Nepal to propose labour agreement with Malaysia

Nepal is doing homework to propose a new labour agreement with Malaysia for the protection of rights, interests and safety of the Nepali migrant workers.

The government has already started working on the draft of the labour agreement to be proposed to Malaysia.

It is also working on a similar agreement with Kuwait. Malaysia and Kuwait are two major labour destination countries for Nepali migrant workers with which Nepal does not have a formal labour agreement.

'Nepali migrant workers are facing multiple problems ranging from an array of exploitation and abuses in the absence of labour agreement in these countries, which has necessitated an agreement with clear provisions of minimum wages, safety and other rights of the Nepali workers, said a spokesman of Nepal's Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The Nepali officials are currently holding consultation on the provisions to be incorporated in the draft agreement to be proposed to the labour destination countries.

"We are planning to incorporate some new issues in the draft agreement, which would then be dispatched to the concerned countries through the appropriate channel for their feedback and suggestion before finalising it", said Buddhi Bahadur Khadka of Nepal's Ministry of Labour and Employment.

The process of signing of the agreement would be initiated only after the labour-recipient countries give their final nod to the proposed draft.

According to officials at the ministry, the draft agreement envisions some internationally accepted norms and provisions ranging from minimum wages, maximum working hours, gratuity, leave, food, accommodation and health services, among others.

Human rights activists, trade unions and some other stakeholders have long been demanding such an agreement between Nepal and the labour-recipient countries including Malaysia.

About half a million Nepali nationals are currently working in Malaysia. Only recently, a high-level team of the National Human Rights Commission visited Malaysia to observe the condition of Nepali migrant workers.

The commission found multiple work-related hazards and other problems during its inspection visit and suggested that the Nepal government take the necessary initiative to address the concern of the Nepali nationals working in Malaysia and some other countries.

A former member of the Nepal National Human Rights Commission, Gauri Pradhan, who was one of the members of the delegation that visited Malaysia to monitor the Nepali migrant workers there, said "the issue has to be dealt at the government level between the two countries, for which a bilateral agreement is necessary".

Pradhan, however, demanded that Nepal should first ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Migrant Workers before it signs any kind of labour agreement with other countries.

Former Nepali ambassador to Malaysia Dr Rishi Raj Adhikari said that since this is a humanitarian issue, both the governments have to take this up and sign the agreement to protect the rights of the migrant workers.

"Although such a labour agreement may not be legally binding but it would have moral pressure for the labour-receiving countries to protect the interest of the foreign workers".

Nepal is a tiny Himalayan republic situated between China and India with less than 30 million population but more than three million people work in Malaysia, South Korea and Middle Eastern countries.