- August 9, 2017
- Posted by: admin
- Category: Updates
Law and Policy Forum for Social Justice would like to take an opportunity to acknowledge the step taken by the government of Nepal in introducing the third amendment to Foreign Employment Regulation in a timely manner. The team of LAPSOJ appreciates the vigorous effort taken by the government towards protection of rights and interest of Nepalese Migrant Workers, in particular, the provision regarding the management and repatriation of dead bodies of the workers and legal assistance to be provided to the workers languishing jail terms in destination countries.
The team of LAPSOJ has been involved in jurisprudence setting strategic litigation in the issues concerning the rights of Nepalese migrant workers. Against that backdrop, the team of LAPSOJ had filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Supreme Court in response to the alarming death of Nepalese migrant workers while in destination country. This case has uncovered the pre-departure health test requirement, postmortem requirement, and procedure to repatriate the body of migrant workers (both documented/undocumented). Although, each of the issues and contentions raised before the court is still unmet, the added provision in the regulation regarding the aid in the conveyance of dead bodies from International airport to the residential address of migrant workers is worth applauding. (Attached here are the web links of the court hearing and subsequent order regarding the case)
Regarding the second petition, the team also filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Supreme Court on April 11 seeking assurance regarding free legal aid, mutual legal assistance mechanisms and agreements, mechanisms to protect the rights of families to have sufficient information about the detainees in foreign jails. The provisions like transfer of sentences and mutual legal agreement with country of destination raised in the petition are other milestones in achieving the good practices of foreign labor migration in Nepal. However, the first step towards providing legal assistance to the migrant workers arrested or charged for any offence in the destination country is definitely an ice breaking effort from government front. The news stories and media coverage web links of the PIL and subsequent show-cause order has been covered in various national dailies.
In that Milieu, we would like to genuinely appreciate the step taken by the government of Nepal in institutionalizing the issue that has been constantly advocated by LAPSOJ.
Web links regarding dead bodies:
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http://lokaantar.com/en/governance/sc-issues-show-cause-order-death-migrant-workers/ (Lokantar)
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https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/supreme-court-show-cause-notice-government-migrant-deaths/ (The Himalayan Times)
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http://www.myrepublica.com/news/16041/?categoryId=23 (My Republica)
Web links regarding right to legal assistance: