Nepalis are dying in the Gulf. Not enough done to prevent loss of life.
...BK had gone to Qatar as a migrant worker two decades ago and was working in a construction company.
...the family members received a call that left them in a state of shock. They were told BK had committed suicide.
The BK family made attempts to bring his body back home but couldn’t, owing to the pandemic. Officials from the company said it could take years to repatriate the body and suggested that cremating in Qatar would be better.
The number of Nepali workers travelling to different labour destinations is increasing over the years...but little attention has been paid for their protection in foreign lands, where they are exposed to health hazards and other risks, often fatal. On most occasions, the reasons for the deaths are suspicious like in the case of BK.
A recent report “Vital Signs: Deaths of Migrants in the Gulf”, made public on March 10, states that as many as 10,000 migrant workers from South and Southeast Asia lose their lives in six countries in the Gulf every year.
...The report that has analysed the numbers and causes of deaths of the migrant workers in the destination countries claims that the reasons of the death is not transparent while many of those deaths could have been avoidable.
As many as 7,296 male and 171 female migrant workers from Nepal lost their lives in a decade between fiscal year 2008-2009 and 2018-2019 and heart attack and natural causes accounted for 47 percent of the total deaths.
“There are many cases that go unreported while the causes of deaths are not transparent...What does natural death mean? How can the workplace be the reason for death?”Anurag Devkota, a human rights lawyer working with Law and Policy Forum for Social Society
Devkota says while it is the responsibility of the destination countries to take measures to reduce worker deaths and investigate and certify the deaths in line with the international practice, the origin countries too have failed to take necessary steps to protect their citizens.
The report concludes that the most likely reason for this high rate of unexplained deaths is that there are serious and systematic issues with the manner in which the Gulf states investigate migrant worker deaths.
The report...shows that low-paid migrant workers in isolated and unsanitary labour camps are often working extremely long hours in dangerous conditions to service debt from recruitment fees. They often do not receive training on occupational health and safety and cannot access healthcare.