The government of Saudi Arabia has announced amnesty to undocumented migrant (workers) on 19th March 2017, under 'Nation without Violations Campaign' a campaign that gives a 90 days opportunity to leave the country without any fines or penalties linked to violating the Saudi Residency law, Labor system and boarder security in the kingdom. This serves to minimize the number of undocumented migrant (workers) in Saudi Arabia.  This campaign is a continuity of the Saudi government efforts to regulate its labour sector from 2013 by bringing undocumented workers under the purview of law. Undocumented migrants are threat to any nation because the possibility of negatively affecting the society is high. Saudi government claims that the increase in undocumented migrants in Saudi Arabia has increased the numbers of crime and drug rates in recent years.

Undocumented Migrant Workers

Under Kafala system, any migrant worker without Iqama (identy card), with a work permit but no Iquma, residents with expired Iquma, runaway workers are consider as undocumented migrant workers in Saudi Arabia. Any migrant worker who joins work in Saudi Arabia is tie to two years of contract agreement under Kafala system which restricts the right to mobility, freedom to work and other several rights of migrant workers. Many migrant rights activists claim that the restrictive employment system of Saudi Arabia for migrant workers is one of the major causes behind the increase in number of undocumented migrant worker in Saudi Arabia.

How Workers Get Undocumented

Many companies employ the migrant workers without providing Iquma to them or do not renew the Iquama after it get expired which result the migrant worker being undocumented. In many cases, migrant workers prefer to run away from the Sponsor due to several reasons such as non-payment of salary, excessive work, misbehavior of Sponsor, breach of contract by the sponsor, to join another well paid opportunity and other.  In cases like company shut down, company going bankrupt, companies operating illegally and other - the possibility of migrant workers getting stranded and undocumented seems high.

Amnesty Announcement by Saudi Arabia

In 2013 Saudi government announced Amnesty to undocumented migrant workers, around 35,000 undocumented Nepalese migrant workers benefited from the program as per Nepal Embassy, Saudi Arabia, whereas the number of undocumented Nepalese migrant workers is anticipated to be around 60,000 in 2013. In total, 2.5 million undocumented migrant (workers) benefited from the program and return back to home country in 2013.

Coming to 2017, around 40,000 undocumented Nepalese migrant workers working in Saudi Arabia could benefit from this amnesty, according to Nepal Embassy, Saudi Arabia. Following the data of Department of Foreign employment, Nepal,  in the fiscal year 2070/71, 86,876 Nepalese migrant workers took labour permit to join employment in Saudi Arabia and the number of Nepalese migrant workers (both documented and undocumented) working in Saudi Arabia is estimated  to be more than 6,00,000.

Any undocumented Nepalese migrant workers returning to Nepal under amnesty program could re-enter to Saudi Arabia to work as a migrant worker because the migrant won't face the consequences associated with the Deportee Fingerprint System. Under this system undocumented workers who have their fingerprint taken prior to departure were not allowed to re-enter the country. Under normal circumstances, it is almost impossible for workers to leave the country without facing jail terms along with huge fines or penalties for violating the labour law of Saudi Arabia.

Assisting Through IEC Materials

Center for Migration andInternational Relations (CMIR) took an initiation to develop an Amnesty Poster to aware and facilitate the undocumented Nepalese migrant worker in Saudi Arabia who could benefit from the program and return back to Nepal safely. PravasiSuchana Sathi is an initiative of CMIR with the support from Accountabilitylab, it aims to promote/ensure the access/right to information of Nepalese migrant workers by proving understandable, reliable, effective, timely, and process oriented information. To reach out many migrant workers and their families, CMIR mobilizes it different layers of network from national or international level.

Why This Poster

Author, Yubrai Nepal

Everyday approximately 2000 people request for government permits to work abroad in Nepal (1). 
Labor has been the most significant export from the country, one member of much of the rural households has been reported to have sent out. It is no surprise that the main reason for migration has been utter lack of job opportunities (push factor) at home and high pay aboard (pull factor), Nepalese have been to some extent compelled to leave the country to look for job opportunities.  The main “push factor” for migration has been a general negative perception of the country’s economy amongst the youth, which is true to a large degree. The elevation of violence during the Maoist insurgency led to large number of youths leaving their homes and crossing the border to India to look for personal security and jobs. The conflict also led to a halt in developmental activities, industrial sector being hit the hardest. It, also led to a decrease in employment ventures in the country itself.

Nepal has a long history of migration, beginning from the 19^th century, when Nepalese troops (namely the Gurkhas) were recruited in the British-India army as provisioned by the Treaty of Sugauli (1816). Besides that, large number of Nepalese peasants migrated to places such as Assam, Darjeeling, Dehradoon attracted by the new agricultural programmes launched by the British.[3]  Later, it was the Labor Act of 1985 that opened possibilities for Nepali migration to around a dozen of countries.[4]

                            Figure 8- Main destination of Nepali migrants (a numeric graph)

 “Remittances are flows of more than just cash - they bring information, ideas, and trends, and all of these things can influence life here in Nepal.”[5] Migration also has led to dissemination of technical know-how in the villages through the ones that have returned. There are many examples of returnee migrants who have succeeded in setting up their own small scale businesses and uplifted their communities. Moreover, poverty reduction schemes such as Micro-Enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP) initiated by the government and United National Development Programme have assisted returnee migrants to start their own businesses by providing them entrepreneurship skills and financial assistance.  MEDEP works in 38 districts of Nepal, it has assisted to create 62,000 sustainable jobs across the country.[6]

“According to the Third Nepal Living Standard Survey 2010-11, 55.8 percent of households receive remittance , with each household receiving an average Rs 80,436 per year.”[7] Remittance has been one of the most effective ways to alleviate poverty in Nepal as it directly increases house hold per expenditure capacity. Due to the lack of existence of self-sustaining manufacturing sector or other such revenue adding sectors, the current flow of remittance into the country is helping the country sustain its economy to a degree. Remittance has helped the country in increment of foreign exchange currency. Even in the absence of a strong export sector, through which a country earns foreign exchanges, Nepal has been able to import extremely large amounts of goods; which would not have been possible if not for the huge flow of remittance into the country’s coffers. 

 “Remittances have been responsible for poverty reduction, increase in foreign exchange reserves, and the expansion of banks and financial institutions.” But, “The money from remittances is an enormous cushion for Nepal - until something bad or unexpected happens,” says Chandan Sapkota, an economist with the Asian Development Bank in the capital Kathmandu. Hence, it is not possible for any country to have a sustained growth by just depending on remittance.

The social challenges from rampant migration have also been very severe. For instance, the potential problems a migrant faces before as well as after the departure are usually not mitigated through the policy making processes. In most cases, the migrant firstly has to get access to loans, usually not accessible under legal umbrella. These loans are given out on high interest rates, already the migrant is starting on a huge debt burden. Usually, the future course of event is very uncertain for these migrants, nonetheless there seems no sign of decrease in the outflow. In 2007 alone, 754 Nepalis died in the Gulf and Malaysia.[8] More than 400 Nepali construction workers are reported to have died building the world cup stadium in Qatar.[9] These deaths have been ascribed to extremely harsh working conditions, “squalid, overcrowded accommodation”[10] and also lack of proper nutrition etc. Even this has not deterred the youths of the country to leave the country for jobs abroad.  The lack of proper information has turned out to be one of the major problems. In a large number of cases, unregistered workers are without legal protection either by the government of Nepal or the receiving governments.

The role of the man-power agents aggravates the already sorry plight of the migrants. Moreover, the problems of undocumented migrants are even more difficult to address. In case of death of such migrants it even makes it difficult for the government of Nepal to negotiate with the host country for return of the dead body to the country. Another problem is to free Nepali migrants who are imprisoned abroad. For example, several hundred Nepalese migrants are still in Malaysian prison even after having finished their jail sentence. The Nepali embassy in Malaysia informs that the release of migrants which do not have proper identification becomes a difficult task, as the migrants have not been registered with the Department of Foreign Employment while leaving the country.[11] It is found that various agents find loopholes in the legal framework and smuggle the migrants on fake passports, false dubious employment papers and also tourist visas.

In the long run, migration seems to have a negative impact on the country’s sustainable development. It is no doubt that the remittance has contributed significantly to the economy of Nepal, but there are some downsides to it as well, usually manifesting in personal lives of the migrants. “Remittances may currently be the lifeblood of Nepal’s economy but those who suggest that remittances are positive for Nepal in the long run fundamentally misunderstand economic realities.”[12]

"We only talk about how the government benefits from the money migrant workers send home.  But at what cost?" says Kopila Rai, who was a returnee migrant to Kuwait.[13] Another major issue has been of women’s human rights violation. There is an upsurge in women migration in recent years. Women are more vulnerable to exploitation, especially in the Middle East. This has resulted because, in many cases they are employed as domestic workers and these works are informal so it is out of the purview of legal channels. Most of women emigrants are found to be working in the informal sector as housemaids or caregivers. Moreover, it has been found out that when women leave home seeking jobs overseas, the children’s upbringing is adversely affected back home.[14] In addition to the exploitation of women’s labor rights in the foreign destination, they have to face the negative impacts of stigma that is attached to women’s migration abroad. Hence, women migrants suffer at multiple instances.

Moreover, it is of no guarantee that the work skill that the migrants acquire in the destination country can be utilized when he or she returns. For example, a worker may be engaged in the construction sector (which is the major job provider) and after back he may not find the same nature of work back home. This way the skill that he has garnered goes in vain because he might get an opportunity to find work in similar area.

Considering uncertainly in demand for labor in international market, the future of Nepali work force working in the major work places, especially in the Arab Gulf is uncertain. Once their needs for less skilled workers are fulfilled, they will discontinue the prevalent inflow of workers in their countries. Hence, it will leave the sender country with no option. The demand side of international labor market cannot be fully relied upon. If in case, some restraints are put on bringing Nepali migrants into these countries, there will be an economic and social catastrophe in the country.

In Nepal’s context, the boom in the remittance sector is leading to mass import of good from abroad. Chandan Sapkota[15] maintains that much of the money in the country has been coming from outside the country and also most of it being spent on imports; hence, it is not really contributing to the economy in real terms. He further adds that of course remittance has had appreciable contribution in poverty reduction, the side effects of remittance as source of wealth has resulted in manifestation of “The Dutch Disease” in Nepal. In the sense, continuous flow of remittance has made policy makers very complacent. It has averted the urge to bring economic reforms that would otherwise cater to improve “investment climate, increase job opportunities domestically and channel remittances to productive sectors”.[16]

Another backside to excessive immigration is lack of labor in the agricultural sector. For a country like Nepal, agriculture is the backbone of the economy because it still is a major source of income, employment and food in the country. The migration of large number of young labors out of the country and consequently lack of labor in agriculture has become a challenge leaving the work solely on elder people and women.[17] This is led to the suggestion that there is a need for agriculture mechanization in the country. Huge tracts of agricultural land have been found to be abandoned. Even if a huge portion of the country’s GDP can be credited to remittance, agriculture still has a dominant influence on the national economy. Policy makers need to implement policies that encourage the working force to pursue jobs in agricultural sector. For instance, it has been found, out of the huge majority of migrants who have returned, only some turn to agriculture whereas most of them choose to go back because of lack of good job opportunities. [18] Nonetheless, to some extent, the economy of the country which was prevalently agriculture-based is gradually shifting to remittance-based.

Notwithstanding, agriculture still is the main component of the country’s economy. For instance, agriculture and forestry are likely to contribute 30.27 % to the GDP this year. A steady rise in GDP growth from last year’s 3.26 percent to 5.15 percent this year is largely attributed to rise in increase in agriculture production this year. “This illustrates that even in the case of a labor force shortage, agriculture remains the major source of GDP for the country.”[19] Certainly, on the one hand the policy makers need to ensure the well being of the emigrants abroad; it should also focus more on the agriculture sector of the country on the other hand.

Moreover, the eventual contribution of remittance to the national economy is not significant as most of which does not add in creation of capital formation.[20] Remittance money needs to be used for creation of jobs in the domestic market, so that this acts as a deterrent for young people to leave the country in the first place. It is a dilemma for policy makers as well, because it will not be justified on their part to stop one from leaving the country in pursue of a job, especially, when the state itself is unable to provide better employment opportunities inside its own territory. 

@ Nirnaya Bhatta