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Of Policies and Frameworks Governing Foreign Employment for Nepali Women Migrant Workers and Migrant Domestic Workers

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Of Policies and Frameworks Governing Foreign Employment for Nepali Women Migrant Workers and Migrant Domestic Workers A comprehensive analysis of policies and frameworks governing foreign employment for Nepali women migrant workers and migrant domestic workers X A comprehensive analysis of policies and frameworks governing foreign employment for Nepali women migrant workers and migrant domestic workers Exploring the migration policymaking process with a specific focus on bans and restrictions on foreign employment Mark McCarthy ILO Country Office for Nepal October 2020 Copyright © International Labour Organization 2021 First published 2021 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Licensing), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered with a reproduction rights organization may make copies in accordance with the licenses issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the reproduction rights organization in your country. ISBN: 9789220346990 (Print) ISBN: 9789220343371 (Web) The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval. Information on ILO publications and digital products can be found at www.ilo.org/publns or contact ilopubs@ ilo.org. Images of Kumari Chaudhary, Sabita Rai, Sarda Rai, Anjana Rai, and Bimala Adhikari © ILO/[S Kolakshyapati 2020] Images of Kopila Prasai, Mina Acharya, and Sushila Rana © ILO/[M. McCarthy 2020] Images of Shrijana Oli and Sunita Lama © ILO/[Subash Khatri 2020] X Contents Foreword 5 Acknowledgements 7 Abbreviation 9 Executive Summary 11 X 1. Overview 27 1.1 Introduction 28 1.2 Background on Work in Freedom (WIF) 31 1.3 Study setting 31 1.4 Structure of the report 32 1.5 Reconstructing a timeline of bans and restrictions 33 X 2. Methodology 37 2.1 Scope and Rationale 38 2.2 Sources and tools for data collection and analysis 39 2.3 Limitations of the review 40 X 3. Nepali Migrant Domestic Workers and Female Labour Migration: Background 43 and Trends 3.1 Overview of Nepali labour migration 44 3.2 Female labour migration and migrant domestic work 46 3.3 Overview of socio-economic conditions for Nepali women 50 3.4 Reasons for migration and engagement in domestic work 53 3.5 Recruitment process 57 3.6 Conditions for Nepali women migrant domestic workers abroad 59 X 4. Conceptual Framework: An Intersectional Analysis of Migration Policy-Making 65 in Nepal 4.1 Characterizing migration policymaking and policy reform in Nepal 66 4.2 Gender, class, caste, race and their intersectionality in the migration process 68 4.3 Adopting a gendered analysis of policymaking on migration and human trafficking 71 4.4 Media and migration 73 4.5 Incorporating transnational dynamics into the policymaking analysis 74 X 5. Findings (Part 1): Reconstructing A Timeline of Migration Bans and other 77 Policies and Frameworks Governing Women Migrant Workers and Migrant Domestic Workers in Nepal (1998 – 2020) 5.1 The early years of gender-restrictive migration policies (1997 – 2010) 78 5.2 The “open window” of foreign employment for Nepali women (2010 – 2012) 82 5.3 Introduction of the ‘age ban’ and end of open migration channels (2012 – 2014) 83 4 X A comprehensive analysis of policies and frameworks governing foreign employment for Nepali women migrant workers and migrant domestic workers 5.4 The fourth ‘total ban’ and new guidelines (2014 – 2015) 86 5.5 Lifting the ‘total ban’ (2015 - 2016) 89 5.6 A new ban and changes in migration policymaking structures (2017) 93 5.7 Retracing current changes (2017 – early 2020) 103 5.8 New developments in 2020 and a second parliamentary delegation 116 X 6. Findings (Part 2) – Further Accessing The Knowledge and Opinions of Key 121 Stakeholders 6.1 Summarizing key opinions and positions of stakeholders 122 6.2 The nexus between labour migration, human trafficking and migrant smuggling 126 6.3 Summary: Discussions with returnee women migrant domestic workers 129 6.4 Nepal’s current and future priorities on foreign employment policies 135 6.5 Discussing concerns regarding the effects of the outbreak of COVID-19 137 X 7. Discussion: Summarizing Key Findings 141 X 8. Conclusion and Recommendations 153 8.1 Conclusion 154 8.2 Recommendations 156 References 165 Annex A: Definitions of Key Terms 185 Annex B: List of Key Informants Interviewed 187 Annex C: Brief Overview of The Recruitment Process in Nepal 188 Annex D: Domestic and International Frameworks 190 Annex E: Exploring Migration Journeys: In-Depth Case Study Interviews with Returnees 204 X Foreword 5 Foreword he right to work and freedom of movement are basic human rights. Article 13 of the Universal TDeclaration of Human Rights stipulates that: “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state, and everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”. Moreover, Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifies that “everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment”. In addition to this Article 18 (3) of the Constitution of Nepal guarantees the right to equality and right against discrimination on grounds of sex. In spite of this, Nepal has a recent history of introducing controversial restrictions on women’s migration only to remove them and reintroduce them later in the name of protecting women. Studies have shown that many such restrictions tend to be ineffective and generate additional obstacles that compound the vulnerabilities that migrant women face and further discriminate on the basis of gender. The Committee of Experts for the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has raised concerns around the requirement that Nepalese migrant domestic workers must have reached the age of 24 to emigrate and the prohibition of women with a child below the age of two from taking up domestic work outside Nepal. It also noted that in early 2017, the Parliamentary International Relations and Labour Committee instructed the Government to temporarily stop Nepalese women migrants from going to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council for domestic work. The Committee of Experts reiterated the Special Rapporteur’s concerns about stigma around the migration of women, loosely associated with prostitution or trafficking for sex work, and highlighted that the solution to the problems faced by domestic workers could not be to discriminate against them through the imposition of bans or other means of violating their right to leave the country. These vicissitudes are indicators of an ongoing struggle for women’s equal right to mobility and work. To turn the page, it is important to elucidate the political economy of these policies so that policy makers can identify and address opposition to these basic rights. The purpose of this study is to explore this policy context and list recommendations for a way ahead. This study was supported by the Work in Freedom Programme of the ILO, which is funded by the United Kingdom’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office. The views expressed in this study do not necessarily reflect the department’s official policies. Richard S Howard, PhD Director ILO Country Office for Nepal X Acknowledgements 7 Acknowledgements his report was produced by Mr. Mark McCarthy, ILO consultant, who managed research design and Tdata collection and provided technical coordination throughout the review. Overall guidance and support were provided by Ms. Sandhya Basini Sitoula, National Project Coordinator, Mr. Narendra Nadh Choudary, Technical Officer (Monitoring and Evaluation), and Mr. Igor Bosc, Chief Technical Advisor, all with the ILO-FCDO Partnership Programme on Fair Recruitment and Decent Work for Women Migrant Workers in South Asia and the Middle East (WiF), Phase II, currently under process. We are grateful for the kind support of ILO staff in Nepal for sharing insights and providing comments and validation throughout the process. In particular, we would like to thank Mr. Richard Howard, Director, Ms. Bina Kunwar Thapa, Programme Officer, Ms. Neha Choudhary, National Project Coordinator, and Mr. Basanta Karki, National Project Coordinator, all with the ILO Country Office for Nepal. Special thanks are owed to Mr. Bhagat Kumar Sunuwar for providing administrative and financial assistance to the review. Portions of this review could not have been completed without the participation of NGO partners in Nepal, specifically WOREC and POURAKHI. Ms. Shristi Kolakshyapati (Senior Program Coordinator) at WOREC served as a research contributor to this review and assisted with locating and interviewing returnee women migrant workers in Nepal’s Morang district. Ms. Manju Gurung (Chairperson), Mr. Subash Khatri (Monitoring, Advocacy and Public Relations Officer) and the rest of the POURAKHI team helped to locate and document the stories of returnee women migrant workers in the Kathmandu Valley. Two interns with POURAKHI, Ms. Anusha Rana and Ms. Luise Bidari, and Mr.
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