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Maneesh Bakshi
Doha
Nepalese community in Qatar has welcomed the signing of the 11-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the human rights agencies of Qatar and Nepal, which took place in Kathmandu during the visit of Chairman of Qatar's National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) Dr Ali bin Smaikh al Marri to Nepal recently.
Talking to Qatar Tribune on the agreement, President of the Qatar Nepal Friendship Organisation Prof Ramzan Ali Miya said,"It is a major step forward in the direction of improving the labour related issues between Qatar and Nepal."
The agreement was signed on December 18, which coincides with Qatar National Day as well as the International Migration Day observed globally. The agreement was a continuation of the earlier 10-point bilateral MoU that was signed in Doha on November 16, 2015.
According to Ramzan, the agreement highlighted an activation plan according to which the human rights agencies of both Qatar and Nepal will appoint a contact person for an effective sharing of information related to the labour issues between the two countries.
"The activation plan according to the agreement will also ensure the establishment of a similar help desk by the Nepali human rights office in line with the ones formed by the Qatari counterparts. There is a greater stress being laid on providing training to the recruitment officials of Nepal so as to streamline the recruitment process," he said.
He added that awareness regarding Qatari labour law and the workers rights will be spread through the involved agencies in the form of literature, booklets, seminars and so on, stressing that Qatar government will also ensure proper medical facility and living conditions as per the agreed standards and will provide legal assistance in case of any grievance from the workers.
According to him, there is already a steep fall in the numbers of labour related grievances among Nepali workers.
"Most of the established companies operating in Qatar are strictly adhering to the Qatari labour laws while there may be few small companies flouting the laws in order to make fast bucks, giving bad name to Qatar. These companies need to be booked," he said.
Ramzan Ali Miya is currently translating the new Labour law that has come into force recently into Nepali language with the intention of making it understandable to Nepali workers so that they could be made aware about their rights while working in Qatar.
