US embassy cable - 05KATHMANDU2315

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 002315 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR SA/INS, SA/RA, G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, ELAB, PINS, KWMN, NP, Trafficking in Persons 
SUBJECT: SAFE MIGRATION:  PREVENTION OF LABOR AND SEXUAL 
TRAFFICKING 
 
REF: A. KATHMANDU 638 
     B. KATHMANDU 553 
 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
1. (SBU) With dwindling economic prospects stemming from a 
decade-long Maoist insurgency, increasing numbers of Nepalese 
workers are leaving for other countries in search of safety 
and better employment opportunities.  The Embassy and USAID 
recently gathered representatives from UN agencies and 
Nepal's government, INGO and NGO sectors to discuss ongoing 
efforts to promote the safe migration of Nepali citizens 
domestically and overseas.  Government representatives 
explained efforts by His Majesty's Government of Nepal (HMGN) 
to negotiate bilateral agreements and institute monitoring 
mechanisms to prevent abuses, both domestically and overseas. 
 UN agency, INGO and NGO representatives noted that 
migration, and the rising levels of exploitation associated 
with it, affect all Nepalese, including youth.  A 
representative of the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment 
Agents (NAFEA) underscored that a coordinated approach is 
necessary to stem the tide of labor and sexual exploitation 
of Nepalese workers.  END SUMMARY. 
 
BACKGROUND:  MIGRATION ON THE RISE 
---------------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Nepali citizens have traditionally traveled to 
neighboring countries in search of employment or better 
opportunities.  While Nepal's only labor agreement to date is 
with Qatar (ref A), Nepal's export of laborers to India and 
third country destinations has been rising steadily.  The 
most recent statistics from the Department of Labor and 
Employment Promotion (DoLEP) indicate that the number of 
Nepali workers leaving the country for overseas employment 
rose by 50.4 percent during the 2004/05 fiscal year (Note: 
Nepal's fiscal year runs from July to July.  End note.) 
Various "manpower" agencies exported a total of 137,678 
Nepali laborers to 15 employment destinations during the last 
fiscal year, as compared with 91,540 in 2003/04.  The 
majority of workers migrated to Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 
and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 
 
WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING? 
----------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) The Embassy and USAID gathered representatives on 
October 5 from UN agencies and Nepal's government, INGO and 
NGO sectors to discuss efforts to promote the safe migration 
of Nepali citizens.  Purushotam Ojha, Secretary of the 
Ministry of Labor and Transport Management, noted that a lack 
of pre-departure information coupled with informal/illegal 
migration were the main factors contributing to labor and 
sexual exploitation.  Indebtedness to middlemen involved in 
sending Nepali workers to destination countries often led to 
abuses and indentured servitude overseas; for example, the 
current "dispatch fee" Nepalis paid to work in Malaysia was 
80,000 rupees (USD 1,143), which took most Nepalis up to two 
years to repay.  A reduction in dispatch costs needed to take 
place, Ojha underscored.  Ojha admitted that Nepalese 
missions abroad did not have sufficient staff to monitor 
workplaces to ensure that labor conditions were humane and 
contracts were honored.  The government needed to establish a 
"monitoring mechanism" to track labor conditions for Nepalis 
working overseas, Ojha concluded. 
 
4. (SBU) Ojha stated that government measures on safe 
migration should be "promotive" rather than "restrictive." 
The government was taking a number of steps to support the 
safe migration of Nepali workers abroad.  In an effort to 
safeguard the rights of Nepali workers overseas, the 
government in March signed a labor accord with Qatar, home to 
the second largest group of expatriate Nepali laborers (ref 
A).  Similar bilateral accords with other destination 
countries were under negotiation, Ojha revealed.  The 
Ministry of Labor was also developing an amendment to the 
Foreign Employment Act and Regulations to reflect current 
labor conditions.  Ojha noted his Ministry was working with 
NGOs and other stakeholders to disseminate information on 
safe migration at the field level, particularly to discourage 
migration through unofficial or illegal channels.  He noted 
that there was a need for  "partnering" between government 
and recruiting agencies to establish a built-in mechanism to 
monitor the situation of Nepali workers.  A "lot of room for 
improvement" remained, Ojha admitted to the group. 
 
5. (SBU) Dr. Ram Hari Aryal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of 
Health and Population, added that migration is one component 
of population change and an "emerging issue" in 
socio-economic sectors.  He noted that migration was a 
regional issue and safe migration should therefore be 
promoted through regional cooperation.  "We need good, 
substantial policies at the national level," Aryal admitted, 
adding that "we're in the process of developing these." 
According to Aryal, policies should include protection and 
benefits to migrants, pre-departure information, monitoring, 
and strengthening of consular services for Nepalis working 
abroad.  Additional studies were necessary, Aryal 
underscored, to determine the extent of the problem, 
particularly in relation to the trafficking and smuggling of 
migrants.  Aryal noted that his Ministry "welcomed ideas" 
from NGOs and other sectors for such a survey. 
 
IO'S, INGO'S AND NGO'S: MIGRATION TOUCHES ALL NEPALESE YOUTH 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
6. (SBU) The International Labor Organization (ILO) 
representative, Pracha Prasat, noted the difficulty in 
establishing safe migration programs since many migrants did 
not travel through formal channels.  Various organizations' 
estimates, therefore, were most likely underestimating the 
numbers.  He noted that the ILO was working on the prevention 
side through social mobilizers, radio programs, employment 
generation activities, and the non-formal education sector. 
The ILO was also partner to HMGN in its National Plan of 
Action to combat trafficking in persons, Prasat stated (ref 
B), and was planning a series of studies on migration. 
 
7. (SBU) Aruna Thapa, United Nations Development Fund for 
Women (UNIFEM) representative, explained the measures her 
organization had taken to safeguard the rights of women 
workers.  Women workers, particularly migrant workers, were 
stigmatized in Nepali society.  UNIFEM had thus launched a 
media campaign to address negative stereotypes of women 
workers in Nepalese society, and also to lift a 
government-imposed ban on female workers traveling to the 
Middle East (Note:  This ban has since been lifted.  End 
note.)  UNIFEM had also advocated for, and won, a 
government-imposed requirement that recruiting agencies 
provide workers with three days of pre-departure orientation. 
 Thapa noted, and the Labor Ministry's Ojha agreed, that 
while the government had done its job in passing this law, 
the recruiting agencies were getting around it by selling 
certificates of pre-departure training attendance.  Thapa 
claimed that the feminization of poverty in Nepal (since only 
6-10 percent of land was registered in women's names) and the 
Maoist conflict resulted in women being "the first to 
migrate" in search of work and other opportunities for their 
families. 
 
8. (SBU) "Safe migration has touched each and every youth in 
the context of the current conflict," Pankaja Bhattarai of 
The Asia Foundation (TAF) stated.  Bhattarai noted that 
because migration was an individual right, it was important 
not to restrict it and force it underground, which would make 
migrants more vulnerable to exploitation.  While TAF's focus 
was primarily on urban areas, it worked with local partners 
in all seventy-five of Nepal's districts to set up safe 
migration counseling booths and provide safe migration 
training to Village District Committee (VDC) task forces. 
While safe migration was the responsibility of the 
government, Bhattarai noted, it was also important to engage 
the employment agencies to be more accountable to migrant 
workers. 
 
9. (SBU) Although safe migration was an emerging issue in its 
own right, other organization representatives noted that 
programs promoting safe migration were subsumed within their 
anti-trafficking initiatives.  The South Asia Regional 
Initiative/Equity (SARI/Q), funded by USAID, had recently 
conducted a policy workshop on safe migration, which included 
an assessment of pre-departure programs and regional resource 
materials available for safe migration.  Prakash Bhattarai, 
Secretary General of Youth Action Nepal (YAN), stated that 
 
SIPDIS 
his organization had identified labor migration as a major 
issue for Nepalese youth.  He noted that Chief District 
Officers (CDOs), who issued passports at the district level, 
were responsible for providing pre-departure counseling. 
Bhattarai revealed that YAN had prepared a study entitled 
"Migration of Nepalese for Foreign Employment:  Prospects and 
Problems," which would be published soon. 
 
THE RECRUITING AGENCIES' PERSPECTIVE 
------------------------------------ 
 
10. (SBU) Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agents 
(NAFEA) representative Tirtha Gurung, stated that his 
organization, which represented 450 member companies, was 
taking steps to control corruption and labor exploitation. 
Middlemen were providing wrong information to workers, Gurung 
admitted, and incidents of sexual and other exploitation were 
taking place, particularly to those coming out of rural 
areas.  While NAFEA could investigate complaints directly, it 
was also working with UNIFEM, NGOs and INGOs to provide a 
unified approach to the increasing incidence of abuse 
stemming from the rising numbers of migrants leaving Nepal to 
find safety, security, and economic opportunity in the face 
of dwindling economic prospects as a result of Nepal's 
decade-long Maoist insurgency.  The best way to solve the 
problem, he continued, was to work with the government, since 
the solution lay in increasing the number of bilateral labor 
agreements and improving consular services to Nepalese 
workers.  With Nepalese workers doing so much to help Nepal, 
Gurung stated, it was time Nepal did more to help its 
workers. (Note:  Total remittances represented nearly 12 
percent of Nepal's GDP last year.  End note.) 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
11.  (SBU) The right to migrate in search of a better 
livelihood or security, particularly in the context of the 
Maoist insurgency, must be balanced with Nepal's need to 
create a better legal framework that helps prevent the 
growing trend of labor and sexual exploitation during 
migration.  Rising numbers of Nepali citizens are on the 
move--from rural to urban areas, and from Nepal to India and 
other receiving nations.  As economic opportunities dwindle 
and security issues rise due to Nepal's ongoing Maoist 
insurgency, increasing numbers of migrants are leaving Nepal 
in search of security and employment.  Safe migration is 
therefore becoming an increasingly important issue for the 
government, the people, and the donor community in Nepal. 
Without a unified approach by government, non-state, and 
recruiting agency representatives, labor and sexual 
exploitation will continue to be a rising trend. 
MORIARTY