6/22/2021
South Asia’s migrants share problems, share solutions | Nepali Times
But the gains of labour migration are often dampened by malpractices including high
recruitment costs and inadequate rights and protection of migrants in the destination
country under arrangements that disproportionately favour employers such as the abusive
Kafala system in the Gulf.
And then came Covid-19, which further revealed the pre-existing fault-lines in the
recruitment, employment and living conditions of migrants abroad
(https://blogs.eui.eu/migrationpolicycentre/covid-19-reverse-migration-nepal/). It put the
spotlight on the squalid labour camps that deserve attention not just during a crisis
demanding social distancing, but at all times and how minimal efforts to correct this can
have wider consequences in the public health of the nation because the virus did not
distinguish between nationalities or legal status.
It also challenged the distinction between low/unskilled versus higher skilled work because
to keep the societies functioning amid lockdowns (http://nepalitimes.com/herenow/nepali-workers-overseas-toil-through-the-pandemic/) required shopkeepers,
warehouse workers, cleaners, delivery boys who were now being referred to as ‘essential
workers’.
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Shares
https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/south-asias-migrants-shared-problems-share-solutions/
5/19