It has emphasized the need to promote fair recruitment to eliminate the system of requiring workers going for foreign employment to pay for employment.
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The International Labor Organization (ILO) Nepal has called on the government and stakeholders to strengthen good governance at all stages of labor migration, noting that serious challenges still remain to the rights, safety, and dignity of migrant workers.
It has emphasized the need to promote fair recruitment to eliminate the system where workers going for foreign employment have to pay for employment.
Speaking at an event organized on the occasion of International Migrants Day, ILO Nepal Chief Numan Ozkan said that effective governance is needed at all stages of labor migration, including pre-departure, work time at the destination, and reintegration upon return. "Labor migration cannot deliver the expected benefits unless the safety, dignity and decent work of migrant workers are ensured," he said.
According to the ILO, coordination and cooperation between the government, the private sector, employers, labor organizations and destination countries are indispensable to make labor migration safe and dignified.
According to the ILO, although migrant workers are an important pillar of the Nepali and global economies, workers are still forced to face high risks, unsafe work, lack of social protection and rights violations.
According to the Labor Migration Status Report 2024 released by the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security, more than 5.7 million labor permits have been issued from fiscal years 2008/09 to 2023/24. The data of more than 1.5 million permits issued in the last two fiscal years alone shows that the number of Nepalis going for foreign employment is continuously increasing. Labor migration of women is also on the rise. In 2023/24, 12.9 percent of the total labor permits were issued by women. has occupied .
But the ILO has stated that the risks are equally serious with the increasing flow of labor migration . According to the Foreign Employment Board, more than 1,200 migrant workers have died each year in the last two fiscal years and hundreds of work-related injuries have been reported. Social security is not satisfactory .
Although more than 1.65 million migrant workers were affiliated with the social security fund from March 2023 to June 2025, the ILO says that the continuity of contributions is low.
ILO Nepal has been supporting fair recruitment, including worker-friendly provisions in bilateral labor agreements, expanding social security, and formulating evidence-based policies in the last two years . The ILO has stated that it has provided technical assistance to formulate the new Labor Migration Policy 2025 and training on bilateral labor agreements .
