Ensuring respect for protection of the rights of all migrants and promoting legal and orderly labour migration! Brief overview

Transcription

1 Ensuring respect fr prtectin f the rights f all migrants and prmting legal and rderly labur migratin Asia-Pacific Reginal preparatry meeting fr the General Assembly High-Level Dialgue n Internatinal Migratin and Develpment 2013 Brief verview May 2013, Bangkk, UN Cnference Centre "We are the glbal citizens" These days the Nepali prudly exchanges such statement citing in every crner f the wrld ne can encunter with Nepali natinals Cnsidering Nepali's link t business thrugh silk-rad (500 BCE) intellectuals claim histrical length f Nepali migratin. Hwever, many f the histry tellers referred 1815, the year Nepal made a pact with British-India, which facilitated Nepali recruitment in Ghurkha Army nearly 200 years back. The cntinuatin f this prcess has reached nw pening up the cuntries frm Afghanistan t Zambia as the destinatin f labur by the Gvernment f Nepal. The uniqueness f Nepal is, it is a cuntry f rigin alng with destinatin t sme f the neighburing cuntries as well. Nepal sells its labur t as many as 108 cuntries and it has pened dr fr imprting labur frm neighburing cuntries specially India. Abve 1/4th Nepali husehld is linked up with ut-cuntry migratin, which shares remittance nt less than 23% f GDP.

2 Frm agr-based subsistence ecnmy t present day pst-peasant nature, Nepal is a transitinal ecnmy, where big herd f wrking frce has came ut frm agriculture searching a new jb; hwever in absence f regular emplyment in industry as f 20 th century's Eurpe- the large number f wrkfrce is in crss rad wh generally trapped t precarius jb. Nepali labur market is largely mismatched; there is scarcity f skilled human resurces t run the business as usual, whereas n-an-average 30% (cnsidering all figures indicated as labur under utilizatin) is unemplyed. Tracking the data f latest 10 mnth f the nging fiscal year, the number f Nepali migrated t varius cuntries fr emplyment is 357, 707 A lwest 25,167 in Oct and highest 41,640 in March-April; which is up by 14% cmpare t the same perid f last year A rugh figure saysevery year Nepal welcmes 400,000 jb seekers; and this figure is equal t the ttal number f ut-cuntry migratin. Apart frm India, fficial figure says there are arund 3 millin Nepali Emigrants in varius cuntries with majr destinatins- Malaysia and GCC cuntries (big number Qatar, Saudi Arabia). There are 4 categries f destinatin as India (fr extremely pr); Malaysia & Gulf cuntries (having petty cllateral), Suth Krea, Singapre, Hng Kng, Israel (educated plus 2 and abve) and Japan/Australia/Eurpe/Nrth America (middle class and sufficiently educated). Nepal has frced even t welcme refugees frm Tibet, Bhutan and even sme f the African cuntries. Nepal's labur migratin is terribly blurred with human trafficking. Misusing pen brder with India, the traffickers are using Indian land fr this crime.

3 They are creating much truble prviding fake Nepali passprt t Indians, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Bhutanese Natinals Overview f plicy and practices Till t 1985 Nepal didn t have freign emplyment plicy; in this year an act called Freign Emplyment Act intrduced aiming t cntrl, manage & maintain ecnmic interest, as the first legal dcument t address the migratin f Nepalis beynd India. Entering t demcratic helm after 1990, and embracing market-led ecnmic plicy, Nepali began t migrate varius cuntries fr emplyment. It encurages plicy makers t intrduce numbers f legal instruments, sme are directly related t freign emplyment and sme are indirect. A summary f the instruments can be summarised as fllwing: O v e r v i e w f t h e F r e i g n E m p l y m e n t A c t f Freign Emplyment Acts Emplyment Act 1985 Freign Emplyment (First Amendment) Freign Emplyment (Secnd Amendment) Act 1998 Freign Emplyment Rules 1999 Freign Emplyment Act 2007 Freign Emplyment Rules 2008 Freign Emplyment Plicy 2012 Other Natinal Instruments The Interim Cnstitutin 2007 Labur Act 1992 Labur Act 1992 Natinal Labur Plicy 1999 Labur and Emplyment Plicy 2005 Trade Unin Act 1992 Children Act 1992 Immigratin Act 1992 Passprts Act 1967 Child Labur (Prhibitin and Regulatin) Act 2000 Human Trafficking and Transprtatin (Cntrl) Act 2007 Nepal Citizenship Act 2006 Nn-Resident Nepali Act 2008 Latest ne is the Freign Emplyment Act 2007; which is made t amend and cnslidate laws relating t freign emplyment. With invlvement f

4 varius actrs and stakehlders, particularly the trade unins, in many ways, this Act embraces right-based apprach. Obligatin f the gvernment- it directs gvernment t reslve any prblems Special pririties and reservatin- t wmen, Dalit, indigenus natinalities, ppressed grups, victim f natural calamities and peple f remte areas Prhibitin- minr under age 18 and the wmen belw 30 years in GCC cuntries (thugh perhaps with gd intentin, later tends t discriminatry thrugh gender-perspective) Pwer t specify remuneratin, service charge and prmtinal cstfixes minimum wage, visa fees, miscellaneus expenses made within and ut side cuntry. Training- cmpulsry pre-departure training thrugh licensed training prviding institutins Insurance- insurance equivalent t at least 500,000 is made mandatry t recruiting agencies Labur Desk- direct t the Gvernment t establish labur desk at internatinal airprt Use f Natinal airprt- t avid trafficking f wmen specially Labur Attaché- the prvisin t establish labur attaché where 5000 plus Nepalis are emplyed Freign emplyment welfare fund- a welfare fund establishes under freign emplyment prmtin bard t ensure scial security and welfare f wrkers and their families Freign emplyment tribunal- aiming t settle cases ther than punishable by the Department

5 Freign Emplyment Prmtin Bard- t prmte freign emplyment making it safe and dignified Bilateral instruments and regulating Nepal's labur migratin 1. India- 31 July treaty 2. Qatar- 21 April Labur Agreement 3. UAE- 3 July, MOU 4. Suth Krea- 23 July, MOU 5. Bahrain- 29 April, MOU 6. Japan Letter f exchange Agreement and all MU has cvered recruitment, Cntract, remittance, dispute settlement, mnitring & implementatin prcess; hwever MU with Krea has added sending fee, advertisement, Krean language, prcess t selectin f jb seekers, and preliminary educatin as well. Sad part is majr chunk f remittence (76%) earned by the migrant labur is used n cnsumptin. Rle f trade unins vis -a - vis GEFONT GEFONT as ne f the leading trade unin centres in the cuntry has initially started t address this issue beynd India 1994 nwards. It started by cperating migrant wrkers in Suth Krea, wh in thse days victim f industrial accident and by the Hundi (illegal mney carriers). Our first attempt was t establish frmal link with the unins in cuntry f destinatin, making them cnvince that we were nt the jb snatchers An agreement was made that the MW wuld be the member f the unin cncern and act as f the member f unin; whereas they seek similar

6 supprt and slidarity f the in-land member. By establishing GEFONT supprt grup we gear up the prcess In the cuntry, we began ur wrk by asking safe mney transfer prcess thugh the frmal financial channel. At a time when remittance wrd was unfamiliar in Nepal, GEFONT advcated it challenged thse plicy makers wh wuld arguing that was impssible. Asking freign emplyment plicy and devise pssible way t check manipulatr we made lbby frm field t parliament and planning cmmissin. Nw we can prudly mentin ur effrts is demnstrating clur. Let me summarise ur effrts as fllwing: Krea - MU with KCTU, thrugh this MTU is established, which is nw wrking all migrant wrkers including Nepali. One rganizer frm GEFONT based in Seul supprted by KCTU is in actin Malaysia - MU with MTUC, ne rganizer frm GEFONT is wrking, supprted by GUFs specially BWI, UNI, PSI. MTUC, GUFs, GEFONT and Indnesian TU has made a MOU t perating SMS Help centre fr Nepali and all ther migrant wrkers f different natinalities. Cnstructin sectr federatins f GEFONT and MTUC have als reached in an Agreement t wrk in cperatin Hng Kng - With wrking relatin with HKCTU, there are tw wrkers federatins f Nepali migrant in actin. They have been wrking as affiliates f HKCTU- One is federatin f Nepali wmen dmestic wrkers and the ther is Nepali cnstructin wrkers Lebann- Agreement amng KAFA Lebann, ASI Lndn and GEFONT fr Nepali dmestic migrant wrkers in practice frm 2011 is wrking

7 GCC cuntry- GEFONT has made MOU with KTUF in Kuwait and GFBTU in Bahrain. We are als the part f Qatar campaign with ITUC and GUF. Thrugh the Multi Actr Crdinatin cperatin we are witnessing psitive result n the issues such as T minimize Deceptin Timely and effectively rescue Reductin f incidents f Frced labur trap and Bndage trap. Minimizatin f Mental disrders, unexpected deaths due t wrking and living cnditins and suicides Key message- Implement rights-based and gender-sensitive plicies and prgram ensuring right- Gvernments, in cnsultatin with migrants, trade unins, and diverse CDO, shuld develp and implement rights-based and gender-sensitive plicies and prgram ensuring right t self rganisatin & cllective bargaining, equal pay, access t scial security, cmpensatin fr wrk related accidents and injuries, emplyment pprtunities, and prmting equal treatment and nn-discriminatin. Gvernments shuld sign and implement transparent and accessible bilateral agreements that build n internatinal standards fr the prtectin f the rights f all migrant wrkers, with strict mnitring and implementatin mechanisms f the same. Such bilateral agreements shuld include prvisins fr the prtability f pensins and the full range f scial prtectin mechanisms. Fcus t prmte Decent wrk Agenda - The H LD must fcus n prmting decent wrk fr migrant and lcal wrkers alike. This is the nly way t create shared prsperity, reduce inequalities, and dampen

8 xenphbia. The decent wrk agenda must underpin all migratin plicies and prgrammes. It shuld be made part f emplyment cntract. Labur inspectin and Mnitring system is needed in rder t make agreement legally eligible t challenge at the Curts f bth cuntries.. It will be helpful making recruitment system transparent and ethical binding with agreed cde f cnduct. It will further address the issue f detentin and standard migrants, aiming t find ut an alternative t this The HLD must give UN rganisatins, especially the ILO and OHCHR, key rles in the gvernance architecture and place migratin debates, plicies and prgrams within the UN Framewrk. The GFMD shuld be put under the ambit f the UN s it is mre accuntable and transparent, and adheres t and builds n the existing human rights framewrks and bligatins. Bishnu Rimal, President- GEFONT May 29, 2013/ Bangkk- Thailand UN Cnference Centre