Part II NHRIs in action CASE STUDY Nepal’s National Human Rights Action Plan211 notes that the “trend of seeking employment outside the country has been increasing”,212 with 230,000 Nepalese leaving the country to find work in overseas labour markets in the five-year period before the plan was prepared. “However, many people who work abroad face unsafe labour conditions,” it states. One of the priority goals of the plan is to “help labourers working abroad to achieve and enjoy international labour rights” by addressing the following issues of concern: • lack of information and awareness regarding foreign employment • lack of government mechanisms to control and regularize foreign employment • inadequate monitoring and care of labourers migrating for work • exploitation of labourers working abroad • absence of procedures for supervising migrant labourers to work in the agriculture and industrial sector. The National Human Rights Action Plan states that the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal “will play the key role in the independent monitoring of the implementation of the NHRAP”.213 KEY POINTS: CHAPTER 6 • NHRIs can promote the ratification of relevant international human rights standards, especially the International Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. • NHRIs can make recommendations to the Government to bolster legislative protections for migrant workers that meet international standards, as well as propose practical reforms to migration, labour and social policies and programmes. • NHRIs should seek to work cooperatively with a broad range of stakeholders – including government departments, employers, private recruitment agencies, trade unions, NGOs and NHRIs in other countries – to develop and promote good practice models for working with migrant workers. • NHRIs should ensure that migrant workers are able to genuinely contribute to the development of laws, policies and practices that affect them. • NHRIs should ensure that practical steps to promote and protect the rights of migrant workers are included in their country’s National Human Rights Plan of Action. 211 212 213 211 National Human Rights Action Plan, Government of Nepal; April 2004. An index of national human rights plans of action is available at: www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/plan_actions/index.htm. 212 National Human Rights Action Plan, Government of Nepal; April 2004; see Part 2, Chapter 2 (2.2.10), ‘Labour and Employment’. 213 Ibid; Part 3, Chapter 2 (3.2.3), “Role of the National Human Rights Commission”. Chapter 6: Promoting reform of law, policy and practice | 83