KATHMANDU, Dec 20: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security on Sunday launched the ‘Nepal Labour Migration Report 2022’ jointly with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Labour Organization (ILO), and Safer Migration Programme (SaMI). The report was launched on the occasion of the International Migrants Day on December 18.

Labour migration has been a common livelihood strategy for Nepalese households over the recent decades. According to the World Bank, remittances contributed 24 percent of the country’s GDP in the year 2021.  

The report encapsulates the major trends and activities in the country’s labor migration sector covering the period between 2019/2020 and 2021/2022 which follows the efforts of the ministry to periodically present a comprehensive overview of labor migration in Nepal.

According to the report, the ministry has adopted and implemented a range of policies and legal instruments to address labor migration related issues in the country such as shifting labor migration related services to online system, adopting new directives and procedures for the reintegration of returnee migrant workers, as well as significant modification on immigration policies especially aimed at the migrants in major labour destination countries. Despite this progress, Nepali migrant workers’ health and safety issues as well as cases of fraud, abuse and exploitation continue to occur in large numbers that cannot be ignored.  

The report stresses the importance of ‘informed migration’, awareness, sensitization, and the need for implementing country specific pre-departure orientation as well as post-arrival orientation for migrants. Similarly, the report appeals to support the government’s efforts to ensure fair and ethical recruitment, including the implementation of the ‘employer pays’ principle, which means the costs of recruitment should be borne by the employer not by the worker.

Addressing the event, Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Sher Bahadur Kunwar wished for an environment where all labor migrants can be proud of their work and be able to be united for their rights.

Every year on December 18, the world celebrates the International Migrants Day to mark the anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families by the United Nations General Assembly in 1990. In Nepal, under the leadership of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, the country marked the Day under the theme of “skills, capital, and knowledge gained from foreign employment: entrepreneurship, employment and national dignity”.  

 
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