KATHMANDU: The Government of Nepal is heading towards sending Nepalese workers to Oman in a much more organized way. Both the countries are all set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect in Nepali month of Bhadra (16 August – 15 September).

All the details of the labor agreement have been duly coded and confined in the MoU, the only signature from the head of the state or anybody so authorized is awaiting, says the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security (MLES).

It is the first time two countries Nepal and Oman are getting ready to sign MoU of this nature. Two stages have already passed in direction of fine-tuning and determining the provisions of the labor agreement between the two countries. The technical committee has also cleared the draft of labor agreement confined into MoU.

Things have delayed for a year as Nepal had planned to sign a labor agreement last year only during a centenary celebration of ILO (International Labor Organization) held in Geneva, Switzerland. However, Oman raised objections on some of the provisions put forward by Nepal and this further extended the date of signing MoU by both the countries.

Conditions put forward by Nepal  

Nepal has asked for security and protection for its labor-force ranging from human rights of workers, no confiscation of passport, one day holiday in a week, insurance for accident, health, life and any untoward incident in 24-hours while staying in the foreign land.

Apart from the above, the employer will bear all the cost while hiring Nepalese workers including the expenses which are made when a worker falls ill while working in a foreign land. Oman has agreed to all the demands raised by the Government of Nepal, says the Ministry of Labor.

The technical committee while examining the provisions of labor has approved all the above issues along with judicial resolutions of the disputes involving a Nepalese worker as one of the parties in a court of law. The Nepal government has prepared a draft for MoU on labor agreement incorporating all the international labor standards with the Sultanate of Oman in the same way as it has done with other countries – popular foreign destinations for Nepalese workers.

Most likely, Nepal will sign MoU on labor agreement with Oman in the third week of Nepali month of Bhadra, says the General Secretary Umesh Dhungana, Ministry of Labor, Government of Nepal.

Nepalese workers on the rise in Oman

An estimated number of 15,960 Nepalese workers are currently working in the Sultanate of Oman. Of them, the number of Nepalese female workers are 5,934. As high as 95% of the Nepalese female workers work as domestic maids in Oman, confirms the Embassy of Nepal.

Oman – a country of 458,6000 population employs as high as 210,6000 foreign workers mostly for manual work. Maximum numbers of workers come from Bangladesh (704,000) followed by India (689,000) and Pakistan (235,000). The numbers of Nepalese workers are increasing in recent years.