Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security has proposed to the Government of Qatar for renewal of labor agreement.
Minister for Labor, Employment, and Social Security, DP Aryal, proposed to the Ambassador of Qatar to Nepal, Mishaal Bin Mohamed Ali Al-Ansari, to renew the labor agreement during the visit of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Nepal. Al Thani is arriving Kathmandu on a two-day visit on April 24.
The Qatari envoy paid a courtesy call on Minister Aryal on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Minister Aryal proposed to the Qatari envoy to address problems faced by Nepali workers in Qatar, such as wages, insurance, job security, and social security, in line with the standards of the International Labor Organization (ILO). The Qatari ambassador took the proposal positively, according to Govinda Rijal, the spokesperson for the ministry. Ambassador Ansari assured us that he would hold discussions on these matters immediately, he added.
According to Rijal, the Qatari ambassador is in favor of signing a new labor agreement to address all the problems that Nepali workers are facing in Qatar.
Nepal and Qatar first signed a labor agreement at the government level in March 2005. The labor agreement needs to be reviewed every four years. However, the labor agreement with Qatar has not been renewed for the past 19 years. The main reason behind this is the issue of female workers.
Employer companies in Qatar want to recruit female domestic workers from Nepal. However, the Government of Nepal has banned Nepali women from working as domestic help since 2016.
Although Nepal has been proposing to the Qatari government for renewal of labor agreement, Qatar has not shown any interest. A technical committee of the ministry has held discussions with the Qatari Ministry of Labor and Employment 11 times to discuss labor agreement renewal.
During the discussions, members of Qatar’s technical committee always request Nepal to reconsider its decision to ban Nepali workers from working as domestic help. It features regularly in the draft labor agreement that Qatari officials propose.
A ministry official, who was part of the joint technical team, said Qatar has been raising the issue of allowing Nepali women to work as domestic help as its main agenda in such meetings. “Because of the lack of consensus on this issue, the plan to renew labor agreement did not materialize in 2017, 2019, and 2023,” the official added.
Employment expert Dr. Jeevan Baniya said preparation to review the labor agreement with Qatar after 19 years is a positive development. He also criticized the government’s failure to renew labor agreements with labor destination countries. “There have been concerns about security issues in major labor destination countries for Nepali workers. The frequent change in governments has been the biggest weakness of Nepal,” Baniya added.
Qatar is one of the major destinations for Nepali workers. In the previous fiscal year, 133,000 Nepali youths went to Qatar for employment, according to the Department of Foreign Employment. In the first nine months of the current fiscal year, 70,000 youths have left for Qatar for employment. According to the department, more than 450,000 Nepalis are currently working in Qatar.
