Govt asks US, Iraq to reconsider Nepali workers

KATHMANDU, July 30: After lifting a ban on going to strife-torn Iraq for employment, Nepal has started diplomatic efforts to ensure that no Nepali worker will have to return from the West Asian country because of the July 20 notice of the Centcom Contracting Command that requires all illegal Nepali and Filipino workers to leave by August 9.



To that end, Nepal has officially approached the US and Iraqi governments separately for help, with assurances of measures to legalize the status of over 30,000 Nepalis who are currently working illegally in Iraq. [break]



“We have made our request to the State Department through the US embassy in Kathmandu and our embassy in Washington,” Foreign Secretary Dr Madan Kumar Bhattarai told Republica, adding that a similar request has been made to the Iraqi government via the Nepali embassy in Pakistan.



Nepal made the requests in expectation that both governments would reconsider the case of Nepali workers in light of the lifting of the ban that has been in place since 2004. While making the requests, the Nepal government has apprised the US and Iraq of the magnitude of the consequences that Nepal will possibly have to face if such a large number of remittance earners are returned home all at once.



It has been learnt that the government lifted the seven-year-old ban, in expecatation that the decision will put Nepal in a better position to request the US and Iraqi governments to consider the case of Nepali workers. A source at the Nepali embassy in Washington told Republica that the US has given a positive signal it will create a situation whereby Nepali workers will not have to return if the ban is lifted.



Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is mulling plans to legalizing the status of the workers. The Nepali workers hold passports that contain the notice “Not valid for travel to Iraq for work”, said an official knowledgeable of such matters. The notice should be nullified to legalize the stay and work of Nepali citizens in Iraq, according to the official.



“We are yet to work out a concrete plan how it should done,” said the official.



As Nepalis have done to Iraq despite the ban, the government does not have accurate data on the number of Nepali workers in that country. Though unofficial records put the figure at around 30,000, officials say it could be much higher, near to 40,000. Government officials say that the workers were first taken to countries neighboring Iraq and then trafficked to Iraq where they are reportedly paid better than in any other Gulf country.

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