A nationwide cultural campaign, Migrant Workers’ Rights Caravan 2017, is slated to start this week. The campaign will include street drama, dance, flash-mob, and other game shows.

The 11-day long event has been divided into two phases: the first phase of the campaign will traverse the eastern cities like Birtamode, Damak, Biratnagar and Lahan; while the second phase, slated to start from Chitwan on July 29, will travel to cities like Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Dang and Banke, among others.

Spearheaded by the Amnesty International Nepal, an INGO working towards human rights, the campaign which aims for “public awareness and pressure” will kick off from the eastern city of Kakarvitta on Thursday.

The event, the organisers said, focuses on areas where the density of migration for foreign employment is relatively high.  Besides cultural programmes, the campaign will also host multi-stakeholder interactive programmes that tap into the issue of foreign employment.

“One of the objectives of the campaign is to inform foreign employment aspirants about their rights and the ways in which they can claim justice in case of violations of those rights. The campaign, we hope, will go on to educate those aspirants on how to embark on foreign employment in a safe manner, and in turn, hold the stakeholders accountable,” said Nirajan Thapaliya, director of Amnesty International Nepal Secretariat.

The Caravan campaign will draw to a close with an event in Kanchanpur on July 31.