“Be Safe Out There, We’ll Show You How” Nepal Government Tells Their Millions of Migrant Workers

Approximately 1,000 out of around 4 million Nepali migrants die abroad each year, and the government is taking steps to significantly reduce that number: now, Nepalis will need mandatory safety training before migrating for work.

The migrant deaths are most common in the Middle East and Asia – mainly in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Malaysia – where many Nepalis work as domestics and in construction. A quarter of the nation’s GDP comes from migrant payments, so although the government wants young Nepalis to travel abroad for work, they are also desperate to ensure their citizens are keeping safe.  

“The government is very much concerned about the rate of deaths of its migrant workers and is serious about reducing this,” says Suman Ghimire, a spokesman for the labour ministry, to the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We are making orientation on how to safely work and live abroad – (like) basic occupational health and safety tips, … job specific training, insurance and communication skills – compulsory before the migrants leave.”

Ghimire adds that the migrant deaths are most often due to workplace hazards, from machinery, to traffic accidents, to heat.