A

COMPLETE REPORT ON
MIGRATION OF NEPALESE FOR FOREIGN
EMPLOYMENT: PROBLEMS AND EXPECTATION

Submitted by: -
Bigyan Bhattarai
sciencetiny4629@gmail.com
Reg. No: - 2011-02-03

Submitted to: -
Apex College (Pokhara University)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page No.
Table of Contents 2 Abbreviations 5
Abstracts 6
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
General Background 7
Statement of the Problem 9
Objectives 13 1.3 Methodology 13
Research Design 13
Sampling 14
Questionnaire Preparation 14
Data Analysis Technique 14
Problems/Difficulties Faced 15
Lesson Learnt 15
Significance of the Study 15
Limitations 16
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW

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An Overview of the Labour Migration 18
International Migration from Demographic Perspective 22
Theories Regarding International Labour Migration 23
International Migration from Labour Perspective 23
Causes and Consequences of International Labour Migration 27
Problems Faced by Migrant Workers in Sending Countries 29
Globalisation and Regional Integration in Asia 30
Major Concerns in Asia 31
New Needs and Challenges 32
History of International Labour Migration in the Nepalese Context 32
Previous Research Work on the Issues of International Labour Migration 34
Conceptual Framework 35 2.12 Research Questions 36 CHAPTER
III
POLIC AND LAWS
Policies Regarding Foreign Labour Employment in International Arena 37 3.1 The UN
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of the Migrant
Workers and Members of their Families 37
Other International Conventions and Conferences 38
Government Policies Regarding Migrant Workers in Other Asian Countries 40
Hong Kong 40
Japan 42
South Korea 42
Taiwan 43 3.3.5 Thailand 43
3.4 National Scenario 44
3.4.1 Nepalese Foreign Employment Act-2042 44 3.4.2 National Labour Policy 1999
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3.4.3 Institutional Arrangement 48

CHAPTER IV
SOCIO ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
4.1 Volume and Trend of International Labour Migrants by Fiscal Year 49
4.2 Volume and Trend of International Labour Migration by Countries 50
4.3 Socio Economic Characteristics of Labour Migrants 53
4.4 Motives Behind Migration 54

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4.5 Problems of Labour Migrants in Home Countries and the Country of
Destination 55
4.6 Women Migrant Workers 56
4.7 Problems in Government and Policy Level 59
4.8 Manpower Agencies 61
4.9 Trade Union to Protect the Rights of Labour Migrants 62
4.10 Overall Findings of the Research 62
4.10.1 Issues 62
4.10.2 Problems of Migrant Workers in Abroad 63
4.10.3 Problems of Migrant Workers in Home Country 64 CHAPTER V
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of Findings 65
5.2 Conclusion 67
5.3 Recommendations 69
5.4 Policy Recommendations 69
5.5 Recommendations for Programme Interventions 71
References 73
Appendix 1: List of Participants of In Depth Interview
Appendix 2: Checklist and Guidelines for In Depth Interview

List of Abbreviations

ATTTP The Alien Industrial Technology Training Programme

CDPS Central Department of Population Studies
DFID Department for International Development
FDW Foreign Domestic Workers
GATS General Agreements on Trade and Services
HMG His Majesty of Government
ICPD International Conference on Population and
Development
ICT Information Communication and Technologies

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ILO International Labour Organisations
IPS Inter Press Service
IUSSP International Union of Social Scientists in Population
KFSB Korean Federation of Small Business
LEPD Labour and Employment Promotion Department
LSL Labour Standard Law
NGO Non Governmental Organisation
NIDS Nepal Institute of Development Studies
NLP National Labour Policy
NPC National Planning Commission
OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
PIK Professional, Technical, Kindard
TCP Technology Cooperation Programme
UN United Nations
UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women

ABSTRACT
Study regarding the “Migration of Nepalese youth for Foreign Employment: Problems and
Prospects” has been carried out with the aim of evaluating the Nepalese government’s policies
and programmes related to the regulation and management of foreign employment profession
in Nepal. This study, at the some time has seek to identify the issues and challenges on foreign
employment, nature of labour migration trend and the number of socio-economic and
demographic aspects related to the migration of Nepali migrant workers. Similarly, this study
has also evaluated the internationally recognised policies and programmes to protect the rights
of the migrant workers.
Both qualitative and quantitative information has incorporated to the completion of this study.
So the trend analysis of Nepali labour migrants by fiscal year and the concentration of people

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in different countries in different period of time are also observed. It is found that, migrants
workers have faced problems both in the home country and the country of destination, where
as the problems in abroad are highlighted very much as compared to the problem that they are
being in the national level. Nepalese government polices are not able enough and properly
implemented to the regulation and management of foreign labour migration. At the some time
Nepalese government is not found sincere to the implication of international provisions to
protect the rights of the migrant workers. Government mechanisms are not found very much
effective to assure safe migration of potential labour migrants.
Finally the study has concluded that the foreign labour migration can be regulated with the
proper implementation of government policies and programmes. The foreign employment
profession should also be accepted as a dignified occupation as because of its importance to
strengthen the national economy and it also making our young people engage in some sorts of
income generating activities even in the difficult period of the country.

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 CHAPTER-I INTRODUCTION

1.1 General Background

Migration of people from one place to another is a usual phenomenon since the beginning of
human civilization. The migration in the beginning was for the sake of food and exploring new
places for security purpose. But gradually the migration took the shape in diverse form and
now has become a very essential and common in each and every corner of the world.
International labour migration is one of the integral components while talking about
international migration. Millions of people from around the world (especially from the
developing world) are leaving their usual place of residence for seeking better employment
opportunities and supply food for their dependents. Globalisation and integration of regional
economics have added impetus to the growing mobility of workers across borders (ILO, 2003).
Poverty and the inability to earn enough or produce enough to support oneself or a family are
major reasons behind the movement of work seekers from one place to another. These are not
only characteristics of migration from poor to rich states; poverty also fuels movement from
one developing country to others where work prospects seem-at a distance, at least-to be better
(OHCHR, 2013).
Labour migration has, in the 21st century, moved to the top of the policy agendas of many
countries - countries of origin, transit and destination. Most of the world's estimated 150
million migrants are people searching for improved economic opportunities abroad.
Three key factors drive migration and will continue to fuel this kind of movement for many
years. They are:
The "pull" of changing demographics and labour market needs in many industrialized
countries.
The "push" of population, unemployment and crisis pressures in less developed countries.
Established inter-country networks based on family, culture and history.
An alarmingly large proportion of labour migration occurs illegally, aided and abetted by a
clandestine and often criminal industry. Increasingly, governments of both sending and
receiving countries are developing regulatory mechanisms to manage labour migration. These
include selective recruitment policies by countries needing labour, and strong marketing and
overseas employment strategies by countries supplying labour.
For some countries of destination, labour migration, particularly of the highly skilled, is more
than a temporary manpower adjustment strategy; and can have long-term implications for

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immigration. For countries of origin, it can support development, for example through
remittances. The private sector can play a key role in making labour migration demand-driven
in destination countries, and in recruiting workers in countries of origin.
By observing the trend of labour migrants it seems that most of them are either unskilled or
semi skilled and a few portion of them are highly skilled. According to estimates by non-
government group, there are over 19 million Asian migrant workers in Asia and over 25 million
Asian migrant workers working across the world. At least half of the migrant workers are
women, and many are in domestic work, the entertainment industry and also in irregular woks
(Marwan Macan-Marka, IPS, 2003.
A huge number of Nepalese workers go abroad to work in the absence of fruitful local
employment opportunities. Migration is nothing new to Nepal, and the total stock of Nepalese
nationals working overseas (excluding about one mission in India) in different capacities is
estimated to be about half a million (ILO-DFID 2002). The history of formal entrance of
Nepalese citizens in foreign employment begins in 18141815 after the Nepal-British India war.
A total of 4,650 Nepalese youngsters were recruited to the British armed forces as a British-
Gurkha regiment.
Similarly, the migration of Nepalese people for other employment purpose begins to work in
the tea states of Dargelling and forest of Assam by the second half of the 19th century.
Economic migration to the Middle East from South Asia and other parts of the world was
spurred-on by the oil boom in the early 1970s. The reasons behind the migration are almost
same in Nepal as other parts of the world. Existing poverty, limited employment opportunities,
deteriorating agricultural productivity, armed conflict are some of the reasons about the
motives behind international labour migration. There are many villages in Nepal where the
labour migration has been established as a culture of community to go aboard for work for a
while and return back with some money and experience of placement in different geographical
location. The influence of friends, relatives and well wishers has also played a prominent role
to the promotion of international labour migration.
The ongoing armed conflict situation of the country has made people displaced from their usual
place of residence and the alternative means of employment for displaced youth is established
as foreign employment. The conflict has also limited the development activities throughout the
country and expansion of industries is stopped. This situation has created more scarcity to get
employment within the national border and ultimate step of the people is to go abroad for
foreign employment. Though the concrete research has not been conducted yet, the young
people from conflict prone areas are compelled to go for foreign employment to save their life.

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The remittance that country receives each year is not used in productive work. Most of the
amounts are being spent on household expenditure, health services, education for the children
and constructing new houses, other essential reconstruction work and pay back lone taken by
the migrant workers. It is seen that neither our government nor the migrants have appropriate
vision to invest their earning in the productive work.

1.2 Objectives

The general objectives of this research is to identify the policy as well as ground level problems
occurred in the migration of Nepalese youth for foreign employment, anticipate its future and
suggest specific changes and improvement for the welfare of migrant workers going abroad.
The specific objectives of this study are;
To identify the major issues and challenges in foreign employment
To identify the problems faced by migrant workers both in home country and the country of
destination
To identify the problems of female migrant workers both in home country and the country of
destination.
To prioritise the needs of international migrant labours.
To evaluate the existing government policies and programmes and suggest appropriate
amendments in the existing policies.
To observe the international instruments that has focused on the issues of labour migrants.

1.3 Research Methodology

1.3.1 Research Design

Mostly qualitative and some quantitative information are collected to observe the situation of
international labour migration in the Nepalese context. It is so because of the qualitative nature
of the research. The information are obtained from the national and international publications,
authorised documents produced by His Majesty’s Government (HMG), information provided
by Government, Non-government and UN bodies in their websites, article written by different
scholars on the issues of international labour migration and so on.
Primary information on the issues was also taken with the help of an in-depth interview with
the experts and the person working on migrant workers’ issues. Some open questions were

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asked to them to get their inputs in this research. Informal discussions were also held with the
experts and concerned individuals to obtain detail information about the topic.

The list of the persons selected for in-depth interview is given in “Appendix A”

1.3.2 Sampling

The sampling process of this study was unconstructive. In order to collect information through
in-depth interview, experts and the people working on the issues of foreign labour migration
was identified and they were approached through the telephone conversation and email. The
sample size for in-depth interview of this study was 10 and people selected for that purpose
were experts involving in research and study on foreign labour migration, representatives of
trade union organisations, government officials, people from foreign employment
entrepreneurs, inter governmental agencies and media persons with reporting bit on foreign
labour migration. The major aim behind the selection of such diverse sample is because of
getting bunch of information from different perspectives and analyse them in a proper way.

1.3.3 Questionnaire Preparation

Some questionnaires were designed for this study. There was live question answer session
during face to face dialogue with the concerned individuals. During the interview session with
the experts, basically personal experiences were noted down.
The questionnaire asked is given in “Appendix B”.

1.3.4 Data Analysis Technique

Available data of this research has been analysed through the descriptive technique i.e.
interpretation of presented table in words and the explanation of qualitative information in an
organised way.

1.3.5 Problems/ Difficulties Faced

Socio-economic and demographic analysis of volume and trend of migrant labour was very
complicated due to the lack of proper data tabulation system within the government level.

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Meeting with the experts was also very challenging due to their availability during the research
period.
Very few literature on the concerned issues were available that made difficult to carry out
research on the basis of secondary information.

1.4 Significance of the Study

Report of current Living Standard Survery-2013 has mentioned that the major reason behind
the failing of under poverty population is because of increased expenditure of person or family
engaged in foreign employment

Issue regarding the involvement of bulk of young people in foreign employment is very burning
one but very few studies were conducted in the past. While observing the past research
documents it is seen that most of the studies are very specific to provide information on the
status of foreign labour migrants. Some of the studies have only focused on remittance where
some others are only highlighted the issues of female migrant workers. Articles written by
different scholars and trade union activists are not very much updated even in the long year’s
gap and that is because of the lack of proper information. So, this study will generalise the
issues of international labour migrants and provides up dated information regarding the status
of international labour migration.
The study provides a glimpse of the situation of international labour migration. It is like a
mirror to observe the issues and challenges, cause and consequences and the Nepalese
government’s policies and programme on labour migration. It could be said that it is an in-
depth study on the issues of foreign labour migration, so the recommendation of this study will
be useful for the concerned authority to make better policies and programmes to manage and
regulate the international labour migration.

Emerging issue but fewer activities are performed. The issue regarding foreign employment is
established like an issue of trade unions. The work of most of other NGOs is only focused on
the issues of migrant works going India and other border side cities. This study is a part to
observe the situation of migrant workers who are going other countries than India for foreign
employment. The policy made by government is also very much focused on the employees
going in Gulf States and other East Asian countries.

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It is also because of keen interest to present the whole scenario of foreign employment and
migrant workers in a compiled form which can be used by concerned authorities to adopt their
policies and programmes for securing the rights of migrant workers as well as their welfare

1.5 Limitations

There is lack of information to justify this study as a complete one. Very few literatures were
found in the websites and in other printed form and my approaches in the concern authorities
was not perfect to do a complete study in this vague subject.

Another limitation of this study was financial and human resource that was essential to do a
complete study on this subject. Despite the technical support from Youth Action Nepal, all
research work had to be done by the researchers himself. All research work from the beginning
to the end had to be done by a single person, which is almost impossible in a perfect research
work

The sample of this research is also not adequate. It is purposive sampling but not complete at
all due to the availability of respondent. Research/study is also based upon the secondary
information and very little primary information is taken from the in-depth interviews and
informal discussion with the experts.

All the experts and key respondents could not be met due to the availability of their time. Initial
plan was to contact 10 different professionals and experts to talk on this issue but only six of
them were available in the specified time of the study.

It has more or less covered the issues of migrant workers going in Gulf, South East Asian and
other Countries excluding India. Although there are thousands of migrant workers currently
residing in India and working blue colour job in a very vulnerable situation.

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CHAPTER-II LITERATURE REVIEW

2. An Overview of Labour Migration

Over the past three decades, policies in the area of labour migration have developed along four
major paths: growing restrictiveness and selectiveness in the admission of labour migrants in
developed countries; a significant increase in the number of countries, particularly developing
countries that have become host to foreign workers; the rising recognition that the rights of
migrant workers and their families need to be protected and; the adoption of regional
agreements on the free movement of persons (UN, 2002).

Globalisation of integration of regional economies has added impetus to the growing mobility
of workers across abroad. In Asia the movement of labour is becoming an important and
enduring phenomenon associated with economic growth and development since it eases skill
imbalances in labour markets and provide broad cultural and economic benefits for sending
and receiving countries. Migrants’ remittances, for example, are now a valuable and stable
source of foreign exchange to many origin countries. At the global level, the importance of
migration to development is now reflected in the fact that it has become the part of agenda of
multilateral institutions, as for example in the trade negotiations within the framework of
General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS).

While market forces are driving labour migration, there are several signs of market failure
associated with its related processes. A number of risks have been associated with migration
including trafficking and forced labour, recruitment malpractices such as fraudulent job offers
and exorbitant placement fees, debt bondage, sexual and physical harassment, employment in
hazardous jobs, and under or non payment of wages. Experience suggests that state intervention
through appropriate regulatory institutions and measures are essential to the efficient and
equitable working of the labour market.

Recruitment malpractices, fraud and abuses are widespread in many Asian Countries. To
combat them government should have transparent systems in place for licensing and
supervising private recruitment agencies. There should be stiff sanctions against fraud and
against the practice of charging workers excessive placement fees, while providing incentive

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for good performance and cutting down lengthy bureaucratic procedures through such
measures as establishing “one-stop” contract registration processing centres (ILO 2003).

Despite major barriers to migration, irregular migration has grown in recent years in Asia due
to, among others, restrictive labour migration policies which are not in line with labour marker
needs. There is consensus that irregular migration is undesirable and must be minimised
particularly as it often results in putting workers in a position of vulnerability to violation of
their basic human rights.

Until the first war, international migration played a key role in the integration of economies on
both sides of the Atlantic. After the Second World War, migration of workers contributed to
economic and social integration between countries in South and North. During both these
periods, labour went hand in hand with capital mobility, and migration was key factor in the
globalisation of economies. International migration now seems to be excluded from the new
process of globalisation.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the total number of persons living outside their
countries of origin worldwide was 175 million including 120 million migrant workers and their
families according to the ILO estimates. It is estimated that 20 million African men and women
are migrant workers and that by 2015 one in ten Africans will live and work outside their
countries of origin. While migration is bound to grow and offers development opportunities
for both countries of origin and destination as well as for individual migrant workers, ill-
conceived or inadequate policies have led to a series of problems that are of direct concern to
the International Labour Organisation and its constituents (UN, 2002).
It is surprising to know that the larger share of international population movements is in
developing countries. The refugee burden is particularly heavy in developing countries, which
receive nearly three-quarters of all officially-designated refugees and untold numbers of other
forced migrants. In addition, the developing world contains numerous magnets for economic
migrants, including the newly industrializing economies of Asia; the oil-producing Middle East
Gulf States; West Africa and-increasingly--South Africa; and the Southern Cone, Venezuela,
and Mexico in Latin America. While international migrants represent only a small fraction of
the world's population, the impacts of these movements can be larger compared to the numbers
who move. (ILO: 2003).
Who are these international migrants? They include people who have moved more or less
"voluntarily" (e.g., short and long term workers ranging from unskilled labourers to highly

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skilled "professional, technical, and kindred" [PTK] workers), as well as those whose
movement is in some sense "forced" (e.g., refugees and bona fide asylum seekers, and people
who move for environmental reasons or "ecomigrants"). Included along this spectrum are many
whose movement is a response to poverty and lack of employment at home.
Some are settlers, whose migration--whether undertaken legally or illegally--is essentially
permanent; others have moved (at least initially) on a temporary basis. In general, migrants
tend to be young adults. Again, it comes as a surprise to many that between 40 and 60 percent
of all international migrants worldwide--and over one half of refugees--are women and girls.
In some migration streams (such as those from Sri Lanka and Indonesia to the Gulf States), the
majority of migrants in the 1980s were women.
Increased attention to the volume and directions of international population movements has
been accompanied by growing awareness that migration is linked often in ways that are poorly
understood to the process of development itself. Developing countries, which both send and
receive the majority of international migrants, are trying to understand better the role of
migration in the development process. Industrial countries, for their part, are examining the
ways in which their trade, aid, investment, and development assistance policies affect and are
affected by international migration, especially from developing areas. In the case of migration,
globalisation and its dominating facet, foreign direct investment, may mean two opposing
things. It can be viewed as the necessary complimentary between of movements of production
factor labour and flows of capital and goods or, conversely, as an alternative to the movement
of workers. In the first case, globalisation would lead to the growth and diversification of
migration flows, while in the second international trade and capital movements would
substitute migration.
Beyond quantitative changes, the essence of new developments brought in by globalisation is
the transformation of pattern of trades and productive systems. High skilled labours become
more capital alike and is characterised through high international mobility, while movements
of low skilled labour may become superfluous regarding rising capital portability.
Many developing country governments encourage international labour migration, more often
implicitly than explicitly. By providing employment for both unskilled and skilled workers,
emigration offers an outlet for domestic frustrations that might otherwise present serious
political problems, and can produce large inflows of valuable hard currency remittances. The
consequences of international migration for development (of development on migration) in
countries of origin and destination remain hotly debated.

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Many countries around the world are facing rapidly changing dynamics of labour migration.
Migration pressures are increasing in all regions of the world. Migrant workers are often still
subject to severe forms of exploitation in recruitment and employment, to forced labour,
substandard housing, exclusion from social protection, and denial of many basic human rights.

All too frequently, national migration policies, legislation and practices are outdated. Many
governments acknowledge that existing law and practice are manifestly inadequate to assure
effective management of today's labour migration conditions.

During 2000 to 2001, a number of governments in Central and South-East Asia, the Caucases,
the Persian Gulf and Latin America have asked the ILO to provide advice and technical
assistance towards reformulation and modernization of labour migration legislation, structures,
policies and practices. Our aim is to offer the relevant government a comprehensive review-
analysis-recommendations package to address labour migration issues and needs, update
legislation, policy and practices, and implement measures for effective management of labour
emigration and immigration. The ILO International Migration Branch has the accumulated
knowledge, expertise and framework to respond to these challenges. It however, requires
additional resources to provide adequate and timely cooperation to constituents.

2.1 International Migration from Demographic Perspective

The relationship between international migration and other demographic factors-population
size, population growth, age structure, and internal population composition--is neither simple
nor deterministic. For example, popular views hold that high fertility in areas of migrant origin,
juxtaposed with low fertility in areas of destination, is a major cause of international migration.
Yet such differentials do not explain the greatest volume of migration, which is between
developing countries, where both origin and receiving areas are characterized by high fertility
and youthful age structures. Nor do they explain the significant volume of migration from
Eastern to Western Europe -- both regions of low fertility.
This is not to say that demographic differentials are irrelevant, but rather that they create only
the potential for international movement, and are only one among many sources of migration
pressure or inducement. In the case of developing countries, high fertility coupled with
declining rates of infant and child mortality has produced very "young" age structures. It is
after a substantial lag of 15 to 20 years, as these successively larger groups of children reach
the age of labour force entry, that the "expulsive" force of high fertility might be felt. Unless

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job growth is sustained at exceptionally high levels, the labour market for young adults
becomes saturated, and relative incomes decline for this segment of the population. Typically
this is accompanied by substantial rural-to-urban migration and, if circumstances permit, by
follow-on migration to more favourable labour markets in other countries.
Similarly, low fertility in receiving countries may serve as a kind of inducement to international
migration, if only indirectly and again with a long delay. In some countries with high in-
migration, fertility rates are at extraordinarily low levels. In Germany, for example, the total
fertility rate in 1993 was 1.4 children per woman; in Italy 1.3. Such low fertility rates may elicit
pressures on governments from employers worried about future "labour shortages," or from
politicians expressing collective fears of population decline, and may contribute to the adoption
of explicit or implicit policies favouring openness toward substantial in-migration.
The magnitude of potential demographic pressures for international migration from developing
countries is striking. According to ILO estimates made in the mid-1980s, in the two decades
from 1970 to 1990, the economically-active population of the developing world increased by
59 percent, or some 658 million people. By comparison, the economically-active population in
the developed countries increased by only 23 percent, or 109 million people. Over the two
decades from 1990 to 2010, growth of the economically-active population in the developing
world is projected to be considerably larger in absolute terms (733 million) and somewhat
smaller in percentage terms (41 percent) than over the prior two decades. In contrast, the
economically active population in developed regions is expected to increase by only 50 million
people, or 9 percent. Even if high fertility in developing countries were to decline to moderate
levels tomorrow, the demographic pressures for migration would continue for several decades.
2.2 Theories Regarding International Labour Migration
There is no single, well-developed theory of international migration. In view of this state of the
art and the recent growth in transborder population movements, the International Union of
Social Scientists in Population (IUSSP) has formed a Committee on South-North Migration,
which is systematically examining international migration theories, their assumptions,
supporting evidence, and policy implications.
Among the various models attempting to explain why international migration begins, five
major approaches can be discerned:
Neoclassical economics: macro theory (arguably the body of theory most familiar to World
Bank staff) views geographic differences in the supply and demand for labour in origin and
destination countries as the major factors driving individual migration decisions. Among the
assumptions of this model are that international migration will not occur in the absence of these

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differentials, that their elimination will bring an end to international movements, and that
labour markets (not other markets) are the primary mechanisms inducing movements.
Government policy interventions affect migration by regulating or influencing labour markets
in origin and destination countries.
Neoclassical economics: micro theory focuses on the level of individual rational actors who
make decisions to migrate based upon a cost-benefit calculation that indicates a positive net
return to movement. In this approach, human capital characteristics that raise the potential
benefits of migration, and individual, social, or technological factors that lower costs, will lead
to increased migration. Differences in earnings and employment rates are key variables, and
governments influence migration through policies that affect these (e.g., through development
policies that raise incomes at the point of origin, decrease the probability of employment at
destination, or increase the costs of migration).
The new economics of migration views migration as a family (i.e., group) strategy to diversify
sources of income, minimize risks to the household, and overcome barriers to credit and capital.
In this model, international migration is a means to compensate for the absence or failure of
certain types of markets in developing countries, for example crop insurance markets, future
markets, unemployment insurance, or capital markets. In contrast to the neoclassical models,
wage differentials are not seen as a necessary condition for international migration, and
economic development in areas of origin or equalization of wage differentials will not
necessarily reduce pressures for migration. Governments influence migration through their
policies toward insurance, capital, and future markets, and through income distribution policies
that affect the relative deprivation of certain groups and thereby their propensity to migrate.
Dual labour market theory holds that demand for low-level workers in more developed
economies is the critical factor shaping international migration. To avoid the structural inflation
that would result from raising entry wages of native workers, and to maintain labour as a
variable factor of production, employers seek low-wage migrant workers. In this model,
international migration is demand-based and initiated by recruitment policies of employers or
governments in destination areas. Wage differentials between origin and destination areas are
neither necessary nor sufficient conditions
for migration. The options for government policy intervention to affect migration are limited-
-short of major changes in economic organization in destination areas.
World systems theory focuses not on labour markets in national economies, but on the structure
of the world market--notably the "penetration of capitalist economic relations into peripheral,
no capitalist societies," which takes place through the concerted actions of neo-colonial

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governments, multinational firms, and national elites. International migration is generated as
land, raw materials, and labour in areas of origin is drawn into the world market economy and
traditional systems are disrupted. The transports, communications, cultural and ideological
links that accompany globalization further facilitate international migration. In this view,
international migration is affected less by wage or employment differentials between countries
than by policies toward overseas investments and toward the international flow of capital and
goods.
As the IUSSP Committee stresses,"...the conditions that initiate international movement may
be quite different from those that perpetuate it across time and space....new conditions that
arise in the course of migration come to function as independent causes themselves...[making]
additional movement more likely, a process known as cumulative causation." Several theories
address the perpetuation of international movements:
Network theory stresses that migrant networks serve to reduce the costs and risks of
international migration and thus to increase the likelihood of movement. The development of
such networks are often facilitated by government policies toward family reunification and,
once started, migrant networks can make international flows relatively insensitive to policy
interventions.
Institutional theory points to the fact that once international migration has begun, private and
voluntary organizations develop to support and sustain the movement of migrants. These
include a variety of legal and illegal entities that provide transport, labour contracting, housing,
legal and other services, many of which have proven difficult for governments to regulate.
Cumulative causation theory holds that, by altering the social context of subsequent migration
decisions, the establishment of international migration streams creates "feedbacks" that make
additional movements more likely. Among the factors affected by migration are the distribution
of income and land; the organization of agricultural production; the values and cultural
perceptions surrounding migration; the regional distribution of human capital; and the "social
labelling" of jobs in destination areas as "immigrant jobs." Again, once a "migration system"
has developed, it is often resistant to government policy intervention.
The IUSSP Committee concludes that theories regarding the initiation or perpetuation of
international migration need not and should not be viewed as contradictory or mutually
exclusive. Rather, "it is entirely possible that individuals engage in costbenefit calculations;
that households act to diversify labour allocation; and that the socio-economic context within
which these decisions are made is determined by structural forces operating at the national and

19
international levels. The task of assembling and evaluating the empirical evidence to support,
refute, or refine these theoretical approaches is currently in progress.
2.3 International Migration from Labour Perspective
In many countries of destination, international migrants are an important source of labour
supply to ease manpower constraints and facilitate rapid economic growth. This was the case
in Western Europe during the post-World War II years up to 197374; it continues to be the case
in the Arab Gulf, and in burgeoning Asian economies such as Malaysia's. The effects of
migrants on the employment of natives continue to be a subject of debate, probably because
those effects vary, not only by country but also by sector, occupation, and type of migration.
For example, while there has been little evidence of negative effects in selected U.S. labour
markets (largely because migrants and natives were complements), one recent study showed
negative wage effects among blue collar workers in Germany. However, empirical evidence
on the issue is sparse, especially so for developing countries.
The costs and benefits of international migrants for social services and entitlements, similarly
is hotly debated. On the one hand, migrants tend to have high rates of employment and, where
taxation systems function, of tax contributions. One the other hand, it is argued that migrants
impose costs through their use of social welfare, health, and education services. Studies of
these issues yield conflicting results; most are confined to developed countries, and few if any
apply longitudinal cost-benefit methods of analysis.
Although labour migration has been limited for over 25 years in developing countries, the
foreign labour force has significantly increased during this period. The apparent paradox point
to the fact, in many developing countries, large number of foreign workers entered the host
country as family members-now the largest share of migration flows in OECD countries-or
refugees.

In a climate of growing policy restrictiveness, policies reflect an evolution towards greater

selectiveness, favouring the groups of individuals and people who meet specific labour needs,
such as those in science and technology, those with skills considered in short supply in the
labour market, those who are able to bring in capital.
2.4 Causes and Consequences of International Labour Migration
The causes of international migration are multiple and, for any given country, change over
time. Understanding those causes, identifying what--if any--issues they raise for migrants and
their countries of origin and destination, and determining appropriate and effective policy
options for addressing such issues needs to be done on a countryby-country basis.

20
Consequences in countries of origin: Many developing country governments have encouraged
international labour migration, more often implicitly than explicitly. Such countries include
Turkey, the Philippines, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Cuba,
Barbados, Mexico, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Their reasons are multiple. Emigration can
provide relatively well-paid employment, especially attractive for governments struggling to
keep pace with rapid labor force increases. In some countries (Egypt, Sri Lanka and India are
prominent examples), educational systems are producing numbers of highly-educated
graduates far in excess of domestic demand for such persons. By providing employment for
both unskilled and skilled workers, emigration offers an outlet for domestic frustration that
might otherwise present serious political problems, and can produce large inflows of valuable
hard currency remittances. Moreover, some governments have welcomed, if not encouraged,
the emigration of selected ethnic groups and political dissidents.
At the same time, sending country governments express concern that emigration deprives these
nations of their best human resources, represents a transfer of educational investment from
poor to rich countries and leads to abuses or exploitation of their workers. Out-migration can
also pose the risk of rather serious and sometimes dramatic economic problems and the need
to make sudden adaptations when migrants return unexpectedly and in large numbers, as
occurred in the aftermath of Iraq's incursion into Kuwait in 1990.
The consequences of international migration for development (and the effects of development
on migration) in countries of origin remain hotly debated--and poorly understood. The positive
links are most clear over the long term, as illustrated historically by countries such as Sweden,
Germany, and Britain, and more recently by "transition cases" such as Italy, Greece, South
Korea, and Taiwan, all of which went from being countries of emigration to countries of in-
migration. Over the short term (10 to 20 years), it has proven difficult to demonstrate
empirically any "automatic mechanism" by which international migration results in
development. At the same time, there is evidence that rapid and successful development may
increase emigration in the short term.
Although the poorest seldom have the means to migrate, remittances have been shown to play
an important role in poverty alleviation for migrant households and in subnational areas of out
migration. The consequences of remittances for income inequality depend greatly on the
income composition of a given migrant stream. Inequality may increase if migrants are
concentrated in upper-income households, but may have a neutral effect where migrants are
fairly evenly distributed across income levels.

21
The consequences of migration for labour markets and human capital in countries of origin are
multiple and most often context-specific. It has been difficult to demonstrate absolute
reductions in unemployment as a result of international migration, but emigration does appear
to play an important role in absorbing labour force growth. Whether or not emigration
constitutes a "drain" of workers at any skill level sufficient to hinder the development process
depends upon the availability of human and other resources to fill the gap. Similarly, migration
may or may not contribute to the acquisition of skills abroad. It is more clearly evident,
however, that migration and remittances improve the ability of migrant families to educate and
provide health care for their children.
Consequences in countries of Destination: Migrant-receiving countries are a heterogeneous lot,
and generalizations about the consequences of international migration for them as a whole are
difficult to make, especially given that migration patterns and reactions to them change over
time and with changing circumstances. Arguably the most universal consequence is that
international population movements-however small--can alter the ethnic, racial, cultural, and
sometimes the political composition of receiving societies. While these diverse populations are
often successfully integrated, they may also contribute to social conflict and, in extreme cases,
violence against migrant groups.
2.5 Problems Faced by Migrant Workers in Sending Countries
In Philippines there is little or no employment opportunity in the home country, or there is only
an under-employment opportunity. Workers must pay a placement fee to a local employment
agency or a special fee to their own home government. Workers often must borrow money at
high interest to pay these fees.
Similarly in Thailand, there is need for pre-departure orientation programs for Thai workers
who wish to go overseas for work. The Ministry of Labour does have programs in operation
to facilitate the process. The problem is an insufficient budget for pre-departure orientation
programs and proper administration. The bureaucracy set up to handle the growing number of
interested Thai candidates for jobs abroad is also very complicated and the process is very time
consuming.
This has been further complicated by a burgeoning number of private job placement agencies
that have found that it is very profitable to step into the system and offer their services to Thais
who want quick jobs abroad. These job brokers travel to village after village offering quick
overseas employment and present a picture of instant wealth to villagers who are very
vulnerable to their spiel. The condition for such employment, of course, is paying the broker a
placement fee. The official fee is roughly 60,000 baht (c. US$1,350) but in fact the amount

22
being paid fluctuates according to the demands of the job broker and the gullibility of the job-
seeking workers. Often the figure is closer to three times the official quota.
Contracted work overseas is rarely long-term. Usually the work contract lasts two years. For
the worker to recoup the amount of money paid to the broker as a placement fee a full two
years is virtually essential and, even so, any meaningful profit requires a good deal of overtime
work.
There is much activity at present at the Ministry of Labour to update their procedures to be
more relevant to the situation and more protective of the workers seeking overseas
employment.
Thai overseas workers tend to be non-confrontational to employers, hard working, and docile
so they are in demand. The Thai government actively promotes overseas jobs and tolerates the
job brokers’ involvement.
2.6 Globalization and Regional Integration in Asia
Migration and management of labour migration are now acknowledged as central issues of
concern for governments and social partners worldwide. Recent ILO figures indicate that there
are some 5 to 7 million migrant workers and their dependents outside their countries of origin
across Asia and another 8-9 million in the Middle East, the majority from Asia (www.ilo.org).
An increasing number of governments have recognized the need to establish, modernize or
improve their legislation, policies, practices and administrative mechanisms to address
migration issues, particularly labour migration.
Initial emphasis has been on migration control. Visa requirements, increased border controls,
monitoring and other mechanisms have been strengthened in Asian countries, some of which
have historically experienced considerable cross-border movements.

2.7 Major Concerns in Asia

Economic development, trade, and labour dimensions of migration have been identified as
important concerns by a number of Asian counties. How does labour migration contribute to
development? What benefits can labour mobility confer on regional economic integration?
How can States ensure appropriate attention to employment standards and other measures to
discourage irregular migration and unfair competition with national workers? What costs does
the loss of skills and talent "brain drain" incur for some countries?
Labour migration is of major economic and social interest for a number of countries in the
region. Migrant remittances represent a significant portion of foreign exchange earnings for
Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, among

23
others (worldwide, a total of 73 billion dollars per annum, second only to petroleum). For
several industrializing countries in the region migrants provide a significant portion of their
semi-skilled and/or unskilled labour needs.
For some States in Asia and elsewhere, the loss of skilled workers and trained professionals
through emigration represents a serious threat to development efforts. A regional approach to
migration must enhance the beneficial aspects and at the same time develop mechanisms to
encourage the retention or return of talent.
Migrant workers in host countries in Asia and the Middle East face extensive abusive and
exploitative situations according to many reports. Application of human and labour rights
norms to non-citizens is inadequate or seriously deficient in many countries in the region,
particularly as regards irregular migrants, those without authorization to enter or remain in the
country.
Increasing migration pressures coupled with stronger control measures has contributed to
growth of smuggling and trafficking of migrants. Trafficking in migrants has been given
considerable visibility in inter-governmental fore, in the news media, and by governmental and
non-governmental organizations in Asia. Women and children are especially victimized; many
are trafficked into conditions of slave labour and/or forced prostitution.
Experience in various countries has demonstrated that enforcement of minimum labour and
workplace standards serves as an effective deterrent to irregular migration and employment by
discouraging sub-standard exploitative conditions that make utilization of unauthorized foreign
workers attractive to certain employers and that render such employment uncompetitive for
national workers.
2.8 New Needs and Challenges
The rapid expansion of concern by governments and social partners across Asia regarding
labour migration presents a major challenge for ILO. The unique specialized experience and
expertise of ILO and its values and standards-based approach should be the basis for shaping
national and regional labour migration management policy and practice in Asia.
However, given limited resources, a strategic ILO approach and close cooperation between the
International Migration Branch (MIGRANT) and field offices is required to ensure that indeed
ILO meets this broad challenge and responds effectively to government and social partner need
for information and analysis, policy orientation, technical advice and assistance and
programmatic cooperation in effective labour migration management and protection of the
rights and dignity of migrants.
2.9 History of International Labour Migration in the Nepalese Context

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Nepal has also long history of International Labour migration. Around 200 years ago, Nepalese
started to seek work abroad and send remittances back to their families in Nepal. In early 19th
century, for instance, the first men migrated to Lahore (in today’s Pakistan) to join the army of
the Sikh ruler, Ranjit Singh. They earned the nickname “Lahure” which is still used today for
Nepalese employed in foreign armies abroad. In 1815/1816, the first British army of India and
were then, and still are called “Gurkhas”. Since then, international labour migration of
Nepalese has never ceased.

The Nepalese government now intends to actively promote international labour migration and
to safeguard the interest and welfare of migrants. Only a few initiatives have been taken so far.
Among these are bilateral talks with the governments of the Gulf States in order to increase the
number of posts for Nepalese and to increase security as well as to improve the conditions of
employment of the migrants. Furthermore the government is trying to regulate the procedure
of recruitment. It is therefore listed a number of Gulf States and Asian countries to which
Nepalese workers may be recruited officially and defined conditions for registered recruiting
agencies, including the condition that these have to be based in the Kathmandu valley, that is,
in or near the capital.

Numerous cases of intolerable sufferings of Nepalese migrant workers have been found abroad.
It is bitter reality that Nepalese workers are accepted in East and South East Asia as well as
Gulf countries only because they are cheap and they do whatever job they get. Most of them
are educated male and female from middle and lower middle class families who go abroad with
a hope to earn much within a short period of time. The large number among them works
illegally. Nepalese whether by training visa or by illegal measures, used to reach their
destination countries after paying considerably huge amount to the middle man or the so called
employment agencies. They are generally forced to work under ‘3-Ds’ (Dangerous, Difficulty
and Dirty) conditions.

As a response to physical and sexual abuse of women migrants to the Middle East, in 1998 the
His Majesty’s Government of Nepal officially banned female migration of Gulf States. The
migration of female is a bit restricted. To obtain a passport a women have to produce a
permission letter from their guardian, that is, from their husband if they are married or from
their father if they are unmarried. Further ideas of the government, with the objectives to
promote international labour migration, which have not yet realised, are (1) the creation of a

25
‘foreign employment bank’ which should replace the informal channels that are now used for
remittances, and (2) creation of revolving fund which will provide collateral free loans to
individuals from deprived sections of society

For all households involved in the migration is the lack of opportunities in Nepal for
employment and for secure livelihood strategies that leads to migration whether within the
country, within the region or overseas. Household that are poor have less choice with regard to
migration opportunities and the very poorest households are the most vulnerable when it comes
to illegal migration and various forms of trafficking. The recent Maoist insurgency also
basically reflects frustration of youth with poverty and lack of opportunities, which is again
exerting migration pressure from the affected areas to other parts of Nepal or overseas,
particularly India (ILO-DFID, 2002).
2.10 Previous Research Works on International Labour Migration
Various researches have been conducted internationally on the issue of international labour
migration but in the Nepalese context, it is found that very few researches/studies have been
conducted to analyse the overall situation of labour migrants. Some of the prominent one found
during this research are as follows;
David Seddon of University of East New Anglia has been involved in some research works on
the issue of labour migration. His recent article in an website (www.migrationinformation.org
) is published under the tile of “Nepal’s dependence on Exporting Labour”. He has also been
involved in other number of researches/studies in association with Nepal Institute of
Development Institute (NIDS)
Prominent Research Work by NIDS is “New Lahures” published in the year 2004.
Similarly UNIFEM, HMG/Nepal and SAMANATA have conducted a rapid assessment social
investigation under the tile of “Policies, Service Mechanisms and Issues of Nepali Migrant
Women Workers” in the year 2003.
Dr. Bal Kumar K.C. In his article “Migration Poverty and Development in Nepal” published
in Asian Pacific Migration Journal has also mentioned the issues of International Labour
Migration.
Ganesh Gurung of NIDS has prepared a report on the “Patterns in Foreign Employment and
Vulnerability of Migrant Workers” in 2002.
ILO-DFID mission to Nepal on migration in 2002 was prepared a report for
“Managing Foreign Employment in Nepal: Issues, Challenges and Strategies”
2.11 Conceptual Framework

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Very rare dissertations are found on the issue of Nepalese international labour migration even
though the limited literatures and specification studies on this issue made a difficult task to
perform. Despite of those lacking, this study tries to identify the features, characteristics, levels
and trends of the Nepalese international labour migration on the one hand and the prevailing
national and international policies existing on behalf of the rights of labour migrants abroad
on the other. Based on the various theories, laws, and the social structure of the Nepalese
society, the concept of this research work can be summarised in the following ways:
According to the Neo-classical economic theory, Dual labour market theory and others, this
research work aims to find out the demand and supply of labour from the low economies to the
higher economies.
It is also observed the labour policies in different labour sending and receiving countries which
can guide to evaluate the existing Nepalese policies on the issues of labour migration.
The causes and consequences of international labour migration in different labour sending and
receiving countries will also guide to contextualise this research in the Nepalese context.
The history of labour migration in the context of Nepal is found to be an old phenomenon but
the concentration of labour migrants has changed after the restoration of democracy in 1990.
No proper policies were needed in the past but these days the voice for protecting the rights of
the migrant worker from the national and international community has increased significantly.
So this research work is intended to respect the international provisions on the issue of migrant
workers and formulate better labour migration policies and programmes in the Nepalese
context.
The main concern of this dissertation is to reflect the reality of Nepalese international labour
migration scenario and alert Nepalese government and concerned authorities to be more
focused on the management of labour migration.

2.12 Research Questions

On the basis of the above review of literature and conceptual framework the following research
questions were set:
What are the level, trend and concentration of Nepalese labour migrants excluding India?
What are the national and international instruments on the issue of labour migration?

27
What are the issues and challenges on labour migration?

To fulfil the above research/study questions numbers of observational analysis are dealt in Part
III and IV of the research/study. Part three is about observational analysis of volume and trend
of Nepalese labour migrants, observation of national policies and acts and other international
instruments on the issues of migrant workers, where as the part IV is about situational analysis
on the basis of primary sources of information.

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CHAPTER-III POLICIES AND LAWS

3. Analysis of Existing Policies Regarding Foreign Employment in International Arena

While talking about policies and laws it is essential to observe national as well as international
policies that deals the issues of foreign labour migration. This chapter has approached to reflect
most of the national and international provisions especially the instruments declared by UN,
ILO and government’s foreign employment act of Nepal.

3.1 The UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all

Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families

The convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Resolutions 45/158 of
18 December 1990. The convention opened a new chapter in the history of efforts to establish
the rights of migrant workers and to ensure that those rights are protected and respected. It is a
comprehensive international treaty, inspired by existing legally binding agreements, by United
Nations human rights studies, by the conclusions and recommendations of meetings of experts,
and by the debates and resolutions on the migrant worker question in United Nations bodies
over the past two decades (http://www.unhcr.ch/html/menu6/2/fs24.htm). And the basic
features of this convention are;

It addresses the treatment, welfare and rights of this specific group of people
provides and internationally recognised definition of “migrant worker” and certain categories
of migrant workers
Considers migrant workers as more than economic entities or labourers. They are social entities
with families
Recognises that migrants have human rights regardless of their legal status, whether they are
documented or undocumented. It defines human rights of migrant workers whether legal or
illegal, and also defines other rights, which are applicable only to migrant workers in a regular
situation.
Seeks to establish minimum standards for the protection of legal, political, economic, civil,
social and cultural rights for migrant workers.
Recognises the importance of women as migrant workers in their own right
Recognises the complexity of the situation migrant workers face in the contemporary world

29
Provides the definitions for specific categories of migrant workers-such as “frontier workers”,
“seasonal workers”, “project-led workers” and selfemployed workers”
Does not propose new human rights exclusively for migrant workers, but draws attention to
the dehumanisation of migrant workers and members of their families.
Outlines duties of all states, specifically those belonging to sending states and states of
employment.
Requires states to take appropriate measures against those who organise illegal migration and
to impose sanctions on those who use violence, threats or intimidation against migrant workers.

Like all other international human rights agreements, the convention sets standard which create
a model for the laws and the judicial and administrative procedures of individual states.
Governments of state which ratify or access to the convention undertake to apply its provisions
by adopting the necessary measures. They undertake to ensure that migrant workers whose
rights have been violated may seek judicial remedy.

The convention provides that States must respect the basic human rights of all migrant workers.
They must also prevent clandestine migration for employment and stop manpower trafficking
activities. Furthermore, states must declare and pursuer a policy to secure equality of treatment
in respect of matters such as employment and occupation, social security, and trade union and
cultural rights.A total of 29 countries has ratified this convention till 2005 May. Nepal has still
not ratified this convention.

3.2 Other International Conventions and Conferences

ILO Migration for Employment Convention of 1949 (No. 97): The convention provides the
foundation for equal treatment between national and regular migrants in recruitment
procedures, living and working, access to justice, tax and social security regulations. It sets out
details for contract conditions, participants of migrant in job training or promotion and deals
with provisions for family reunification and appeals against unjustified termination of
employment or expulsion and other measure to regulate the entire migration process.

ILO Migrant Workers (supplementary Provisions) Convention of 1975 (No. 143): The
convention was elaborated at a time when concern about irregular migration was growing. It
sets out the requirements for respect of the rights of the migrants with an irregular status, whilst

30
providing for measures to end clandestine trafficking and to penalise employers of irregular
migration.

The world conference on human rights held at Vienna in June 1993 in its Declaration and
Programme of Action urged all States to guarantee the protection of human rights of all migrant
workers and their families. The conference also stated that the creation of conditions to foster
greater harmony and tolerance between migrant workers and the society of host States was of
particular importance.

The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held at Cairo in

September 1994, dealt with migration issues and, in particular, with the question of global
migration. In chapter X of the Programme of Action which it adopted, the conference called
for a comprehensive international approach to dealing with international migration. Among the
areas requiring action, the conference identified mainly the root causes of migration and called
for measures to deal with documented, as well as undocumented migrants.

World Summit for Social Development, held at Copenhagen in March 1995, states committed
themselves, at the international level, to ensure that migrant workers benefits from the
protection provided by relevant national and international instruments, to take concrete and
effective measures against the exploitation of migrant workers and to encourage all states to
consider ratifying and fully implementing international instruments relating to migrant
workers.

The fourth World Conference on Women, held at Beijing in September 1995, paid considerable
attention to the situation of migrant women. In the platform of action, which it adopted, the
conference called on states to recognise the vulnerability to violence and other forms of abuse
of women migrants, including women migrant workers, whose legal status in the host states
depends on employers who may exploit their situation. It also urged governments to establish
linguistically and culturally accessible services for migrant women and girls, including migrant
workers who are the victims of gender based violence.

Similarly, International Labour conference 2013 adopted a plan of action to ensure that migrant
workers are covered by the provision of international labour standard. Framework accepted in
the conference will comprise international guidelines between sending and receiving countries

31
that address different aspects of migration; promoting decent work of migrant workers;
licensing and supervising agencies for migrant workers; preventing abusive practices migrant
smuggling and trafficking in persons; protecting their human rights and preventing and
combating irregular labour migration.

The plan also covers specific risks for all migrant workers-women and men-in certain
occupations and sectors with particular emphasis on dirty, demeaning and dangerous jobs and
on women in domestic service and the informal economy. It also seeks to labour inspection,
create channels for migrant workers to lodge complaints and deals with policies to encourage
return migration, re-integration into the country of origin and transfer of capital and technology
by migrants.
3.3 Government Policies Regarding Migrant Workers in other Asian Countries
(both sending and receiving countries)
3.3.1 Hong Kong
Anti-Migrant Policies- The Hong Kong Government has a dualistic policy in dealing with
foreign workers: Expatriate professionals, info-tech specialists, business people, academics
and other high-skilled expatriates are enticed to come to Hong Kong where they are treated in
high respect. Aside from company perks and benefits enjoyed by expatriates, the immigration
policies pertaining to them are very liberal: after working for a continuous period of seven year,
the professional expatriates can claim the right of residence. Also, while being employed, they
can bring in their spouse and dependents. They can shift to other job categories. Once
terminated, they can quite freely seek other jobs without being subjected to the "two week rule"
(explained below).
Labourers and other so-called low-skilled migrants, e.g., FDWs and construction workers, are
allowed in legally, although with restrictions and quota ceilings.
FDWs and migrant labourers are placed under highly restrictive immigration controls which
the low-skilled workers undergo. The NCS policy ("two week rule") began in 1987,
purportedly to stop FDWs from abusing their employment in Hong Kong by moving from one
employer to another. The basis has long been challenged by migrants as outrageous, since
FDWs are typically the victims of arbitrary termination by employers. Once out of work, the
FDW their visa will expire in two weeks. Once terminated, they are virtually thrown out onto
the street, with no place to stay, any money or source of income, no insurance, and not allowed
to take new employment until her papers (most all are women) are processed anew. It is also
the practice of some employers even to manufacture up false charges, e.g. theft (like planting

32
money in their belongings and calling in the police) to legitimize the unceremonious expulsion
of the FDW.
The process of applying for a new visa (If they are able to find a new employer within two
weeks) depends greatly on a good letter of reference and upon the verbal word of the previous
employer. So, in effect, for most cases, they have to return to their homeland and save up
money to apply thru an agency again.
Since the early 1990s, many NGOs and other groups have campaigned for the scrapping of the
NCS policy. Nonetheless, the Immigration Department and Employers’ Association has stuck
adamantly to this discriminatory policy.
Removal of migrants’ minimum wage, thus allowing an institutional wage discrimination
policy based on FDWs nationality (like in Singapore).
Labour Policies: Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) are on probation for the first few months
of their employment. During that probationary period, they can be fired for any reason.
FDWs are covered by a minimum wage policy and a standard employment contract issued by
the government. The contract spells out the wages, benefits, terms of employment and the
responsibilities of both the FDW and the employer.
However, reality speaks a different story as many FDWs are denied the right to claim these
benefits. Some of the most prevalent problems faced by FDWs are underpayment of wages,
denial of days off, inhuman treatment, and exorbitant agency fees. Aside from contract
violations, FDWs are also subjected to discriminatory treatment especially in shops, markets
and in public in general.
3.3.2 Japan
A new law regarding overstayers went into effect on February 18, 2000. It is estimated that
there are about 250,000 overstayers in Japan. If the overstayed is deported, he/she cannot
reapply for entrance to Japan for 5 years. However, there was a case in January 2001 where a
Filipino overstayer (for 12 years) married Japanese.
He was granted legal status in Japan.
3.3.3 South Korea
Policies Related to Migrant Workers in Korea: The Alien Industrial Technology Training
Program (AITTP) was established in 1991. It allowed trainees from third world countries to
learn industrial skills and technology. Through AITTP, entry of workers became legal with
three types of Trainee programs:

33
Joint Venture: A Korean company, through the Ministry of Trade, enters into an agreement
with a foreign company whose business is compatible or complementary to the business of the
Korea partner.
Technology Cooperation Program (TCP): Korean companies to send trainees in order to learn
technical developments.
Korean Federation of Small Business (KFSB): Factories in Korea bring in foreign workers
because of shortage of local manpower.
Many of the NGOs in Korea are trying to abolish the present "trainee" visa system of the
government. It degrades the background and skilled training of those who come to Korea. For
those unskilled workers, it puts them on lower footing than their Korean counterparts doing
the same job with the same amount of training. Also, seeing the higher pay and greater freedom
of movement, which undocumented workers enjoy, many trainees are tempted to "run away."
3.3.4 Taiwan
The Taiwan government is business/employer friendly. It does not favour the migrants but it
wants them to come to Taiwan because their wages are far below those of local workers. In
Taiwan many factories are going bankrupt with migrant workers being sent home without
severance pay, unpaid overtime and the forced savings of up to 30% of their earned wages.
Vietnamese migrant workers must pay 12% taxes on their overseas earnings to their home
government.
Taiwanese law does not protect migrant workers who are undocumented. Once captured, they
must pay taxes on 160% of the minimum wage for the period of time they have been in Taiwan
whether they were employed or not. The Labour Standards Law does not cover domestics,
caregivers and fishermen. The Taiwan government cannot force the employer to follow the
Labour Standards Law (LSL). There is no rule of law in Taiwan. A legal system requires that
laws are enforceable, enforced, orderly and uniform. These qualities are lacking in Taiwan’s
legal system.
3.3.5 Thailand
Thailand Policy Relating to Migrant Workers: The Ministry of Labour is mandated to deal with
Thai workers who wish to go overseas for work and the Ministry does have programs in
operation to facilitate the process. The problem is insufficient budget for pre-departure
orientation programs and proper administration. There is much activity at present at the
Ministry of Labour to update their procedures to be more relevant to the situation and more
protective of the workers seeking overseas employment.

34
Undocumented residents in Thailand are officially seen as "illegal" and this translates into
being "without protection under Thailand's Labour Law". They are paid well below the
standard minimum wage, can be fired without cause, can claim no medical compensation, are
not protected by any limit on hours of work, and are constantly in fear of police who demand
bribes for not arresting them. This reality extends also to the families of undocumented alien
workers residing in Thailand. These families cannot legally rent or buy housing. They have
only limited access to schooling for their children. They are subject to arrest and deportation
at any time.
Officially, the Thai government sees these undocumented aliens as a threat to the society and
security of Thailand, as taking jobs away from Thai workers, and as an intolerable burden. Thai
government officials would insist that all these workers should be deported at once. And there
have been periodic efforts to do just that. However, there is enormous pressure put on the
government by the powerful Thai business lobby that claims that the Thai economy, especially
in the areas of fishing, agriculture, construction, and small / medium industry, would shut down
overnight if this source of cheap and willing labour were lost.
Therefore, there is a vicious cycle of conflicting policy. Forced deportation is followed by a
period when the government relents and gives in to the demands of powerful business interests.
This works for a while and then there is another period of deportation and so on.
There are many obvious problems with this present process. Employers think that the fee is too
high. Six months, even one year's employment, is not enough time to jobtrain the workers.
There is no assurance that the workers will return willingly to their native countries afterwards.
There is no assurance that the registration will stop the inflow of new migrants.
3.4 National Scenario

3.4.1 Nepalese Foreign Employment Act-2042

The foreign Employment Act-2042 is the act no 26 of the year 2042 and the date of Royal Seal
and Publication are on 2042/7/14/4. This is act made to provide for the matters relating to
foreign employment, which was first amended on 2049 B.S. The basic features of this act can
be summarised as follows;
It deals about licence process of employment agency and foreign employment enterprises
Provision of prior permission to be taken by the licence holder employment agency
Provision of giving public information to the potential migrant workers through the
advertisement

35
Compulsory involvement of government representatives during the selection process of the
workers
Justifiable contract mechanism between the recruitment agency and the worker
Counselling: The recruitment agency should provide information on the subject of the country
to be visited by the worker. The information includes geographical location, culture, labour
laws as well as economic, political and social conditions of the concerned country
Complain Mechanism is also provisioned for the benefit of the worker: If the employment
agency has not fulfilled its contract responsibility or licence-holder who has not taken
necessary and appropriate action to make the contract conditioned fulfilled
Compensation- The licence holder or employment agency has to provide compensation to the
worker in case they could not find contracted job or any exploitation or injuries occurred by
the worker

Current act on foreign employment act in most senses a control oriented. The preamble of
Foreign Employment Act-2042 has specified that the idea behind this act of to regulate and
manage foreign employment from the government level. The act came in practice in 1985 and
foreign employment was quite new working area of the government. The manpower agencies
were not experienced and other private sector institutions were not capable enough to work on
foreign employment.

Shankar Nepal, Section officer in the Labour and Employment Promotion Department said
“Control mechanism on foreign employment is government’s obligation to reduce the
exploitation of migrant workers”. Some other Asian countries like Philippines and Sri Lanka
are also adopting control mechanism though the private sectors are also in very powerful
position.

The control mechanism in one way is good for the welfare of migrant workers but on the other
hand it has some practical problems. Licence-holder recruitment agency in most the case work
with time constraint and they should supply the workers in the specified time of foreign
companies. But in some cases, as mentioned in the Foreign Employment Act, due to the long
administrative process will hinder the recruitment companies to send the workers on time.

Government is now in the process of formulating new employment act and migration policy
separately, which is under discussion. Proposed new employment act and migration policy are

36
the output of second labour conference organised by the Ministry for Labour and Transport
Management. These policies will come out as in improved form than the existed control
oriented Foreign Employment Act- 2042 and the National Labour Policy-2056.

3.4.2 National Labour Policy 1999

National Labour Policy (NLP) 1999 (2056) has dealt the government policies and programmes
on different labour issues where the issue regarding the promotion and reliability of
international labour migration is also highlighted to some extent. The provision mentioned in
the NLP on the issues of international labour migration is like a complementary action to
increase the effectiveness of Foreign Employment Act2042.

While observing the document, the last point in the objective section of the policy is dealt about
foreign employment service profession. The provision is “by providing continuity to foreign
employment service profession, special attempts shall be made for its institutional
development”

Similarly, in the policy section of NLP, under the “Employment Promotion, Trainings and
Human Resource Development” has mentioned about foreign employment stating that “to
increase foreign employment and to make reliability on it, appropriate changes and amendment
on prevailing Foreign Employment Act and Policy to encourage foreign employment company
shall be adopted”.

The working policy section of NLP four major policies regarding migrant workers is
incorporated. The policies are
For the protection of rights and security of Nepalese workers in foreign country, diplomatic
mission of Nepal, to the countries where the greater possibility of foreign employment exists
and other government agencies shall be mobilised and in addition labour attaché shall be kept
according to necessity
For the expansion of foreign employment and increment of the reliability of its business, a high
level advisory committee shall be constituted with the participation of Ministry of Labour,
Home, Finances and National Planning Commission and foreign employment entrepreneurs’
organisations

37
For the development of foreign employment, if necessary, foreign employment institution shall
be established, with the participation also of the private sector and
To encourage the skilled human resources to the self employment or foreign employment, the
programme to expansion the self-employment and foreign employment shall be preceded as
campaign by providing loans at the concession rate without security.

In the filed wise working policy of NLP 1999 under tile of “Training, Employment and Skills
Development” has emphasised “to create environment to send Nepalese worker in maximum
number to maximum countries for employment be expanding foreign employment worker”
and for this purpose, the programme of sending Nepalese workers in the foreign employment
as skilled labour shall be given, and the involvement of private sector in the training programme
are also included.

Provision regarding the rules and regulation of NLP especial emphasis has given to establish
bilateral labour relation committee in the enterprise level. At the same section the ratification
of the important conventions amongst the convention passed by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) is also stated.

By observing all these provisions and policy oriented activities of NLP it is found that the
government looks very sincere and dedication to increase the effectiveness of international
labour migration. Nepalese government is accepted the importance of foreign labour migration
in our context and the sincerity of government is reflected in NLP.

3.4.3 Institutional Arrangement

Institutional arrangement in the government level is also vital for the promotion of foreign
labour migration. As per the information of concerned government official in the Labour and
Employment Promotion Department, Ministry for Labour and Transport Management is
responsible for designing the policies and programme regarding the subject of foreign labour
migration and the Labour and Employment Promotion Department (LEPD) is working as a key
implementing agency of government policies and programmes. Major work of LEPD is to
provide work permission to the manpower agencies and verify the documents of labour
migrants. It also gives due consideration to judge the cases of falsification. The cases of

38
falsification is monitored and judged by the LEPD in Kathmandu valley and by the labour
offices in other districts out of Kathmandu valley.

The license process of also not very complicated and no specific technical experiences is
needed for the foreign employment enterprises. In the first stage, the employment agencies
need to be registered in the “Office of Company Register” under the Ministry of Industry and
Commerce. Then a licence for work permission is issued by LEPD. Each company has to
submit a police report, 2.5 million rupees as a fixed bail bond and ten thousand rupees as
service change to obtain a licence. The company should also pay rupees five thousand as a
renewal fee in each fiscal year.

The National Labour Policy-1999 has made a provision for the formulation of high level
advisory committee for the expansion of foreign employment and increment of the reliability
of its business. The advisory committee also exists at present that provides feedback to the
government for making a policy and the simplification of provisions mentioned in the act.

Besides these major provisions, government also conduct consultation meetings with the
experts, occupational groups, trade unions and foreign employment enterprises to make rules
and regulations for the promotion and management of foreign employment occupation.
CHAPTER-IV SOCIO ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
This chapter is about the socio-economic and demographic analysis of Nepali migrant workers.
Volume and trend of by fiscal year and the concentration of labour migrants on the basis of the
country of destination is analysed in the beginning two section of this chapter. The remaining
chapter is about problems, issues, nature and motives behind migration, which are very often
deals about the socio economic characteristics of the people.
4.1 Volume and Trend of International Labour Migrants by Fiscal Year The volume and trend
of international labour migration by fiscal year is presented here based on the available
government data from 1993/94 to 2013 December. The trend analysis of labour migration is to
observe the concentration of migrant workers by fiscal years.
Table 1: Volume and Trend of International Labour Migrants by Fiscal Year
S.N. Year Total Number of Migrants

1 2002-2003 3605

2 2003-2004 2159

3 2004-2005 2134

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 4 2005-2006 3259

5 2006-2007 7745

6 2007-2008 27796

7 2008-2009 35543

8 2009-2010 55025

9 2010-2011 104739

10 2011-2012 105055

11 2012-2013 106375

12 2013 December (6 months) 74636

Total 528071

Source: Ministry of Labour and Transport Management, Labour and Employment Promotion Department
The above table gives an overview of volume and trend of Nepalese migrants in abroad.
Analysing the data till 2013 December, it is found that a total of 528071 people are documented
foreign labour migrants from Nepal whereas the estimated data is double than the government’s
one. The above data does not include the Nepali labour migrants to India.

The above data clearly specifies the increasing trend of foreign labour migration in each year.
The volume of labour migrant till is considerably very low i.e. below 4000 in each fiscal year.
But after the volume has increased in a rapid way, which is double or more than the previous
years. The rapid growth of international labour migrants can be observed in each year and the
volume has also increased at the similar pattern. The number of people going abroad as labour
migrants is more than 100 thousand after, which the deep attraction of people toward the
foreign labour migration. The data of 2013 December, which is collected only for six months,
indicates more than 150 thousands people from Nepal are expected to have migrated as labour
migrants.

Several things are indicated by observing the above data. The number of labour migrants has
begun rapidly. This signifies that people started to migrate from their usual place of residence
after the origination of armed conflict. And the volume has been larger and larger when the
armed conflict made impact in all part of the country, one year after another. The data can also
be analysed that, since the beginning of armed conflict, people lost their usual way of earning
in their respective villages; so their option to feed their dependents was very limited and the
security of their life was also challenged. At this situation, the people are attracted to go abroad
for work, earn some money and send back to their families.

40
The impact of information and communication all around the country is another factor to justify
the increased volume of labour migrants in the past few years. Media are very powerful and
scattered around the country. Even the general people have access to media and they are well
known about opportunities in foreign employment through the public information of manpower
agencies. People’s interest to be engaged in new forms of job in a new environment is also
another factor for the increasing volume of labour migration from Nepal.

4.2 Volume and Trend of International Labour Migration By Countries One of the major
aspects of this trend analysis is to observe the concentration of migrant workers as per the
country of destination. The country of destination is observed on the basis of concentration in
different years in different places. Here the year are distributed as first phase i.e. preliminary
years of labour migration, the second phase middle years of labour migration and the last one
as the latest phase of labour migration.
Table 2: Volume and Trend of International Labour Migration By Countries
PHASE I (Early Phase) PHASE II (Middle Phase) PHASE III (Little Phase)

Country’s 2002- 2003- 2004- 2005- 2006- 2007- 2008- 2009- 2010- 2011- 2012- 2013-dec
Name 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Saudi 2290 1041 1469 1959 4825 14948 17867 17966 21094 17990 16875 7006
Qatar 391 245 505 477 1802 9030 8791 14086 19895 26850 24128 20629
UAE 132 - 23 95 284 1417 6360 9850 8411 12650 12760 6832
Bahrain 91 - - - 111 787 583 904 695 818 606 175
Kuwait 361 13 18 107 137 609 465 885 387 907 3194 1386
Hong Kong 63 86 59 67 155 301 209 331 482 564 672 117
Malaysia - - - - 89 151 171 11306 52926 43812 45760 37373
Others 277 774 119 554 342 553 1107 858 597 1464 2219 1291
Total 3605 2159 2134 3259 7745 27796 35543 55025 104739 105055 06375 74636
Source: Labour and Employment Promotion Department, Ministry of Labour and Transport Management

Observing the volume and trends of the international labour migration, the table above can be
sub-divided into three phases viz. the early phase, the middle phase and the latest phase. It is
worth noting here to analyse the volume of international labour migration as the horizon of
international labour migrants has widened with respect to the time factor and the contextual
situation of politics as well as the divergent overall situation of the state.

THE EARLY PHASE

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In the early periods and even today, the volume and trends of international labour migrants is
concentrated to India only because of the open boarder between India and Nepal. The first
phase or the early phase here in the table shows the flow of Nepalese migrant workers highly
concentrated to Saudi Arab and Qatar in the years excluding India. Nepal identified other
countries as the labour destination countries although due to high expected income and high
demands of Nepalese labour in Saudi Arab and Qatar, people of both skilled and semi-skilled
qualities motivated to go to these countries. There were negligible numbers of labour migrants
to other countries. Whereas Malaysia was not given work permit to the Nepalese workers.

THE MIDDLE PHASE

Nepal though was not able to consume the increasing demand of labour employment in its own
job market, started to supply the youths especially abroad. Here, this research reads the as the
middle phase. The overwhelming political situation of the country got even worse than ever
before resulting a great body of rural population displaced to the city centres. In these years,
Saudi Arab and Qatar have significant number of Nepalese labour power consumed in their
job market, i.e., 4825, 14948, 17867 and 17966 by Saudi Arab and 1802, 9030, 8791 and 14086
by Qatar in the corresponding years.

Regarding other labour destination countries, the flow seems quite negligible excluding
Malaysia. The reason behind this may be less payment for the job or may be low popularity of
those countries.

THE LATEST PHASE

The latest phase of international labour migration of Nepalese people. There has been a grand
overflow of active human resource during these years. Some 74636 documented migrant
workers have been expected to be working in Gulf region including other regions like Malaysia
and other. The flow of migrant workers has significantly increased in Malaysia and significant
decrease in Saudi Arab and Qatar.

The trouble in Gulf region of payment, unfavourable climate, strict rules of alcohol and sex,
dishonesty in job doing by both migrant workers and employer and possibly due to high risk
of life and health may be the prominent reasons of divergence of interest to work by the
Nepalese migrant workers in these recent years. Due to these aforementioned reasons, there
has been a compression of workers in Malaysia as there such incidents are low. To have

42
ultimate way of earning and to have life and health security, Nepalese migrant workers mostly
favour Malaysia these days as in the year 2013 some 38373 people have migrated to there
which is extremely high compared to other regions.

4.3 Characteristics of Labour Migration Trend

Current trend of international labour migration in India, Middle East, South East Asian
countries and Europe and America is grown-up form of traditional migration as “Lahure” in
Indian and British Army and domestic workers in India.

Generally, migrant workers do the work in the country of destination that is not usually done
by the people from the concerned country. By observing the trend and nature of current
international labour migration, it can be separated on the basis of “Class” of the people.

The poor and vulnerable group of people of society are migrating to India and they are only
able to expense a little money for their trip. The second type of migrant workers are from little
bit well up family, but not educated (in most of the cases) and able to find money up to 1,00,000
rupees (either taking loan or selling parental properties). They are attracted to migrate as a
foreign labour towards Middle East and Malaysia.

The third types of people are from the middle or higher middle class family who are motivated
to migrate in East Asian countries like Japan and South Korea. They have the capability to
spend 400,000-700,000 rupees and ready to bare higher risk for higher income. The fourth
types of people are from well up family who are motivated to migrate in Europe, America and
other developed countries in Asia Pacific region. They can spend more than one million rupees
and also earn highest amount of money than others.

The trend of foreign labour migration increased after 1990’s when democracy restored in
Nepal. Before 1990 it was very hard to obtain passports from the administrative authority and
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu was only the government institution to issue
passports. But after 1990s, due to the easy administrative process and availability of
government mechanism in each districts headquarters and recommending bodies in the VDC
and municipal level, the number of people making passports increased massively. At the same
time government adopted liberal economy and open democratic environment, which assisted
to increase diplomatic relationship with other countries. Increased movement of people in

43
different corner of the world also supported the Nepalese to explore new possibilities and
opportunities in other parts of the world. The development of Information Communication and
Technologies (ICT) also made people able to haunt international job from the personal level.

As a result of these all factors the establishment of manpower agencies grew rapidly, who at
the beginning initiated to supply man power in Gulf States who were in the situation of
economic boom. Honesty and believable nature of Nepalese worker added more value to
promote the business of supplying manpower in a very short period of time.

4.4 Motives behind Labour Migration

Dream of people from the middle class or lower class family who go aboard for work are for
financial gain. So, the only motive behind labour migration is money. General expectations of
most of the migrants are paying debts; enrol children into the school, jewelleries for women
members of the family, general medial expenses and a bit comfortable life than previous one.

The people from higher middle class who go for foreign employment are with more
expectations than the middle class or the lower class family. The higher middle class people
would like to buy land in Terai areas, buy a house either in the district head quarters or in the
city and to earn some money for running a small enterprises after returning back from their
work in abroad.

Similarly the people gone for Europe, United States of America and other developed countries
are the people from the major city areas (Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Dharan, Pokhara and others)
of Nepal who could spend more than one million rupees to arrange their travel. They are from
higher class family and ready to bear high risk about the money they invest. Motives behind
migration are to earn near about 10 million rupees and further to buy a house and car in
Kathmandu and invest rest of the money for business work. Where as some of the people from
an aristocratic family would like settle down in the country where they are working.

4.5 Problems of Labour Migrants in Home Country and the Country of

Destination
Nepalese migrant workers are basically exploited in a three way. The first exploitation is from
the manpower agencies in Nepal, the second is from the manpower recruitment agency of

44
labour receiving country and the third way is the massive exploitation from the companies
where they work. Other forms of exploitation are not exposed properly but they are exploited
in a different way from their home village to the country of destination.

There is lack of government sincerity to identify the major problems of migrant workers within
the national boundary and in abroad. At the same time, Government’s departments are also not
established in all major labour receiving countries to monitor the situation of labour migrants
and help them in need.

The major reason behind the exploitation of potential foreign labourers is because of number
of layers from origin to the country of destination and in each layer. But at the same time the
involvement of private sector is also essential due to their approaches in international labour
migrate. We might have to lose the market in foreign employment if the government exclude
their involvement.

Unequal wages is greatly prevailed between migrant workers and the nationals but the migrant
workers can not speak about it due to the fear for losing their job. Nepalese workers are
compelled to sing in a fake agreement letter where all the fundamental rights of migrant
workers are prohibited where the company has made another agreement paper only to show
their government with the fake details about the facilities provided to the migrant workers. In
most of the workers’ agreement paper, their affiliation with the trade union is prohibited that
has hindered to make them organised about their rights.

Police and Immigration Department also force the migrant workers to give them money. Some
of the companies have made 12 hours working agreement which is against the international
provision of minimum working hours. The government system of taxation to the migrant
workers is not fare. Workers either they low or high income need to pay equal tax to the
Malaysian government
Foreign labour migrants are working in a bonded condition. Their travel documents are seized
by the employers during their job placement, so they could not raise their voice against
exploitation and compelled to work even in low wages.

45
Most of the migrant workers are not able to send their earnings safely. Illegal migrant works
are facing such problem in a massive way. Due the lack of security and proper mechanism to
send their money back they are not able to save or earn enough money in reality.

There is a lack of cooperation of Nepalese diplomatic mission in the labour receiving country.
Human mafia are active to exploit the honest labours but the government is not being sincere
to take appropriate step. Migrant workers are not organised and there is massive exploitation;
where the migrant workers are working in a vulnerable condition.

Migrant workers have a lack of realistic information about the country of destination. So, they
will go with a sweat dream but come back with a sad story during their work place.

4.6 Women Migrant Workers

Migration of men and women in Nepal has become more and more common as they seek better
opportunities abroad. Though traditionally only men migrated in search of work from Nepal
but the migration of women in abroad in search of gainful employment has also begin since
the last decade. Due to the traditional values and patriarchal Nepalese society, majority of
women are only limited in household work and the work for foreign employment is like beyond
our imagination. But gradually women are come out from household work and their
involvement not only in agricultural work has been creased but also in foreign labour
migration.

Migration of women in India is an old phenomenon but 20 years have been past about their
migration in other countries as a migrant worker. There is no specific data available about the
exact number of female migrant workers besides India, but the estimated number is around 100
thousand. Women are facing a high risk in three different cycle of migration i.e. pre departure,
post arrival and reintegration.

Causes behind demand of Nepali migrant women workers is because their honesty and
competence to bare the responsibility of household works like making food, taking care of
children and old age people. Nepali women are ready to work in low wages due to the lack of
bargaining power and they are devoted to work in any circumstances because of ignorance
about their rights.

46
Women migrant workers have the lack of information about the administrative process of
departure, the country of destination, salary they can obtain for their work and possible risks
and challenges that have to bear during and after their departure. Lacking information is
because of common platform to be in touch with the concern people and authority. Another
problem woman has to face in her family to get permission for foreign employment. Security
of young women and question of sexuality is aroused by the family members, so the capacity
to take the common household decision is always obstacles to the potential migrant women
workers.

Another barrier for women is the lack of knowledge of authorised channel to assure their safe
migration. So, most of the women go for work through the informal network. Nepalese
government does not have a scheme to provide comprehensive training and pre-employment
information to the female migrant worker. The available pre-departure training is just for
formality to obtain the certificate.

The economic exploitation of women is more serious issues than men. Some of the cases
indicate that women are paying 60 percent annual interest of their loan to arrange their
travelling in abroad that give them more financial burden and less opportunity to save money
during their work in abroad. Consolidate efforts of banking sector is also lacking to provide
money in soft loan and capitalise their earning in an organised way.

Most of the women migrant workers are engaged as a domestic worker and that is completely
the informal sector. Government has not developed a scheme to provide skills that is essential
to work in informal sector and even the trainees are also not sincere to get appropriate training
that requires to them.

In all sense women are found to be in uncertainty and confused position. The level and
harassment is also very high. Their health issues are not properly addressed and they have not
informed about their rights and duties.

Thus it is found that, migrant women workers are more vulnerable to situations of risk because
of a number of factors and these factors are inter-linked right from the government policies to
the availabilities of opportunities, the social and gender roles of women, their vulnerability to

47
violence as well as their access to information and services. While policy by itself is not solely
responsible for the problems of migrant women workers, it lays the foundation for some of the
issues, which have emerged. The institutional framework, the social fabric and the lack of
information compound these issues. All these aspects affect migrant women workers live
negatively, sometimes resulting in psychological and physical trauma (UNIFEM 2002).

But in some cases, the provision of foreign labour migration has also contributed to empower
women economically and socially. Nepali women migrant workers in Hong Kong and South
Korea can be an example where women have access on latest technologies like mobile and
internet; they are taking part in social events and unskilled women are now skilled to perform
their work in informal as well as formal sector. Recent report of Nepal Living Standard Survey
2013 has indicated that women are contributing 11 percent of the total remittance sent in Nepal.
Other studies are also indicated that women are saving more than men.

Even though, due to the lack of promotional policy of the government and the lack of
coordination capacity among the government bodies, women are not very much benefited from
the foreign employment. The Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal 1990 has guaranteed the right
to equality between and women but at the same time Government’s Foreign Employment Act-
2042 has adopted restrictive policy to enjoy those rights freely because women get permission
for foreign employment with the consent of their husband or parent. Due to the lack of labour
attaché in the labour sending countries women do not have applicable forum to secure their
rights from the state level. Government has deduced the yearly budget of the Ministry of
Labour and Transport Management due to the existed armed conflict of the country. So it is
very hard to them to mobilise human and financial resources to divert the labour administration
for the welfare of migrant workers.

Reintegration of women migrant worker is very much lacking. State does not have policy to
create employment opportunities to the returned back female migrant workers with skills. Their
earning is not spent for productive work in the home country. Private sector also does not have
schemed to use the remittances in the productive work.

So the current demand is to create economic options for the returned female migrant workers
in home country and use their skills and money for national development.

48
4.7 Problems in Government and Policy Level

There is lack of adequate human resource in the government level that provides labour permit
to the workers. Labour official provide work permission on the basis of submitted document
but government doesn’t have a proper mechanism that verify the illegibility of the document
i.e. the lack of check and balance in the labour administration. It is also found the lack of
exposure and study visit to the labour administrator in the labour sending countries. Concerned
labour administrator need to have a good knowledge about the situation of foreign labour
workers, labour act and migrant worker policies of different countries.

There is also the lack of demand verification system within the government system. Whether
the workers are demanded legally or not, whether they get salary mentioned in the agreement
paper or not, what should be done, if the workers are exploited in the country of destination.
These questions are always unanswerable in the policy level.

Labour agreement with the government in labour receiving countries not going in a satisfied
way. Government, for the first time in its history has made a labour agreement with Qatar just
few months back but the labour agreement in itself is not adequate. Other possibilities for
further labour agreements from government level are not initiated in an effective way.

A follow-up activity from the government level is always lacking. The fixation of minimum
wages of Nepalese migrant workers is not properly implemented due to the wrong attitude of
recruitment agencies towards the migrant worker. But government has not developed a
mechanism to do cross checking on this matter and charge penalty to the concerned
employment agencies.

Lack of labour attaché- the major work of labour attaché is to monitor the situation of migrant
workers and to work as mediator among the worker, companies and the government of labour
receiving country, if the problem occurs. Human resources are not sufficient in the foreign
diplomatic missions of Nepal Government. The higher volume of Nepalese workers are in
Malaysia, Qatar and United Arab Imarets where quite few number of government officials are
working in diplomatic mission. The number of people working in the respected country is only
able to issue the passport. Market promotion from the government level is always lacking
aspect since the very beginning of labour sending tradition.

49
Market assessment is also lacking from the government. Market assessment will assist to
project the need of labours for future years and the possible areas that the government has to
supply the workers. But, Nepalese government has no such mechanism and whatsoever is done
is without proper planning.

Training or counselling to the outgoing labour migrants, provided by the government is not
effective and practical due the lack of skilled trainers. General the trainers does not have
practical knowledge about the place of destination and lacking international travelling
experiences. So, in most cases they do provide wrong information.

Lack of coordination is also observed among between the government bodies. No uniformity
of documents/document standard provided by labour act. All administrative processes should
be done from a single table for the easy facilitation of work permit.

The inclusion of labour cycle is also very important while adopting the national policies on
foreign employment which is lacking in the current government policies on foreign
employment. Labour cycle here means that pre-departure, departure, on the job and integration.
These four stages of labour migrant are very important and the government has to effectively
address these stages in the national policy on foreign employment.

The government has not allocated proper budget for strengthening the labour administration.
The available resource is only limited to expense for salary and allowances of staffs. No proper
attention has paid for strengthening the skills and makes the labour administration equipped to
carry out their day-to-day activities. Due to the limitation of human resource in the concerned
sector, there is negative impact on work performance and productivity of the concern
institution.

In conclusion, foreign employment occupation is still not in the higher priority of government,
though they are claiming that our economy is transformed towards remittance based economy.

4.8 Manpower Agencies

50
There are some manpower agencies in Nepal who are performing a good job while supplying
labour migrants. They do give proper information to the worker regarding their job, earning
and other cultural orientation. But most of the agencies do not give real information that a
worker need to be aware while going abroad for work. Manpower only shares positive things
about the country of destination but generally they don’t share about difficulties and challenges
that might occur during the job placement period.

Manpower companies are not regulated, though the regulation of manpower is clearly stressed
in the Foreign Employment Act-2042. Many companies are into the briefcase and performing
their work illegally. These sorts of activities are also assisted to develop the wrong attitude
among the people about the work of manpower companies.

There is unfair competition among the Nepalese manpower agencies, so the cost of the workers
has increased to arrange their trip to abroad and get work permission. For getting more quotas
from the foreign recruitment agencies, they are ready to agree with imbalance labour
agreements that affect the wages of migrant workers. Bijaya Babu Khatri, journalist from
Kantipur national daily said that “more than 80 percent labour migrants did not get salary,
which is mentioned in the agreement paper”.

They have been lacking the quality of international labour market relationship with the business
companies in labour receiving countries. Most of the labour contract is done with the local
agents and sub agents in the labour receiving countries not with the employers directly. Due to
the lack of relationship skill, they do not have good bargaining power in most cases. If they
could increase the bargaining power, Nepalese labour migrants could earn double than the
current average earning.

International human mafia groups are quite active around the world and their only intention is
to get maximum benefit from the potential labour migrants. So, labour migrants from Nepal
are also exploited in most of the cases. They have to pay higher amount of money for low
wages works, most of them are compelled to work in a bonded situation, no social security and
living in other several social and economic problems.

4.9 Trade Unions to Protect the Rights of the Labour Migrants

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There is no good working relationship between the government and the trade unions, so it has
hindered to work on the migrant workers’ issues effectively

Though the trade unions have branches in most of the districts but the working areas of trade
unions are not disseminated properly. Trade unions are not very much effective to address the
issues of migrant workers properly.

The image and function of trade unions is negative in the society that has also made impact to
lobby in the national level about the situation of migrant workers

4.10 Overall Findings of the Research

4.10.1 Issues
It is worthless to talk about labour migration policies without identifying and observing the
major problems faced by the migrant workers both in sending and receiving countries. The
observation of problems will help to evaluate the effectiveness of existed policies and possible
improvement on it. By looking several literatures and the experiences shared by the
stakeholders and target groups in different forums, media and face to face discussion, key
problems of migrant workers are identified and a list of highlighted issues are presented below.

Problems faced by migrant workers in home country

Problems faced by migrant workers in the country of destination
Government policy
Administrative capacity of government
State’s obligation to respect the spirit of international conventions and conference declaration
Whether the foreign employment occupation is in the government’s priority or not?
The function of manpower agencies. How professional they are? • Government’s activeness in
the country of destination

4.10.2 Problems of Migrant Workers in Abroad

Based on the observation of relevant documents, interview with the concerned people, the
following are found the major problems of Nepalese migrant workers in abroad;
Low wages

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Poor working conditions
Recruitment fraud
Lack of social protection
Denial of human rights
Discrimination and xenophobia
Social exclusion
Irregular migration
Forced labour and trafficking in women and children
Lack of freedom of association and right to collective bargaining
Restriction on mobility and travel
Rush jobs and peak hours
Absence of medical treatment and health services
With holding of papers and IDs
4.10.3 Problems of Migrant Workers in Home Country

Nepalese labour migrants are facing numerous problems in home countries and some of them
are major and some are miner. There are some issues which can be addressed from the policy
and programme level and rest of the issues might be less practical and hidden. Here is a list of
prioritised problems of migrant workers in home countries are mentioned on the basis of this
research/study.
Lack of information in all aspects
Monetary problem
High interest loan
Lack of adequate skills and job orientation
Comprehensive pre-departure training and orientation
Exploitation by local agents manpower agencies
Administrative difficulties
Problems in re-integration
Capitalisation of earning money

CHAPTER-V SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

53
5.1 Summary of Findings
5.1.1 Documented Nepali Labour Migrants and their Concentration: There are more than 500
thousands documented Nepali labour migrants in abroad for the last 12 years. This number
does not include the migrants who are residing in India. Major concentration of Nepali labour
migrants is found in Qatar, Saudi Arab, UAE and Malaysia. There is no significant number of
labour migrants in other countries. The trend of labour migrants in Gulf States is decreasing
gradually where as the number of labour migrants is increasing in Malaysia.
5.1.2 Armed Conflict and Labour Migration: Ongoing conflict and the loss of employment
opportunity are found a major reason to the increment of international labour migration.
Volume of migrant workers has been increased after the origination of armed conflict in Nepal.
5.1.3 Problem of Potential Migrant Features: Problems about potential migrant workers faced
in the home country are very much neglected and the problems in the working countries are
highlighted but no effective action are taken by the government.
5.1.4 Features of National Act: Current Foreign Employment Act-2042 adopted by the state is
control oriented and welfare of migrant worker is very much considered.
5.1.5 Discriminatory National Law towards Women This act also found discriminatory
towards women due to the provision of taking prior consent with their guardians and there is
less attention of the government to assure safe migration of women.
5.1.6 Weak Implementing Aspect of National Act: In one sense the state’s policy on foreign
employment is perfect but its implementing aspect is found very weak due to the identified
problems at all level. Government’s action is not directed in a proper way as the policy has
directed. Government is lacking financial and human resource to strengthen the capacity of
labour administration. Labour migration, being a highly important source of national income,
it is not in the priority of the government.
5.1.7 Weak Commitment towards International Instrument: International instruments including
the “Convention for the Protection of the Rights of the Migrant Workers and Members of their
Families” are found very much powerful to ensure the rights of migrant workers. But Nepal
has still not ratified that convention. The Declarations, Recommendations and Plan of Action
adopted in different international conferences are also very much applicable to best benefit of
migrant workers. Nepal is the state party of all these conferences i.e. state has morally obliged
to implement the Plan of Action in the national level.
5.1.8 Motives Behind Migration: All kinds of people from poor to higher economic and social
status are migrating to the accessible location and their interest behind migration is money.
Poor and vulnerable group are migrating to India and lower middle and middle class people

54
towards Gulf States and Malaysia. Similarly, higher middle class people are migrating to South
East Asian countries like Japan and South Korea and the people from rich family to Europe
and North America. So a distinctive class division among the labour migrants is found in terms
of selecting their place of work.
5.1.9 Motives behind Uplifting Social and Economic Status: The expectation of earning is
found different in each work place. But the common motive of each migrant is targeted to uplift
and economic and social status of their family as compared to present situation.
5.1.10 Unprofessional Manpower Agencies: Manpower agencies are not fare in their business
deal. They have the lack of professionalism to successfully operate their business.
Government’s policy to regulate the work of manpower is absolutely ineffective. Manpower
agencies are more focused on earning money rather than providing best services and benefits
to the labour migrants. Manpower companies are loosing their bargaining capacity with the
foreign recruitment agencies due to the unhealthy competitions prevailed among the Nepalese
companies. Bad impression is existed everywhere about the work of Manpower.
5.1.11 Exploitation of Workers in all Levels: Exploitation of workers is found from the very
beginning i.e. from his/her usual place to residence to the country of destination. Government’s
sincerity to address the issue of labour migrants in the implementation level is found very weak
in terms of coordination capacity,
labour diplomacy and the allocation of resources in the needy areas of concern.
5.1.12 Vulnerability of Labour Migrants: Labour migrants are working in poor and vulnerable
environment. Most of them are working in bonded like situation.
5.1.13 Weak transaction and Capitalization of Money: Earning of migrants is not coming back
to the home country safely. There is also the lack of capitalisation of their money.
5.1.14 Concern about Safe Migration of Women: Migration of women besides India has been
increased for the last 20 years, which shows increased empowerment and motivation of women
for economic independence. Major reason behind the demand of Nepalese women in abroad is
found due to their honesty and competence to be engaged in household work. Women have
higher saving capacity than men and they are contributed 11 percent among the total remittance
entered into the country. Women are also bounded from their family to take independent
decision for foreign work. Economic exploitation and lack of information are found major
obstacles to assure their safe migration.
5.1.15 Integration of Women Migrant Workers: Very less attention has been paid to the
integration of women migrant workers in the society.

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5.1.16 Lack of Proper Mechanism within the Government System: It is also found that
government has a lack of proper vision and working mechanism to address the issue of
international labour migration. Market promotion, market assessment, demand verification and
the provision of labour attaché in the potential labour receiving country are still lacking though
the foreign labour migration has been developed as emerging business and a reliable source of
national income in the difficult economic situation of the country.

5.2 Conclusions

International labour migration mostly in Gulf States, Malaysia and other South East Asian
countries is a new phenomenon of migration in the Nepalese context and that only have about
30 years long history. Unexpectedly the foreign labour migration has developed in such a way,
which has shifted the agricultural based economy towards remittance based economy. The
figure of government authority says that there are more than 500 thousand documented migrant
workers in aboard where as other estimated figure says that there more than one million Nepali
migrant workers including 100 thousand female migrant workers. This figure does not include
the migrated population towards in India. Remittance sent by the Nepali labour migrant is
estimated 100 billion rupees each year and women share 11 percent of the total remittance.

Numbers of people going abroad for work have been increased for the last few years, especially
the origination of armed conflict in Nepal. Major concentration of Nepali migrant workers was
in Gulf States for the very beginning but the dynamics has been changed and people are
migrating towards Malaysia since the past three years even though the number of people going
the Gulf States is still significant. A class division among the labour migrants is also found to
select the country of destination i.e poor people are to India, Gulf States and Malaysia and rich
people towards Japan, South Korea, North America and Europe.

There are various problems faced by the migrant workers both in home country and the country
of destination. Unless addressing the problems of migrant worker from the policy level,
solution is far behind. Nepalese Government on the one hand is not capable enough to the
proper implementation of existed policy and the other there are several things to do to the
regulation and management of foreign labour migration. Basic things that are found to improve
are amending the existed laws, promotion of labour market through the labour diplomacy,

56
management of manpower agencies and welfare activities to the best benefit of labour
migrants.

The situation of women migrant workers is found more vulnerable as compared to men migrant
workers. The existing law in itself found discriminatory towards women and issues of women
migrant workers are not considered sincerely. Even though, migration of women in foreign
employment occupation has assisted to the economic empowerment of female to some extent.

International provisions are found very sound and applicable to protect the rights of migrant
workers but governments in both sending and receiving countries does not seem sincere to the
domestication of the spirit of international instruments, conference recommendations and plan
of action.

Manpower agencies are almost unfair about their business dealing with the workers and their
professionalism is questionable. The role of trade union organisations is also found ineffective
to address the issues of potential labour migrants in home country as well as in the country of
destination.

So the current need is for more effective migration management to reduce the vulnerabilities
of migrant workers and safeguard the rights of migrant workers.

5.3 Recommendations

The following recommendations are done to the management and regulation of foreign
employment occupation in true sense.

5.4 Policy Recommendations

5.4.1 Nepalese government has adopted liberal economy and open democratic environment as
its guiding economic and political strategy. In this regard, the policy formulated by the
government should be guided on that.
5.4.2 Nepalese government should play a due attention about the nature of government’s policy
on foreign employment i.e. should it be control oriented or the promotional one. If it is
promotional, there should be the strong recognition of man power agency and they should
provide facilities to make their work easier. The promotional policy should also be in favour

57
of the worker going abroad, which include the protection and promotion of the rights of the
migrant workers. The basic things that must be addressed in the policy level for the welfare of
worker are pre-departure orientation, effective information dissemination system,
administrative processes involved in the departure should be minimised. The government
should also develop reintegration process of migrant workers in their respective community
and for the holistic development of the country. Capital accumulated and skills gained by
migrant workers need to use properly when they returned back after their work.
5.4.3 Nepalese government’s policy on foreign employment has not been adopted in an
organised way. The tern “Foreign Employment” in the Foreign Employment Act-2042 is
defined as the employment to be obtained by a worker to abroad where as the nature of work
and the people involved on it are not specified. The existence of Non Residence Nepalese
(NRN), sex trafficking, refugees and undocumented workers in abroad are not included by our
act. In this regard the policy should be defined the term in itself either in a broad or specific
way. This will facilitate to identify the legal status of different forms of migrant people.
5.4.4 Effective political diplomacy in the government level on migrant workers’ issues is found
very fundamental to respect the rights of migrant workers.
5.4.5 Government need to strengthen the capacity of trade union organisations to facilitate the
counselling work among the potential migrant workers in the grassroots level and other welfare
schemes in the national level.
5.4.6 Nepalese government need to ratify the International Convention of the Protection of the
Rights of Migrant Workers and members of their Families. Ratification of this UN convention
by the Nepalese government will also assist to increase their bargaining power with the labour
receiving countries to protect the rights of Nepalese labour migrants. Ratification of UN
convention by the labour sending country will create moral pressure to the labour receiving
country for the ratification of the convention.
5.4.7 Nepalese government should pay an especial consideration to the welfare of women
migrant workers and all discriminatory laws/acts regarding the women involvement in foreign
employment should be amended as per the guiding principle of the state.
5.4.8 Nepalese government has to carry out an in-depth study identifying the problems of
migrant workers in home countries as well as in the potential countries where they are going
for work. The study will assist to lobby in the government level regarding the problems facing
by migrant workers. Nepalese government also need to establish a department in major worker
receiving countries that could facilitate the problems of migrant workers on time.

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5.4.9 Government should think to provide appropriate training for the potential labour
migrants, so they could get well paid job and also develop their skills.
Traditional and illegal way of sending money should be avoided. The money earned by migrant
workers transacted through the bank.
5.4.10 Government to Government relationship for labour agreement is required for the welfare
of migrant workers.
5.4.11 Lengthy administrative process of the government should be minimised
5.4.12 Government should have a proper policy that should guide them to the identification
new market for workers and the continuation of old market with increasing facilities to the
labour migrants.
5.4.13 There should be the provision of minimum wage of migrant workers. Current
government mechanism for the fixation of minimum wage is not practical and reliable.
5.4.14 Public information should be provided in an honest way, so a worker can be self
prepared about his/her work and earnings.
5.4.15 Programme must be established for the reintegration and re-employment of returning
migrants at home.
5.5 Recommendations for Programme Intervention
5.5.1 Categorization of manpower companies is very essential at present context. Companies
with better grade should be awarded or get incentive from the government that assist to promote
their business in an organised way. The incentive can be tax free, recognition of authorised
manpower agency for a certain period of time and authority to handle the monitoring work of
labour migrants in abroad. Specialisation of man power companies is also very much essential.
Government has to design such a policy which permits the man power companies to supply
workers either in a single country or for specific work.
5.5.2 Manpower companies should be reached extensively out of Kathmandu valley. This will
help to avoid the involvement of local agents in different level and build up manpower worker
direct contacts.
5.5.3 Cooperation among the social partners as well as the migrant themselves is especially
important to the development of sound policies and programmes and their effective
implementation. It is most desirable to have in place structures and procedures for consultations
with employers and workers organisation in the formulation of migration policy.
5.5.4 Bilateral and multilateral cooperation and promotion of international labour standards as
well as involvement of the social partners and migrant workers in the formulation of migration
policies is essential. Cooperation between origin and destination states helps to maximise the

59
potential benefits from migration. Formalising such cooperation throng bilateral and
multilateral labour agreements is therefore desirable step.
5.5.5 Nepalese trade union organisations through their district network can operate training or
counselling centre focusing the need and rights of the migrant workers.
5.5.6 Trade union organisations have to lobby with the governments (both in sending and
receiving countries) for the welfare of migrant workers and securing their fundamental rights.
Migrant workers should be involved in unions where they are working. There should a union
to union relationship to raise voice for their rights.
5.5.7 The society has to change their attitude towards migrant workers especially the women
migrant workers. Foreign labour occupation need to be established as dignified occupation.

References

GEFONT, 1998, GEFONT and the Migrant Workers, (Kathmandu: GEFONT

Resource Centre)
Gurung, Ganesh, 2002, Patterns in Foreign Employment and Vulnerability of Migrant Workers
(Kathmandu: NIDS)
Gurung, Ganesh and David Seddon, 2003, New Lahures (Kathmandu: NIDS).
HMG/Nepal, 1985, Foreign Employment Act-2042 (Kathmandu: Available at
www.labournepal.org )
HMG/Nepal, 1999, National Labour Policy (Kathmandu: Available
at
www.labournepal.org)
Human Rights Watch, 1995, “Trafficking of Nepali Girls and Women to India's Brothels”
(Washington D.C.: Human Rights Watch)
ILO, 2002, Report of Tripartite Forum on Labour Migration in Southern Africa Pretoria
(Geneva: ILO)

60
Web Sources
http://www.unhcr.ch/html/menu6/2/fs24.htm
http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/research/migration_management.shtml
http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/pageloader.php?file=2005/011311/topstories/main1
http://www.migrationinformation.org/profiles/print.cfm?ID=277
http://www.apwld.org/vol143-04htm www.rojgarayog.gov.np/ims
www.labournepal.org/issues/migrant_labour/migrant_labour_snapshot.htm
http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/migration/chapter3.html http://www.mapmigrant.org/

Appendix 1:
List of the People Selected for In-depth Interview
Mr. Prem Singh Bohora, Deputy-General Secretary Nepal Trade Union Congress
Mr. Bishnu Rimal, Vice-president of GEFONT
Mr. Shankar Nepal, Section Officer in Labour and Employment Promotion Department.
Mr. Subash Thapa, Managing Director, Ozone Overseas
Ms. Saru Joshi Shrestha, Programme Coordinator UNIFEM, Field Office, Kathmandu

Appendix 2:
Questionnaires Asked to the Respondents
The following are the questions asked to the people on the basis of their occupational
background and working expertise. Some of the questions are not relevant to all respondents.
So, various questions were asked during the informal discussions with the researchers.
How do you observe the current trend of labour migrants in the Nepalese Context?
What are the problems and challenges faced by migrant workers in home country and the
country of destination?
What about your response regarding the women involvement in the foreign labour migration?
How do you analyse the current government policies regarding foreign employment?
What about the implementing aspects of Foreign Employment Act2042 and National Labour
Policy-1999?
What are the problems within the government and policy level for not paying proper attention
to the welfare of labour migrants?
What are the institutional mechanisms of government to the regulation and promotion of
foreign labour migration?

61
What about the applicability of international conventions and the recommendations of
international conferences and declarations to protect the rights of the migrant workers in our
context?
What about the function of Manpower agencies?
What is the role of trade unions to protect the rights of migrant workers?
What should be done to assure the safe migration of labour migrants?

62