On 5 May, migrant workers appeared at the gates of the Nepal Embassy in Abu Dhabi even before office hours. The Emirates Cab Company in Sharjah had cancelled their contracts months ago, and they had traveled 180km to seek help.
Two agencies to which the drivers had paid recruitment fees, Osho and Future Recruitment, have reportedly ignored their plight. The Nepal Embassy’s attempt to convince the employer to provide accommodation has not been heeded.
“We have lost our dignity. We came here to take care of our families, but they are left to fend for themselves,” one of the workers said over the phone. The UAE-based Nepal Association (NRNA) is helping, but the workers are crammed into one apartment waiting to be sent home.
Naresh Sen from the NRNA says the workers are being looked after until they are repatriated, but he added: “We will have to think about who will bear the cost of their return tickets once they are allowed to travel back.”
On Tuesday, the Embassy booked a bus to take the workers back to Sharjah. One of them has even posted a letter from the Embassy assuring them of priority in future repatriation flights as his profile picture on Facebook, and says: “The letter has at least boosted our morale.”
Back in Kathmandu, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Labour Ministry have assured Nepalis stranded abroad that a repatriation strategy is being planned, but there are no details. Embassies have started collecting data of those who wish to go back from the Gulf and Malaysia. The government has extended the ban on international flights till 31 May.
Nepal lockdown till 18 May, no easing, Nepali Times
Repatriation will be a daunting task. There are 3,500 undocumented Nepali workers who have taken up an amnesty and free repatriation offer from the Kuwait government, and they are waiting in packed makeshift dorms. In the UAE, 10,000 Nepalis who have signed up with the Nepal Embassy in just the past week to return, some of them have lost their jobs, while others have registered because they want to go home. For the Nepal government, prioritising countries from where to repatriate workers first and selecting the ‘most vulnerable’ among them is not going to be easy.
There are also questions about whether the returnees will be quarantined in Kathmandu after they arrive, or in their home municipalities. The 17 stranded drivers in Sharjah, for example, are from 13 different districts in Nepal.
Nepal is already facing a shortage of test kits owing to delays in procurement. Only 67,066 tests have been conducted so far, out of which only 14,096 are through PCR kits. These numbers need to be ramped up to reliably test thousands of returnees. Experience has shown workers may also have to deal with stigmatisation when they get home.
The Philippines had started repatriating 2,000 of its workers daily, but on 3 May it had to cancel pre-scheduled flights for a week after running out of 14 day quarantine space in Manila.
The Philippines has now expanded testing capacity from the current 5,000/day to 30,000/day by end of May, and required all returnees to undergo PCR tests and not the less reliable Rapid Diagnostic Tests. Those who test negative will be released to undergo a mandatory 14-day home-based quarantine.
Nepal relaxing lockdown afterall, Nepali Times
Pakistan has begun repatriating 7,500 citizens a week, but is also constrained by quarantine capacity. There are 100,000 Pakistanis stranded across 88 countries and 15,000 have been repatriated so far. The country is struggling to deal with COVID-19 cases among returnees from the Gulf, especially from the UAE despite allowing only those who test negative to board flights home. Last week, 105 out of the 209 passengers in an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi to Islamabad tested positive for the virus.
India is starting repatriation flights on Thursday for its nationals from 12 countries including, the Gulf, Malaysia and the United States, and is also using naval ships to bring them home. The plan is to bring back up to 2,500 workers a day to 10 airports in India where they will be quarantined for 14 days.
The Foreign Employment Board estimates that over 120,000 workers from the Gulf and Malaysia will need to be repatriated immediately due to job loss, contract completion, because they are part of amnesty programs.
The Nepal government has tried to play down the challenge of bringing back its own workers, saying it is in touch with leaders of destination countries and that basic necessities of workers are being taken care of.
For the time being, the government could redirect a part of its COVID-19 response budget to Nepal’s embassies to address the needs of the stranded migrant workers, and issue clear direction regarding the distribution of cash assistance or support for food and rent as repatriation may take many months.
The government was blamed after videos came out in the media showing Nepali workers stranded in India swimming across the Mahakali to reach home, or of daily wage earners walking home for days from Kathmandu.
New damaging visuals are already circulating in social media of the desperation of thousands of Nepali workers trapped in Gulf and Malaysia, sitting on the sidewalks outside the country’s embassies.
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