Kathmandu withdraws ban on work permits in Afghanistan
Permits withdrawn following an attack in Kabul, in which 13 Nepalese died. The workers can only be employed in diplomatic missions or international companies. The ban remains in force for war zones. The migrants send money home contributing to 30% of the national GDP.
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - The Kathmandu authorities have decided to withdraw the ban on work permits for its citizens employed in Afghanistan, imposed following an attack this year in Kabul in which 13 Nepalese security guards were killed. A Labour Ministry spokesman has assured strict controls before granting the workers the new permits.
The spokesman Govinda Mani Bhurtel ensured that the Nepalese workers will have adequate security measures. "We will allow our compatriots - he said - to go to work in Afghanistan only for foreign missions and international companies located inside the Green Zone, which is considered safe."
The ban on the movement of Nepalese workers was imposed last June, after a suicide attack on a bus carrying the security agents, employees in the Canadian Embassy.
Nepal had already banned ordinary visas in Afghanistan, except those working for UN agencies and diplomatic missions. the permits are still prohibited for war zones such as Iraq, Syria and Libya.
According to the Nepalese Foreign Ministry, there were 5,292 people living in Afghanistan with regular use permits. In general, almost 4 million people (out of a total of about 28 million people) are employed abroad, especially in the Middle Eastern countries, South Korea and Malaysia as private security guards, construction workers and domestic servants.
According to the latest data, remittances that workers are able to send to families back home amount to about 30% of the national GDP. In a country marked by the tragedy of the earthquake, which in April 2015 left more than 9 thousand dead and which is still struggling to recover, a family member abroad often guarantees the survival of the whole family.
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14/06/2017 09:03
