It is not a cosmetic change, but a comprehensive immigration policy should be made with the responsible participation, coordination and cooperation of all government agencies, including our embassies, which are directly and indirectly connected with immigration.
What you should know
The blueprint prepared by the Ministry of Labor as the immigration policy was released in the media a few days ago. A press note was also placed on the ministry's website. However, the policy document is not available on the ministry's website. Some of the cases found while studying the documents obtained from different sources will be discussed here. This blueprint is a policy blueprint under the Foreign Employment Act 2064. A brief review of it is relevant when comparing it with the Foreign Employment Policy 2068 version that it replaced. Therefore, there is an effort to focus more on the core meaning, approach, purpose and strategy. Even after a decade and a half, if the policy efforts that were decided or brought to replace the previous ones are considered positive, then the policy blueprint brought by the Ministry of Labor should also be considered positive, from the perspective of formality rather than its qualitative aspect.
As economist Amartya Sen said in 'The Idea of Justice', any policy should be made for the greater good of the common citizen and the essence of the greater good is the essence of social justice . That is, the policies that are decided to address the problems of the community should be understood from the point of view of whether they can ensure the social justice of the community or not. Therefore, the blueprint of the immigration policy should be viewed from the perspective of the social justice of the migrant workers and their families in the country's economy.
This blueprint, named as immigration policy, has the character of ensuring social justice for immigration workers and their families. As the source of this policy is the Foreign Employment Act 2064 as mentioned above, its preamble, purpose and meaning are based on it. For example, this Act does not talk about migrant workers . Instead, it protects the foreign employment business (business). That is to protect the interests of businessmen. It is to protect their profitable commercial interests and support the economic justice of businessmen.
It is not difficult to understand that this blueprint was originally prepared by the political leadership of the Ministry of Labor and its syndicate without the combination of traditionalist, business-friendly and state bodies that are directly and indirectly connected to labor migration . However, some stakeholders who had a sporadic meeting have confirmed it . But those who were present by chance also say that those invitees are also decided by the same syndicate. To understand the context of the immigration syndicate, you have to think a little deeper, but one context is enough to be added here . One of the expert advisors of the current minister was saying in a program - 'Nepal's issue is not immigration, but foreign employment is Nepal's issue. We have to protect and promote it.' He is just a character, of this tendency. It is appropriate to understand that policy is also made on the advice of gentlemen with similar expertise .
Is it to enhance the capacity of foreign employment professionals or to establish social justice for workers? However, it does not mean that foreign employment professionals are prohibited from doing business . We have a few dozen businessmen doing foreign employment business by following the standards of fair competition and labor recruitment process in accordance with international labor market norms . They are marginalized by hundreds of businessmen who exploit brokers, laborers . Under the open economic policy of the country, there is no restriction on the private sector to do business within the legal framework set by the state. In that, Nepal is probably more liberal than other countries. This is not only a matter of foreign employment business, but it is also applicable in other fields. But the economic, social, cultural and political power relations between service providers (foreign employment professionals) and service recipients (immigrant workers) have overshadowed whose social justice? And whose capacity should the state enhance? Of the profit-making businessmen who are fraternal organizations of political parties or of the workers who take many risks of the global labor market by forcing themselves into unequal labor contracts for their daily livelihood?
What kind of favor will the state of welfare character take in policy making? Although this policy is based on Article 51(j)(5) of the Constitution of Nepal, "Foreign employment without exploitation, safe and organized and guaranteeing the employment and rights of workers", but its strategy and action plan do not match . Analyzing from this point of view, although the name is called Labor Immigration Policy, it is basically a cosmetic update of the 2068 Foreign Employment Policy, the latest version. However, one aspect has been added: labor migration between Nepal and India will be registered. It actually only covers registration by local bodies, which many cities and rural municipalities have already implemented. Analyzing the manner of the ministry in recent times, it can be suspected that an environment will be created in which unnecessary interference of foreign employment professionals will be created even in the registration started by the municipalities .
What this policy says is that even the immigration section between Nepal and India seems more 'stunt' than practical. Migrant workers who go to India to work in India may sound sweet when they hear the reference to bring them under the scope of social security, but in practice, the migrant workers who go back and forth to India share a bitter experience. Those without citizenship, lower class workers and even women workers, who go to India for daily wages, Terai workers go to India for a short period of time to do seasonal labor and most of them do not have citizenship, labor contract or other documents. For example, Banke who goes to pick apples in Shimla for 3 months of the year, male workers from Bardia and women and men from western Nepal who are scattered in various cities including Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and other cities as domestic workers for years, and young men who work for 6 months in hotels in Punjab and 6 months in agriculture in Nepal are the basis of the labor contract. How to bring the oral labor contract of such character in the scope of social security? Because, this situation is not a number of hundreds . The number of Nepali workers who work in India and support their family's economy is in the millions. This number is higher than those who go to work in other destinations, but is limited by the state . How will it be possible for the social security which cannot cover the millions of undocumented laborers in its own domestic market to cover the millions of undocumented and seasonal workers?
What is the strategy to manage the labor migration between the two countries at the diplomatic level with India, which can work for the benefit of the workers of both countries? Is Nepal's diplomacy able to address this question by sitting on parity with India? The provisions set out in the Liquid Action Plan, Schedule 1 (page 15) cannot carry this diplomatic burden any more than a gasses annual action plan .
There is another more deadly and anti-worker side to this policy . It is stated in the labor contract process with the destination country: "Based on the meaningful participation of businessmen who provide services related to labor migration, non-governmental organizations and related stakeholders, a model framework of bilateral labor contract will be developed and implemented (page 10) ". And even among the businessmen there is a toxic businessmen-friendliness . Because, the true details of human trafficking and the grip of smugglers in the shell of foreign employment have been confirmed from thousands of files of complaints of the Foreign Employment Department, including the stories of workers who were sold and cheated in smuggling, including visit visas. And there is no need to mention the extent of political protection to these toxic businessmen. There is no need to tell what sort of alliance these poisonous businessmen have with some of the ambassadors and the administrative leadership of the ministry. On the other hand, there are many workers who have been harassed by some NRNAs.
This means that today's need to strengthen the state's labor diplomacy is entrusted to foreign employment professionals of the party who have political access and are dear to leaders and donors, and to create an environment for human trafficking and smuggling to flourish. Is Nepal's labor diplomacy now intending to entrust the agents of human trafficking and smuggling within the foreign employment business and some gasos who run periodical projects in the name of workers' rights, led by the Ministry of Labour? Does the Prime Minister, who never gets tired of gossiping about good governance and prefers to centralize the state management process, know this?
By making our embassies labor-friendly by giving them resources, means, approaches and responsibilities, and bargaining in the interest of workers, making the labor agreement labor-friendly, or by giving the opportunity to interfere even in the labor agreement of businessmen and gasses, to institutionalize the ongoing injustice? These questions should be answered or not because they are fed by remittances and people's taxes?
There is another side to this deadly, selfish and crooked trick . Currently, the government of the destination of our citizens is unlikely to recognize Nepali businessmen and gassers, the policy itself says that direct access of Nepali foreign employment businessmen to the employers of the destination country is challenging . In the course of the research, while visiting the Gulf and Malaysia, it was also found out from the interaction with the stakeholders, experts of the destination who are interested in Nepali workers, our embassies, local media persons and the networks of Nepali workers working there, except for a few exceptions, most of the Nepali foreign employment professionals do not have institutional access and formal cooperation with their counterparts there. Transactions are done with brokers there and their networks. And how much more will such a policy exploit the migrant workers who are in the grip of economic and psychological exploitation by being trapped by brokers here and there? This also confirms that this policy is made in the interests and interests of whom.
This is an illustration, reducing the guardianship role of the state and making the interventionist role of gasses and businessmen . There are other aspects, the Gulf destination where most of our workers are employed, the provisions of the state there are more traditionalist, gender narrow than our state from various angles. And there is the greatest need of the state for the workers. In such a situation, the state cannot remain in a low role in the protection of its citizens. The responsibility of the welfare state cannot be met by profit-seeking businessmen and donor-dependent gasses. Similarly, it is also mentioned that foreign employment professionals will be rewarded. This is nothing but another 'stunt' when the debate is going on about who, how and according to what criteria the state rewards, how much political maneuvering is involved and what criminal activities have been found to have been committed due to these rewards . What can happen except to make a mockery of the waiting for social justice of the immigrant workers and their families with such cheap but hidden economic tricks and political interests?
Now let's move on to domestic workers and especially women workers. Yes, this policy clearly reiterates the content of the previous policy 2068 on the challenges of managing domestic workers and women workers and asserts the need for this policy. It is natural . Lack of skill efficiency, sexual and labor exploitation, more fraud on women workers, the challenge of the destination country not including domestic labor within the scope of labor and other problems were also identified in the currently implemented Act 2064 and the then Policy 2068 . Which are becoming more complicated now. This is the context pointed out by the policy itself. But in the past decade and a half, how many positive efforts have been made between the destination country and us for the purpose of managing domestic workers, and what is the analysis and analysis of why they could not be institutionalized as a policy? The role of the Ministry of Women is nowhere to be seen in the policy. When some destination countries are already positive about managing domestic workers, why did the recent leadership start emphasizing on going through private businesses instead of deciding a common strategy between the government and the government? And why is the current leadership putting thousands of women at risk as a pilot project with Saudi Arabia? There are many such questions, the answers of which we have to find in order to free the domestic workers from the trap of human trafficking and smugglers and take them to a special character labor agreement between the two governments . For this, it is not a cosmetic change of policy, but a comprehensive immigration policy should be made with the responsible participation, coordination and cooperation of all government agencies, including our embassies, which are directly and indirectly connected with immigration. That policy ensures social justice for workers and their families, Shakti is not a priest that the business of foreign employment professionals who do business in fair competition will also benefit and create an environment where the economic, socio-cultural and technical capital and efficiency created by immigration can be formally linked to the process of national development . Therefore, the context of the embedded culture behind the intention and implementation is more complicated than the form of the blueprint . This current policy framework fulfills the wishes of some gasses who are running projects in the name of businessmen and immigrants who are skilled in fraud. Another matter of concern is, in whose interests the Foreign Employment Act 2064 is amended, let our parliamentarians pay attention.
