Boon And Bane

Along with prosperity, foreign employment also brings trauma and tragedy for some. Despite its contribution to individual families, foreign employment may not always be lucrative job in all the places. Thanks to the government’s misguided policies, Nepalese are losing good opportunities of making money and learning skills in the country likes South Korea but are getting trapped in places like Saudi Arab where many Nepalese workers face problems related to their job terms and conditions. Some even land in prison. Although the cases of trauma of Nepalese foreign workers is nominal in comparison with the number of workers working outside Nepal, their tragedy could have been easily avoided had the government agencies carefully monitored the recruitment procedures and looked after workers’ interest abroad

By KESHAB POUDEL in Karachi

Pakistan International Airline’s PK 268 flight from Karachi to Kathmandu (Monday 30 May) was almost full as majority of passengers were the Nepalese workers returning from the Gulf countries. But not all the returning passengers were happy.

Home_coming : Mixed Feeling

While s ome were happy and cheerful as they carried everything from gold chains to DVD and other sweets for their families and offsprings as they were returning following a month of vacation.

However, i n the same aircraft, story of a group of 42 Nepalese workers, mostly young and strong, was pathetic. Although they also had left for Jeddah ( Saudi Arabia ) with similar hope of making money, 42 Nepalese youths were returning empty handed. They were happy that they survived.

Despite many restrictions and introductions of new laws and regulations, Nepalese laborers continue to be cheated by manpower agencies putting their lives in jeopardy.

The future of Narayan Basnet, 22, who returned from Saudi Arabia , is uncertain and difficult. As soon as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)’s plane touched down the run-way at the Tribhuwan International Airport, many Nepalese passengers were in a rush even ignoring warnings by cabin crew not to move from their place till the aircraft safely parked at apron.

Disappointed and frustrated Basnet, however, did not exhibit the happiness of returning home. He had gone to Saudi Arabia nine months ago and having returned empty handed he has to pay back Rs.70,000 loans he took from his relatives then. “When I left Kathmandu on September 15 just a few weeks after riots, I thought that I was a lucky person. Soon after my arrival at Jeddah, I was disappointed when I was sent to an unknown company – not the one for which I had agreed. When the manager of a company came to receive me, he collected my passport – which I was not given back,” said Basnet. “Since then I was almost illegal in Saudi Arabia .”

Youths in Rally : Unemployment Breeding Violence

Basnet is not alone who returned empty handed with bitter experiences of trauma and tragedy. All the 42 Nepalese had painful stories of exploitations, detention in the police station and imprisonment in the work places to tell.

Saudi Arabia is not the only country with such problems. There are sporadic incidents in other parts of the world as well. According to the Department of Labor, Nepalese workers are currently working in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen in the Gulf; and South Korea, Malaysia and Hong Kong in the east.

From escaping from their work places to meeting with a middleman in Jeddah and voluntary surrender to police and imprisonment for months, 42 Nepalese laborers had completed a long cycle of trauma before they could board a Saudi plane from Jeddah to Karachi en route to Kathmandu .

Although all of them had gone to Saudi Arabia fulfilling government procedures by applying through government-registered manpower companies, they encountered trouble as soon as they landed at Jeddah.

In a situation when more than a million Nepalese workers are going abroad, it is natural to have some problems in the process. However, the cases of fraud, cheating and other such minor irritants could have been easily solved.

Ignorant of Place

Most of the workers – who are trapped in wrong places - are from rural parts of the country ignorant about the existing foreign employment and situation of particular countries.  A large number of Nepalese youths are easily lured in the foreign employment as many youths do not have work back home and see the prosperity in the life of those who return from the foreign employment.

Despite improvement in dealing and procedure of majority of manpower companies, there are still many who follow wrong practices sending ignorant youths to the countries unknown to them under a false promise.

Nepalese Workers : With High Hopes

Had all manpower companies shown certain sincerity, there would be very few possibility of fraud.

Foreign Employment

There are a few cases of manageable trauma and tragedy but the foreign employment is still a sign of prosperity in the rural parts of the country. From increasing family income to changing consumption pattern, remittances have played a major role in driving the rural economy, particularly when the raging conflict has erased other activities.

One of the important aspects of the remittances is that it gives much needed exposure to Nepalese workers while supporting to enhance their working skills.

With the number of Nepalese workers increasing, Nepal receives over Rs. 80 billion remittances every year. At a time when the country’s other sectors are not performing well, it is sustaining the economic growth and foreign currency reserve.

According to the Nepal Living Standard Survey NLSS 11, remittances have made major contribution in the country’s poverty reduction during the year 1996-2003. As large numbers of rural youths are going for work, they are sending money back home increasing the income of the family.

“Thanks to the increasing volume of remittances, the income of rural population has increased by many folds resulting in the positive impacts on the process of poverty alleviation,” said Dr. Shankar Sharma, vice chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC).

Role of Nepalese Missions

Nepalese diplomatic missions can play important role in solving problems of Nepalese workers in the region. As the number of Nepalese workers in the Gulf region increases, the country has already established new missions in the region.

Youths : Rush for Employment

Nepal has diplomatic missions in Qatar , United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia . But, the post of ambassador has remained vacant in Saudi Arabia for more than one and a half years and the embassy is being run by other junior staffs that seem to have little say on matters of labor disputes there.

“These kinds of problems are not only with Nepalese workers but workers of other countries, too, are facing such situation. When Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sudanese face the problems, their embassies are so effective to solve the problems. So far as our embassy is concerned, nobody is there to listen our problems. Our embassy staffs hardly listen to our complaints,” said Ramesh Kumar Bhattarai, 21, a Nepalese worker. “If Nepalese embassies in Jeddah work actively, half of problems of Nepalese will be solved.”

As Saudi Arabia is the largest market for Nepalese workers with more than 200,000 Nepalese working there, Nepal ’s mission needs to be strengthened and equipped with adequate staffs.

Happy Stories

There are not only disappointed persons. Some were on the way to enjoy their vacations and expecting to return within a month. Dal Bahadur Thapa, 35, who works as a security guard in multi-national company in Dubai , is quite satisfied from his job. “There are 35 Nepalese in my companies and all of us are happy,” he said.

According to Dal Bahadur, United Arab Emirates is most liberal and modernized country in the Gulf and their local act favors the foreign workers. ”If you are legally appointed, local government guarantees your security and safety. The problems occur only with those who came to Dubai through other ways.”

In an average, a Nepali can save up to Rs.150,000 to 200,000 annually in the Gulf countries depending upon the job he gets. The country has been passing through a very critical phase of insurgency and almost all employment opportunities are vanishing back home. Therefore, foreign employment is a good alternative to Nepalese youths.

“I am happy to work in Saudi Arabia since I don’t have any job back home. I will return completing my 45 days vacation,” said Nikhil Yadav, 24, a resident of Mahottari district. “It is not easy to work in the hot desert and some Nepalese find it impossible to work,” said Yadav. “I met some Nepalese who want to leave Saudi Arabia but their problem is that they don’t have passport and other documents with them.”

Thapa and Yadav are among a million of Nepalese who have benefited from the employment opportunities in the Gulf countries earning money to sustain their families back home. Thanks to the professional manpower companies, Thapa and Yadav worked as per the written terms and conditions that they had agreed upon before leaving Nepal .

Fraud At Final Stage

With the support from officials of Department of Labor posted at Tribhuwan International Airport , some manpower companies are found to change the earlier agreement paper at the last minute. This is how a long saga of trauma begins for Nepalese workers.

“When I was in the final process of boarding, I was given another copy of agreement. I could not think of changing my mind as I was in the last stage of leaving the country,” said Kishore Maharjan, 28, a resident of Satdobato Patan. “I am happy to say that I am still alive.”

The practice of changing the agreement paper by the manpower companies is not new as it was in practice for quite a long time. Those who are forced to change their earlier agreement – are vulnerable to physical and mental exploitations.

“Thank God, we did not die in Saudi Prison as it is like a hell. You have to run to drink water and food,” said Maharjan. “At dinner and lunch, every prisoner has to fight with others to get food.”

With the increasing complaints about the dubious role of manpower companies, the government has recently started to closely monitor the Nepalese workers bound to foreign countries. Immigration Section at Tribhuwan International Airport has already nabbed 31 Nepalese workers going to foreign country with different agreement and invalid documents.

The Immigration Department has already forwarded the false documents and people for necessary action to the Department of Labor. “We have already started investigations on the matter,” said Janakiballav Adhikary, director of Labor Department. “Those manpower companies- which have sent workers in countries other than permitted by us will be punished in accordance with the law.

Although 42 Nepalese workers returned backed safely at home, there are said to more than 50 Nepalese in the prisons in Saudi Arabia waiting to return to Nepal . “It is not easy to return and sometime it takes months,” said Maharjan.

For their safe return, some Nepalese workers also had to change their name and religion. As an Islamic country, Saudi Government has a special fund allocated to buy tickets for those Muslims who cannot afford money.

As a large group of Nepalese workers – who could have easily made million of rupees working in a respected companies under government protection in South Korea – have lost their opportunity to go there because of previous government’s intervention in selection process, some other workers – who went to Saudi Arabia for work had to return empty handed with bitter experiences of social and psychological trauma of serving prison term.

Regularizing Manpower Companies

Department of Labor monitors activities of the manpower companies and penalizes those who don’t abide by the Labor Act. Since foreign employment is a lucrative sector, politics often influences the decision making process. During the period of previous government, the CPN-UML’s Labor Minister Raghuji Panta took actions on unknown ground.

The government canceled the license of some companies sending wrong signal to the international labor market.  Last November, the license of 17 manpower companies were cancelled. After the cancellation of license of Lumbini Overseas, one of the companies authorized to send workers to South Korea, more than 300 Nepalese have lost opportunities to have a job in that prosperous East Asian country.

Since foreign employment has been playing important role to support Nepalese economy, this sector has also seen many ups and downs. Because of killing of 12 Nepalese in Iraq , a mysterious mob ransacked more than 300 offices of foreign employment agencies in September 1, 2004 sending a wrong signal to the global market.

Following the constitution of new government, Ministry of Labor and Transport Management has taken two major decisions. In one decision, it suspended the process of issuing license to foreign companies to send their employees to Malaysia .

Despite all these disturbances, demand of Nepalese workers continues to go high as the number of workers going abroad registered 28 percent growth in the fiscal year 2004 compared to the previous year.

After the Gulf countries, Malaysia remains a major destination but the recent decision to stop sending workers to Malaysia may hamper the overall growth in this sector. “We have stopped issuing permission to the workers going to Malaysia with the request from our embassy in Kuala Lumpur ,” said a spokesman of Ministry of Labor and Transport Management.

According to Department of Labor Promotion, the ministry cancelled the registration of those manpower agencies on the ground of complaints filed by many Nepalese who were cheated by the agencies. Some agencies were found to have accumulated enormous amount of money from Nepalese workers.

When foreign employment is a major sector to provide employment opportunity to Nepalese youth, the role of Ministry of Labor and Transport Management has drastically changed from merely a registration institution to an institution to look after the promotion of market as well as protection of workers.

As the number of Nepalese going for foreign employment is set to grow further, the government must develop a mechanism to protect Nepalese workers in foreign countries so that all Nepalese could return with happy faces and prosperous future