The way has been opened for us to travel to Nepal: NRNA, Iraq
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The government has decided to bring Nepalis working in Iraq for foreign employment under documentation. For this, work permits will be issued to Nepalis working in Iraq.
The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sushila Karki on Friday (February 11) decided to bring Nepalis in Iraq under registration. With the agreement of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Law, the Ministry of Labor submitted a proposal to the Cabinet to bring Nepalis in Iraq under registration.
The meeting decided to grant work permits to Nepalis with Iraqi residence cards if they apply when they come to Nepal. According to Binod Shrestha, President of the Non-Resident Nepali Association, Iraq, this decision of the government has paved the way for nearly 30,000 Nepali workers to come and go in Nepal. After the murder of 12 Nepalis on Bhadra 15, 2061, the government had banned them from going to Iraq citing security reasons. Since then, they have been working as domestic workers in the US base camp in Iraq, embassies of various countries, petroleum projects, etc.
The government had earlier decided to grant legal status to more than 40,000 Nepali workers working in the US base camp in Iraq on Shrawan 12, 2067. Thousands of Nepalis were facing job losses after the US Army's Contract Command (CENTAM) gave them a 20-day ultimatum to send them back to Nepal if they were not granted legal status. The Ministry of Labor granted legal status after the US indicated through diplomatic channels that it would not send workers back if the ban was lifted.
After that, the number of Nepalis working in Iraq and its autonomous state of Kurdistan was increasing. Nepalis in Iraq had been demanding that the ban be lifted from the government.
Mina Magar, 35, from Taplejung, who has been working in an Iraqi man's house in Sulaimani, Iraq for 12 years, said that she could not come to Nepal due to the ban.
'Once you go to Nepal, it is very difficult to arrange the settings. It took me a month to arrange the settings and come here. I like going back and forth to Nepal. I want to meet my parents. My parents are old,' she told Ikantipur, 'I don't like leaving this house. It is wrong to say that there is no security in Iraq. I have brought my sister's daughter. If it were bad, why would I bring my sister's daughter? We have earned here. We have eaten. We have enjoyed ourselves. We have enough.'
