It is a national shame that neither Nepal government nor human right activists came up with strong voices against inhuman treatment for Nepali workers in Qatar. 

 

A recent report by The Guardian on the Nepali migrant labour’s inhuman condition in Qatar, created hue and cry in the international arena. The report brought to fore how Qatar has been mistreating Nepali migrant workers by disregarding its commitment to international human and labour laws. The report portrayed how Nepali migrant workers were treated as modern-day slaves by Qatar. Maya Kumari Sharma, the Nepali ambassador to Qatar was right when she termed Qatar as an “open jail” for Nepali labourers. Though she was castigated for that remark, the new revelation has vindicated her. 

 

 In spite of condemning mistreatment to Nepali migrant workers in Qatar, Nepal government tried to protect the Qatar government. 

 

The government did not even dare to write to Qatar government formally asking it to end inhuman behaviour against Nepali workers. In a sense, the government proved itself to be inefficient, submissive and coward that failed to speak up against injustice faced by its citizens. Even the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) that recently set up a fund to help Nepalis who fall in trouble in foreign land, has not uttered a single word in response to this report.

 

 Labour exploitation has been considered as modern day human slavery. All nations that import human resources from second countries should respect and abide by international labour laws. Qatar should immediately take actions to translate its commitment to international labour rights into practice and treat Nepali labourers with due respect and provide them working conditions that will enable them to contribute to its development in a dignified manner. 

 

Guardian’s report did initiate discussion about Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers in the international arena. International community took up the issue with the Qatari authorities.  But unfortunately, Nepal government lagged behind in this. This report should also prompt Nepal to review its policy related to labour export and Nepalis living abroad. Every country with some self-respect deals in a very serious manner when its citizens living abroad face some trouble. Such countries do not shy away from spending a lot of national resources to rescue their citizens when they are in trouble in a foreign land. And they take up the issue seriously to provide justice to those mistreated in the foreign land. 

 

Equally important for Nepal is to stop basking on the foreign exchange earning that the migrant Nepali labourers send home. Rather it should reflect why the Nepalis are going abroad for employment. They go abroad because the employment opportunities in Nepal are shrinking, not increasing, thanks to the anarchy that is ruling the country for about two decades. Due to this lawlessness, investment is not increasing in Nepal and without increased investment there will be no additional employment opportunities created.  

 

 Nepal should also think of the situation when there will be mass return of the Nepali migrant workers fed up with the mistreatment in the foreign land or deported by the countries where they are working now. Such deportation has already started from countries like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. 

 

Nepal authorities should bear in mind that the social unrest in Nepal is muted till now because most of the able-bodied unemployed youth go out of the country in search of jobs. When such migrants return in mass, and find that they cannot get job here, the country will get into another round of similar (or even bigger scale) bloodbath that it saw just a decade ago.