The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has called for amending the Foreign Employment Act criminalizing exploitation, forced labour and human trafficking. It has stressed that there should not be any provisions curtailing the labour rights and the human rights enshrined in Nepal’s laws quoting RSS.
Giving out information on the recommendations of the national workshop on safe foreign employment and revision of laws for controlling human trafficking organized at the initiation of NHRC in the capital on Tuesday, NHRC member Sudip Pathak spoke on the need of ensuring easier access of the victim in complaint handling bodies and the participation of the migrant workers in the compensation mechanism.
Pathak shared that recommendations as ensuring such a system that no woman aspiring for foreign employment would have to face discriminatory prohibition and behaviour, putting in place special provision to protect them from the risk of insecurity and strongly enforcing the rule that says no excess fees than the limit determined by the law including the provision of the ‘free ticket and free visa’, have been made.
Stressing that the state should keep all the details of the workers who go to India for work and return from there, Commissioner Pathak said recommendations have also been made for putting to an end such illegal practices as providing dual contract or fake contract and ensuring that all the documents related to foreign employment including the contract paper reach in the hands of the workers at least seven days before.
According to him, other recommendations include putting in place an effective system of sending skilled labourers on foreign employment and also making the role of the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) more effective.
The workshop also suggested to the government to implement a special programme for providing information on the rights and security of the migrant workers like compensation and insurance, the assistance that the government bodies including the embassies of Nepal abroad provide, the compensation that can be got from the welfare fund and the types of support that can be had from different bodies and where to file complain when in problem to every migrant worker and their families.