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Nepal urges Asian nations to work together for protecting migrant workers’ rights
Nepal has urged labour source Asian nations to work together for protecting rights of migrant workers in various labour destinations.Sanjaya Lama
Nepal has urged labour source Asian nations to work together for protecting rights of migrant workers in various labour destinations.
During an inauguration of a ministerial level meeting of 12 labour source Asian countries held in Kathmandu on Friday, Nepal stressed that the labour source countries should be united to pile pressure on the destination countries to bear all expenses including health insurance of the migrant workers.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Ishwor Pokharel said that it is necessary to remove additional financial burden charged on workers for foreign employment. “It is a common problem of the labour source countries that the workers are being cheated while pursuing employment opportunities in foreign lands,” he said, adding, “It is necessary to ensure security of the workers who are playing an instrumental role in improving economic condition of the country.”
Similarly, Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Gyawali said that it is a grave challenge to deliver effective protection for migrant workers who are being cheated in every phase.
“Exchanging experiences of labour source countries will help protect the workers from being cheated,” he said.
Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista , who is the chairman of the Colombo Process Meeting, said that the labour source counties should be united to exert pressure on the destination countries to increase minimum salary of the workers.
“Employers should bear all the expenses of the workers. Insurance should be ensured. Minimum salary should be fixed. Employers should take the guarantee if the contract paper is not extended,” he said, adding, “This will be possible only if all the labour source countries are united.”
“It has been 15 years that the Colombo Process Meeting was started. Now, the time has come to evaluate works done in the past,” he said.
Established in 2003, the Colombo Process is a Regional Consultative Process on the management of overseas employment and contractual labour for countries of origins in Asia such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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