Concerted efforts needed to safeguard the rights of Nepali migrant workers: Mainali

Kathmandu, Nov. 3: Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) Laxman Prasad Mainali the other day said that concerted efforts were necessary to safeguard the fundamental rights of the Nepali migrant workers abroad.

In a meeting with Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Guy Ryder at the latter’s office in Geneva, Mainali said, “A large number of Nepali youths are migrating for foreign employment, therefore we want cooperation from the ILO and other international organisations to safeguard their rights.”

Mainali is now in Geneva to attend the 331^st Governing Board Meeting of the ILO. The meeting started from 26 October and will continue till 9 November.

According to a press statement issued by the Permanent Mission of Nepal in Geneva, the meeting discussed issues related to strengthening cooperation between ILO and Nepal, and the secretary requested the DG to consider launching result-oriented projects in Nepal, particularly in the areas of skill development and green jobs creation.

Mainali also underlined the need for creating decent jobs for the youth back home and asked the ILO to support Nepal in this endeavours.

The DG said that a number of ILO programmes were going on in Nepal and there was a possibility of integrating those in decent work programme.

“Migration should be well managed and make safe and secure. However, it should be optional and the nation should work towards creating decent jobs within the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nepali Ambassador to Geneva, Deepak Dhital welcomed the 7 centenary initiatives launched by the DG and said that the programmes underpinning the centenary initiatives were relevant to Nepal specially in the areas of creating decent and green jobs and women at work initiatives.

Binda Pandey, deputy member from the workers group to the Governing Board of ILO, raised concerns related to the decent work and labour migration agenda.

“She requested for technical support that ILO could extend to Nepal in implementing some of the social measures of new Labour Act, 2017, including capacity building and the labour inspection,” reads the statement.