The multifaceted problem of labor migration

Whether it is a country like Nepal that sends its workers to the global labor market under the grip of unemployment and covers about a quarter of the national budget through remittances, or it is a rich country that looks for cheap and easy-to-earn workers.

Immigration is part of the political system of all countries with capitalist and socialist or mixed systems. It is the support of economics. It is also an integral part of social transformation. Be it short-term or long-term immigration. If we look back at the past few decades and especially from the beginning of the 21st century, it is not enough to study only one part or aspect to understand the latest trends and nature of immigration. For that, it is necessary to understand the character of the society, the political system with that character, the geopolitical environment, the character of the international labor market including the economy, the human psychology of the era connected by communication and technology. Because immigration has been established as an integral dimension of society. This process is dynamic and fluid. Therefore, it is also an important part of the social development and transformation process. But the main question is how immigration and the various positive-negative aspects and dimensions associated with it are understood by different sections of that society.

The political economy of migration is actually linked to the political status between the sending and the sending countries. As a result, the role of the destination country is more decisive than that of the country that sends the workers, in terms of which workers, how many, for how long, for what work, and what nature of contract to choose. Even though Nepal is a country with a remittance-oriented economy, it neither has an immigration policy, nor does it interfere in labor diplomacy. It is unlikely that he will have a decisive role in labor contracts. As a result, other countries with similar economic characteristics, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Myanmar, tend to have high rates of brokering and fraud in immigration management. India, China, Philippines, Thailand are also countries that send their skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers in large numbers. However, the balance of economic-political power with their destination country is different from that of us and countries like ours. Their labor diplomacy is seen as part of their economic and foreign policy, though not without challenges.

From the perspective of Nepal, it is timely to understand the current environment of immigration as a transition period of socio-cultural transformation with all these processes. Because we are taking a lot of financial benefits from labor migration as an economic policy, but we have not been able to find the socio-cultural capital and the technical and human skills of immigrants, acceptance is a little far. There are many reasons for not understanding or not wanting to understand the multifaceted aspects of immigration, the benefits that can be derived from it and the challenges that need to be addressed, but the reason that arises repeatedly and is not addressed is that we have neither a national policy nor a national approach to immigration. Therefore, this is the time when any conversation and debate is creating more negative comments about immigration and creating confusion, artificial fear and suspicion in the society.

Not all aspects of immigration are positive or negative in absolute terms. There are many dimensions in it and some of them are very negative and some are positive and transformative. But is Nepali society as a whole and especially the class that has a position to contribute to policy making theoretically clear in these dimensions? are not At a national level discussion program, senior officials of the Ministry of Labor candidly acknowledged the confusion and ambiguity of this understanding. It has not been revealed that it is difficult to come up with a policy blueprint due to the different understandings of the government agencies that are responsible for managing immigration. When talking to some federal parliamentarians, it was found that especially human trafficking and immigration are one and the same. However, there are a handful of MPs who are constantly heard raising questions related to integration policies and social justice for domestic and migrant workers.

Among the dimensions of immigration, dimensions such as human trafficking and human smuggling for various purposes are considered negative, while labor immigration with the approval of the state is a positive aspect. On the other hand, the situation of being a refugee or forced to be displaced due to war or other reasons also falls within the scope of mass migration. However, an attempt has been made to discuss the main 3 aspects of the dimensions of immigration that will be discussed here.

Labor migration

This is one of the main three dimensions. It is also the right to employment of people facilitated by Nepal's political system and economic policy. It can search for employment opportunities according to its competence and skills in the global labor market by completing the legal process set by the state. Labor migration is both internal and international. Internal labor migration is basically the movement of people from their native place to another village, small or big city in search of job opportunities in the labor market. International labor migration includes India, a traditionally established destination, and West Asia (Gulf), Malaysia, Korea, and Japan, which have been opened up for decades, and countries that have been given labor approval by the Nepalese government. Although the name of the destination country is long, migrant workers who go to neighboring India to work are not covered by the current Foreign Employment Act of Nepal. The labor and remittances of migrant workers between India and Nepal have been limited by the border crossing facilities provided by the 1950 treaty. Therefore, the billions of remittances that we count do not count the estimated millions of workers who go to India and the remittances they send. However, those who go to India and work are migrant workers, who are daily wage workers, seasonal agricultural workers, informal workers for years, and those who have their own business are Nepalese immigrants and they send remittances to Nepal.

As prescribed by the law and recognized by the state, there are many who went to labor migration through not only formal but also informal processes included in the statistics. There are many examples of foreign employment professionals and their self-interested groups and single brokers who cheated in the name of foreign employment and facilitated the state process for fraudulent employment. which the state often does not protect, although the moral responsibility remains. The state is responsible for the wrongdoing of foreign employment professionals who have done business with the permission of the state because this informal process is also an important part of the overall governance of immigration. But if we remember the situation when the state fixed the list in the corona-targeted charter rescue, it is clear that the state did not fulfill its moral obligation towards the laborers taken by informal means. In the absence of a comprehensive integrated migration policy framework, those who go to India and are taken informally through these brokers bypassing state norms are not counted.

Despite all the challenges within this complex diversity of labor migration, labor migration is a right to available opportunities and jobs facilitated by the current system. A decision made by an individual and his family to address a situational problem, even though that decision may be a product of his family's compelling circumstances. There is no alternative to addressing the challenges and making labor migration safe and dignified.

Human trafficking

Another important but negative aspect of mass migration in the context of Nepal is human trafficking. Those who are confused about the theoretical side of migration should understand that labor migration is a right to employment, while human trafficking is a serious violation of the human rights of the victims of human trafficking. The trafficked person has no conscious decision, no role in the trafficking process. He is lured into many temptations by bending, tempting, threatening, tricking, tricking. Using social, economic, political and administrative power, the traffickers or their brokers evade the immigration process and take them to the labor market and sell them. There is no scope for safe labor including jobs, wages, contracts. This crime is committed for both sexual and non-sexual forced labour. Its profits only go to the trafficker and his gang, the trafficked person is grossly exploited. We have many examples of human trafficking by some foreign employment professionals and their interest groups by deceiving or abusing the foreign employment process. There is also a culture of impunity for criminals. Perhaps this uncertainty has made it difficult to distinguish between labor migration and human trafficking. There are two different dimensions in this – right to employment and serious violation of human rights.

Human trafficking

It is a complex and negative dimension embedded within the wider scope of migration. Human trafficking is a crime against the state committed by a person to leave the country through an illegal route. This is done not only by criminal gangs, but in many cases, by taking large sums of money from foreign employment professionals, they cut the border and fix the route to the destination. This is a violation of the immigration laws of their own country, the country on the way and the country of destination. In the same sense, it is a crime committed by a person who chooses the smuggling route against himself, the country on the way and the country of destination. As an example, those who pay tens of millions and millions of dollars illegally to try to enter America and Europe, and the last example is those who go to war-torn Russia, Ukraine, Syria, and Iraq. That decision is made by the individual himself and when he violates the laws of the state, it is a crime against the state that he commits. We have many other examples of human trafficking. Sometimes women follow the traffickers and reach the banned countries by paying millions. Even in Arab countries, where the government has banned domestic workers based on age or various reasons, women have become victims of traffickers.

In summary, labor migration is a person's employment opportunity and right, while human trafficking is a crime against a person. This is a serious violation of his human rights. Human trafficking is a crime against the state committed by individuals. All this process will flourish if foreign employment professionals licensed by the state cannot be properly monitored and kept within the declared responsibilities. Brokers and criminal parties involved directly and indirectly with businessmen. There is always a risk that these two negative dimensions will be institutionalized within the process of labor migration, which is flourishing in the absence of a national approach to immigration like Nepal and the lack of a comprehensive immigration policy.