A MANDATORY PREORIENTATION IS MUST JUST LIKE HEALTH CHECK UP.

recent survey by the Department of Foreign Employ-ment and Ministry of Foreign Affairs shows shocking results. As many as 25-30 Nepalis die each day in Saudi Arabia, which currently has 500,000 Nepalis, mostly menial labourers. The high incidence of deaths is attributed to road and work-place accidents, suicide, murders, and exposure to extreme heat. However, those with ground experience, including embassy officials, in the Gulf state insist that an unusually high number of Nepalis actually die due to consumption of home-made alcohol, and (note this) because alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia, the government puts these deaths under one of the headings mentioned above and not under “alcohol consumption”. Many of these deaths are avoidable with a mandatory pre-departure orientation. Many of the Nepali migrant workers have very little experience with city life and, unsurprisingly, road accidents are among the top causes of deaths for Nepali migrants, who are not familar with traffic regulations. This can prove especially costly while negotiating high-speed traffic.

Migrants workers deserve better. Remittance has been a key factor in keeping Nepal’s economy afloat, including during the years of extreme political instability and civil conflict. According to a World Bank study published in 2006, in 2004, one million Nepalis (or every 11th adult male) worked abroad. Between 1996 and 2004 (this includes the 10-year period of civil conflict), remittance inflows soared from 3% of GDP (US$203 million) to 12% of GDP (US$794 million), mainly driven by those migrating to the Gulf or East Asia, where earnings are much higher than in India. The study found that the proportion of households receiving remittances also increased from 24% to 32%. The fact that these migrant workers have been contributing hugely to the country’s economy naturally stipulates that the state should invest to make their jobs safer. Besides the weak enforcement of much-needed pre-departure orientation to migrant workers, the current labour agreements with many East Asian and Gulf countries fail to address a number of issues, which has contributed to the high death toll. News reports after reports have shown that Nepali migrants are working under precarious conditions in the Gulf. Thousands have actually being trafficked and therefore are hesitant to seek legal recourse. There is no data to show how many Nepali migrants are trafficked, but anecdotal stories from the Gulf returnees tell the tales of woes.

What is needed now is some legal and institutional reforms to standardize the entire foreign employment sector. The migrant workers could be safer and the high death toll could be avoided to some extent if we could put into place an effective policy regimen, which includes protection of migrant workers from any possible risks in the foreign land and covers the entire migration process, including preparation in country of origin, such as the pre-departure orientation. The first step towards the much-needed legislative reform could be adopting the UN International Convention on the Protection of all Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which provides a standard framework to correct the anomalies in the foreign employment sector.