Rights groups urged South Asian governments yesterdays to demand proper protection for their migrant workers amid outrage over the deaths of dozens of Nepalis on projects linked to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
While Nepal’s government said it would not try to halt the flow of migrant workers after a newspaper investigation into their conditions, activists said the blame should not only rest with employers in the Gulf. Millions of people from impoverished parts of the subcontinent work in Gulf states such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, sending home remittances that are crucial to their families’ welfare and to their nation’s finances.
Qatar alone is home to about 300,000 Nepalese workers, according to government figures, most of whom are drawn from impoverished rural areas.
The vast majority are working on construction projects and are hired by Nepal-based employment agencies that operate under licence from the government and are meant to adhere to regulations on working conditions.
Buddhi Bahadur Khadka, a spokesman for the labor ministry in Kathmandu, said Nepalese officials based in the embassy in Doha did vet employers to ensure they follow “standard guidelines,” but admitted there were problems.
“Despite our efforts, there have been irregularities. That needs to be changed and we are trying our best,” he said.
An investigation published by Britain’s Guardian newspaper this week found that 44 Nepalese migrants had died during the summer in Qatar when temperatures can reach around 50°C.
It detailed how some had not been paid for months, were denied drinking water and had their passports confiscated as they toiled on a range of infrastructure projects being readied for when Qatar hosts soccer fans from around the world.
Suhas Chakma, director of the Asian Centre for Human Rights, said governments on the subcontinent had too often turned a blind eye to the “horrendous” conditions that he said frequently breached international agreements.
“It is unfortunate that the governments of the sending countries are taking no action vis-a-vis compliance with the UN convention on migrant laborers,” Chakma said.
“This issue does not concern only Nepal. There are thousands of laborers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who are travelling abroad for work,” he said.
“It is time the SAARC [South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation] countries frame a policy for protection of their laborers from abuse and exploitation,” he added in reference to the eight-nation regional bloc headquartered in Kathmandu.
“Nepalese workers have been dying due to abusive labor conditions for years but it is only being talked about now because of the World Cup,” he said.
Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, agreed it should not be just left up to the host country to treat workers properly.
“South Asian countries, which are a large group of senders, should work together to set minimum standards,” Ganguly said. “Since remittances are a big part of the South Asian economy, the SAARC countries should join together to demand better worker protections.”
Khadka said that Qatari government officials had pledged that migrants would be protected when they held talks with officials from Nepal’s labor ministry and foreign ministry in June.
“They assured us that their government will take action against the companies that violate the labourers’ rights, but the workers had to lodge complaints detailing the exploitation and the violation of labor rights,” he said.
“So, it’s up to the Qatar government to safeguard our workers and we have our embassy to monitor it,” Khadka said.
Nepal received 430 billion rupees (US$434 million) sent back by its roughly 1 million migrant workers last year, according to Nepal’s central bank, accounting for 22 percent of GDP in a country where around one in three young people are out of work.
“We won’t stop sending the workers just because their exploitation has been highlighted now. We can’t stop it because that’s the only major employment opportunity for the majority of Nepali youths,” Khadka said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese