments, have strong inter-agency coordination, hold complicit  immigrant officials accountable, ramp up action against traffickers, train and inform workers on safe practices, to look for safer, legal pathways, to create jobs at home, and clamp down on domestic violence

By not granting labour permits or approvals for household work abroad, women cross the open border to India, or use visit visas since that is their only way out. It is clear that curbing visit visas, instead of curbing trafficking of women workers, will just intensify irregular travel via India.

Poudel says public reaction to the proposal overlooks the criteria that it only applies to first time travellers to the Gulf and Africa. “It is the first-timers to the GCC who are most vulnerable to visit visa misuse that this proposed amendment is addressing,” he said.

But that does not take away the ludicrousness of the proposal. When reached, the Home Ministry refused to comment. The proposed changes are similar to recommendations in a recent report by an inter-agency taskforce under the Home Ministry to investigate the misuse of visit visas.

Nepali workers were bypassing cumbersome labour permits by travelling abroad on visit visas, and the Immigration Department had been severely criticised for another meaningless proposal to require all those on visit visas to have a minimum education qualifications and English speaking abilities.

Poudel dismissed this, saying, “It was one of the many options that were tabled, but it was never given much consideration.”

To be sure, the misuse of visit visas is a pressing problem because it has put many migrants, especially women, at risk. In addition to bypassing jobs and countries for which labour approvals are banned for safety reasons, visit visas are also misused by recruiters who want to circumvent legal safeguards or because there are delays in paperwork.

“Countries or sectors restricted for foreign employment owing to vulnerabilities are the most ripe for misuse of visit visas,” says Kumar Dahal of the Department of Foreign Employment. “We get calls from women in places like Syria that are banned for foreign employment. Stranded domestic workers from Kuwait call us in the worst imaginable situations. What they have in common is that they all left on visit visas.”

He said that although many workers go to the UAE on visit visas, it is also a transit to third countries. On Wednesday itself, the Nepal Embassy in Abu Dhabi released a notice asking Nepalis not to come to the UAE on visit visas for work because of an increase in cases of stranded migrants.

The latest proposed restriction on visit visas has its roots in Nepal’s labour migration system that requires workers to obtain approvals to work abroad. The government labour permit is like Nepal’s exit pass that signifies legal pre-departure procedures are followed.

The permits have their merits since they keep intermediaries and employers accountable, ensure that migrants travel with proper documents for authentic jobs, and they are enrolled in a contributory fund if something goes wrong.

However, the new proposal is reminiscent of past restrictions on women. Looking at the evolution of the clause on treatment of female migrants:

1985 The Foreign Employment Act prohibited recruiters from providing jobs to women and children without the consent of guardians.

1988 An amendment expanded this to include permission from guardians as well as His Majesty’s Government. ‘Guardian’ referred to the mother or father of an unmarried woman or husband of a married woman, or elder or younger brother aged 21 years or more of an unmarried woman living in the same family, or father-in-law or mother-in-law of a married woman.

2007 The Foreign Employment Act stated: No gender discrimination shall be made while sending workers for foreign employment pursuant to this Act. Provided that where an employer institution makes a demand for either male or female workers, nothing shall prevent the sending of workers for foreign employment according to that demand.

Shambhu Niroula, a legal adviser to the National Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), says the non-discriminatory clause in the 2007 Act was a huge achievement. “It wasn’t just the non-discriminatory clause, there were also examples of positive discrimination to level the playing field like returning the costs of orientation fees to women migrants,” he says, adding that the proposed rules are regressive.

But directives such as the ban on domestic workers that are predominantly female contradict the non-discriminatory legal clauses, and the new proposed rule is a regressive addition impacting women.

The latest ban on domestic workers was put in place in 2017 after Parliament committee visited the Gulf in early 2020 and decided it was unsafe for domestic workers, regardless of gender. After a similar trip to the Gulf by a team led by Bimal Prasad Shrivastav, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Interest instructed the government to revisit the ban.

“We have recommended country specific policies for domestic workers abroad,” he said. The criteria include having a bilateral labour agreement, a separate domestic worker law, pre-departure training, equality of treatment between Nepalis and locals, and easy access to communicate with consular officials and families back home.

These preconditions were still deemed restrictive, but better than previous rules. However, Covid-19 derailed action. The pandemic itself impacted women workers abroad disproportionately, especially those who had traveled through India or on visit visas since they did not exist in government records and were ineligible for any support from Foreign Employment Welfare Fund.

There are also questions about the requirement that women need permission from the local ward before they can go abroad. They should instead be mobilised to help aspirants make informed decisions via counseling and information campaign. They also have the proximity advantage to monitor illicit activities.

The reactive ban or restrictions on travel that disproportionately target women are lazy because the alternative requires stakeholders to be proactive, engage in bilateral discussions with destination country governments, have strong inter-agency coordination, hold complicit  immigrant officials accountable, ramp up action against traffickers, train and inform workers on safe practices, to look for safer, legal pathways, to create jobs at home, and clamp down on domestic violence.

Instead, they have come up with bizarre policies with detrimental consequences that do not address the problem at hand, but have unintended but predictable consequences.

Nepalis reacting on social media to the proposal have questioned on what grounds is a ‘guardian’ eligible to grant permission for a woman to travel. ‘Why should men under 40 be spared from this provision?’ asked one. How will the consent from the guardian and local authority address trafficking, said another. What if the same guardian is the very source of domestic violence from which the woman is escaping for overseas work?

Even when such letters are not required, women are often harassed by immigration officials at the airport.

Because of the public reaction, it is likely that the Home Ministry will not move forward with the proposal. But it is a sad reminder that even decades later, we are even considering such archaic policies that were considered discriminatory and regressive even then.

Bijaya Shrestha, who heads AMKAS Nepal that supports returnee female migrants says, “In 1996 I wanted to make a passport to go to Japan and was asked to bring a similar letter from my guardian and when I told them I don’t have guardians, they said it could be my younger brother who was 21 years old. I was 30 then.”

The passport office was all right with a letter from her younger brother, but not from her 28-year-old younger sister. She adds, “I can’t believe we are back to the same debate against a nonsensical, discriminatory policy. How much longer must we fight against this?”

Up to 70% of women workers that AMKAS supports were forced to travel through irregular channels because of the travel restrictions.

Sarda Rai is a migrant who has worked in households in Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi. She is now back in her home in Morang, and says: “I left via India but used to return home through Kathmandu airport. The immigration officials gave me a hard time every time. I had to fight back and tell them either to lift the ban, to not issue us passports at all, or to give us jobs in Nepal. All that is still true.”

This story was originally published by The Nepali Times

Amnesty International showed evidence of workers hired to build FIFA World Cup stadiums in Qatar not being paid for up to seven months last year. Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor, Qatar.

By Upasana Khadka
KATHMANDU, Aug 31 2020 (IPS)

Even as Nepali workers stranded overseas face confusion and uncertainty during the Covid-19 crisis, labour reforms in Qatar – including an increase in the minimum wage announced in Doha on Sunday — may have lasting implications for migrants there.

On 30 August, Qatar revised the minimum wage to QAR 1,000 (USD 275), while requiring employers to ensure that they provide decent allowances for food and accommodation worth QAR 300 and QAR 500, if not directly provided.

In addition, workers are now allowed to change jobs before the end of their contract without obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the employer. The reforms will also apply to domestic workers, who are currently excluded from the labour law.

“We have been raising this issue for a long time. The previous temporary minimum wage of QAR 750 was too low, so this is positive news for our workers and reflects the Government of Qatar’s commitment to bring reforms to the labour sector,” said Nepali Ambassador to Qatar Narad Nath Bharadwaj.

There had been much criticism of the NOC requirement that forced migrants to continue working even when there were contract violations, or they were not fit for the job or employer.

“This removes the culture of employers wielding a disproportionate bargaining power by not granting NOC to workers while making them work under unfavourable terms. If migrants have jobs of their choice, their morale will be higher,” Bharadwaj says.

Recruiting agencies often over-promise or lie about job offers abroad, forcing workers to be stuck in companies despite unfavourable employment terms. In other cases, employers release NOCs only if workers are willing to pay them, sometimes as high as QAR 5,000.

As international pressure started building up from migrants’ rights groups, in 2018 Qatar removed restrictions on workers to get exit permits from employers before leaving the country. According to the International Labour Organication (ILO), this ‘effectively dismantles the long-criticized Kafala system of employment’.

The minimum wage issue had been a sticking point for workers in Qatar, where there are over 350,000 Nepalis. Qatar is the first country with which Nepal signed a labour agreement in 2005, and has remained one of the most important destination countries for Nepali workers.

The Nepal government had unilaterally imposed a minimum referral wage for the ‘unskilled’ category of QAR 900 with QAR 300 for food allowance, ensuring that employers are unable to hire Nepali workers below this wage regardless of Qatar’s lower minimum wage.

Other skill categories have a higher minimum referral wage range including semi-skilled (QAR 1,100-1,400), skilled (QAR 1,500-3,000) and professional categories (QAR 4,200-11,000 QAR).

As per this minimum referral wage requirement, all demand letters below QAR 900 used to be screened out by the Nepal Embassy during the approval phase. However, while many employers complied, there were also cases of employers and recruiters finding ways around this requirement via contract substitution. Once workers reach Qatar, they are made to sign another contract with a rate lower than the minimum referral wage.

Now, Qatar’s decision to raise the minimum wage for all workers means implementation will be more reliable via its Wage Protection System that monitors timely salary payment as per the contract and prevailing laws.

The Qatar government’s labour practices have been under international scrutiny ever since it won the bid to hold FIFA World Cup 2022. The pressure has led to some reforms over the years, although problems still prevail.

On 24 August Human Rights Watch issued a damning report on Qatar’s failure to follow through on promises of worker protection, pointing out the high incidence of withheld and unpaid salaries to workers in 60 companies. It said the situation had worsened as many employers used Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to withhold or clear dues.

Ambassador Bhardwaj says, “Nepali workers affiliated with larger companies, including in many FIFA related projects are continuing work taking extra precautions. But there are Nepalis especially in the smaller companies impacted by the lockdown that have gone bankrupt, stopped paying wages, or cut staff size.”

Some 6,000 such workers have gone back to Kathmandu on repatriation flights, but there are 20,000 more who are waiting to return.

In June, Amnesty International also showed evidence of workers hired to build FIFA World Cup stadiums in Qatar not being paid for up to seven months last year.

There has also been international scrutiny in Malaysia, another country with large numbers of Nepali workers. Malaysia produces around two-thirds of the world’s latex gloves, and the US Custom Border Patrol issued detention order citing Malaysia’s labour violations in October last year.

Responding to the pressure, and amid soaring demand for personal protection equipment during the global pandemic, Malaysian companies have started reimbursing recruitment costs to workers, including Nepalis, while upgrading their living quarters, with stricter government oversight and social audits underway.

This story was originally published by The Nepali Times

Credit: Pattabi Raman.

By Upasana Khadka
KATHMANDU, Aug 25 2020 (IPS)

Despite dire predictions about a drastic drop in remittances that Nepal gets from its workers abroad due to the Covid-19 induced economic downturn, money transfers have hit Rs875 billion which is only 0.5% less than the preceding year.

This is in stark contrast to the World Bank’s prediction of a 14% decline, a worst-case scenario of a 28.7% drop by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the forecast of an 18% reduction by Nepal’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

During the initial months of the crisis in March/April remittances did take a sharp dip, declining from Rs79.2 billion the preceding month to Rs34.5 billion. But it has since picked up, rising steadily to Rs94 billion in May/June and Rs101 billion in June/July. Far from declining, the figures for the past two months are record high monthly inflows to date. (See graphs)

The annual growth rate of remittances till this year, which declined by only 0.5%, had been on a positive trajectory, with year-on-year increase of 7.9% in 2017/18 and 14.1% in 2018/19.

Source: Nepal Rastra Bank

Source: Nepal Rastra Bank

“In many essential sectors including manufacturing, Nepali migrant workers overseas have continued to work throughout the pandemic,” explains Gunakar Bhatta, spokesperson at Nepal Rastra Bank. With news of the virus spreading in Nepal and complications with repatriation, many workers may now be weighing their options and deciding to stay back abroad.

Ramesh, a Nepali worker at WRP Asia, a company making latex gloves in Malaysia, says that after the initial slump at the factory, there is now lots of work because of the heightened global demand for gloves.

“We are now all working overtime. I just finished an 11 hour shift, 8 hours of my regular hours with 3 hours overtime,” he told us over the phone from Kuala Lumpur. Other Nepalis employed overseas in storekeeping, domestic work, cleaning and security, considered essential services, have continued to work right through the pandemic.

Also, the volume of workers who have registered to return home pales in comparison those who have decided to stay back, either because they are continuing to work or they are in a wait-and-watch mode as their decision depends on the situation of their employers. Many are also waiting for normal flights to resume on 1 September.

Ram, a Nepali worker in Qatar, says he holds his transfers when the banks are closed back home, but the pandemic has not stopped the monthly remittances to family in Nepal. “I send money home very month, just like I did before Covid-19, things have not changed much for me or my family. I use my bank phone app to transfer the money,” he says.

At the central bank, Gunakar Bhatta notes that contrary to initial fears, China’s demand for oil has recovered to over 90% of pre-pandemic levels, which bodes well for Gulf economies and subsequent demand for migrant workers.

This trend is mixed in other labour-sending countries in the region. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have seen a surge in remittances, whereas the Phillipines has seen a decline. Some experts say the increase in the past two months in Nepal may be due to workers sending more money home to their families because their incomes have been affected by the lockdowns. The higher June-July figures could also be because of the backlog from earlier months of the lockdown.

“Migrants may have sent what is remaining of their savings from their bank accounts and their gratuity if any. It is uncertain what the numbers will look like next fiscal year, remittance data for August will be a helpful indication,” says Suman Pokharel, CEO of International Money Express (IME).

He adds that the decrease in economic activity and the disruptions in travel have led to a drop in informal hundi transfers, and an increase in transactions through banks and registered money transfer agencies.

The Nepali rupee-US dollar exchange rate is at an all-time low of about Rs120, and in dollar terms total remittances this year have decreased by 3.3%, and in 2018/19 it had actually increased by 7.8%.

The outflow of overseas migrant workers decreased in 2019/20 compared to the previous year after the government stopped issuing labour approvals from the third week of March. In 2018/19, 236,208 new workers had left for foreign employment, and 272,616 migrants renewed their permits. This year, that number has decreased to 190,453 and 177,980 respectively (See graph).

Source: MINISTRY OF LABOUR

Remittances in 2019/20 could therefore take a hit due to the reduction in both the flow and stock of workers due to shrinking demand and job displacements, or contract completion.

While the remittances this year have defied predictions, it masks individual stories of many migrant workers who have not only been unable to send remittances home, but are living in charity and desperate to return. Many are stranded due to uncertain and inadequate repatriation flights, the government’s constant flip-flopping in decisions, and lack of communication.

The Rs875 billion that was remitted this year will cushion to Nepal’s economy, and also includes contributions from undocumented workers who send home money regularly.

However, these workers are not eligible for the government’s repatriation support scheme for  tickets and quarantine back home which is funded by the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund (FEWF). Nor has an alternate mechanism mobilising the government’s Covid-19 fund been set up to support them.

This story was originally published by The Nepali Times

About 2,000 Nepalis are among foreign workers quarantined in a camp between streets 1-32 of the Industrial Area near Doha that has been closed off for two weeks.

By Upasana Khadka
KATHMANDU, Mar 26 2020 (IPS)

Nepali workers in Qatar who have been quarantined in a camp that has been closed off for two weeks say that aside from concerns about jobs and health, they are now also worried about their families back home.

That anxiety increased after the government announced a weeklong nationwide lockdown starting Tuesday after a second Nepali had tested positive for COVID-19.

“The life of a pardeshi family is that they worry about us and we worry about them,” says a migrant worker in Qatar in a camp between streets 1-32 of the Industrial Area near Doha that has been closed off for two weeks.

Nepali workers in Qatar are critical of the government back home not allowing Nepali workers into the country, and say an alternative would be to let them in with strict testing and monitoring

“The Qatar government has gone out of its way to ensure that we receive timely updates including in languages we understand,” the worker said over the phone. There is a hotline to call if any worker shows any symptoms. A few workers had been taken away in an ambulance for tests after they showed symptoms like fever.

“Luckily, it was seasonal flu and they were sent back after being tested negative. Authorities are on high alert,” the worker said.

None of the Nepali workers in the phone interviews wanted their names revealed. A worker who lives outside the lockdown area complains about not being asked to practice social distancing.

He says: “I have been in duty since 5 am this morning. They take our temperature before and after work, but is this the best that can be done? I have been lucky with my job, but I travel on the company bus and have to interact with other foreign workers at work.”

He finds it absurd that they have to commute in buses when the official announcements require people to only travel with one person per private vehicle.

“Unless it comes from the government to stop, employers will continue to make us work. We don’t have a choice, but I would be much more comfortable if we were allowed to stay home like the rest,” says the worker, who adds that the nature of his work does not always allow him to practice social distancing.

The number of cases in Qatar on Tuesday reached 501, with 33 patients having recovered. Among the recent seven most recent new infections, two are expatriates.

With social media, active public service announcements from the Qatar government, Nepal Embassy and migrant community leaders, efforts are being made to keep workers updated.

As per a recent survey conducted by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute at the Qatar University, a higher share of Qatari nationals (84%) and white collar expat workers (79%) reported hearing or reading a lot about COVID-19  compared to blue-collar foreign workers (56%).

The major source of information about the pandemic for foreign workers was through Facebook (31%) and word of mouth (23%). For Qataris, television (31%) and Twitter (18%) while for white-collar expats, television (23%) and Facebook (20%) were the major sources of information on COVID-19.

Regarding the economic effect of COVID-19  nearly half of blue-collar workers were very concerned, compared to 36% of white collar expats and 28% of Qataris. The study team suggests the need to provide more accurate information to blue-collar foreign workers to address their high levels of concern.

In terms of precautionary measures, 84% of blue collar workers report regularly washing their hands  66% reported using protective masks while the share using hand sanitisers was lower at 46%.  The survey team emphasised focusing on information dissemination and providing access to precautionary items like hand sanitisers to blue collar workers.

While there has been criticism of governments of destination countries and their crowded living situations that limits social distancing, many Nepalis including those in the quarantined areas of Qatar also give credit to the efforts made by the government there to ensure safety.

Qatar charity recently called for volunteers to help with COVID-19 work, and many Nepalis signed up. “In time like these it is not just up to the government, we have to step up as well, it is our responsibility also,” says another Nepali worker, who is among 17,000 volunteers who have signed up.

Many, however, long to go back to Nepal. “Look, I fully understand that I may be safer here in Qatar than in Nepal,” says one worker in the lockdown area. “But were something to happen to my family back home, would I be happy to be alive? Life would lose its meaning. The longing for family beats any other emotion for me especially during such times.”

Nepali workers in Qatar are critical of the government back home not allowing Nepali workers into the country, and say an alternative would be to let them in with strict testing and monitoring.  Says one: “Our government is supposed to be our guardian, especially during times like this. Qatar has also banned entry of passengers, but nationals are exempted from this restriction.”

Another migrant worker from Argakhanchi says he and his colleagues have been promised their basic salary during the quarantine period, but worries about what to do if the lockdown is prolonged both in Qatar and Nepal.

“The future is so uncertain that I have to plan so many different scenarios,” says the worker. “If I have to go back, will it be to a Nepal that is locked down  or to a Nepal where the disease has spread? I might have to go back to my village, but we Nepalis are strong, it may be difficult for a month or two, but ultimately we will get used to it.”

This story was originally published by The Nepali Times