SC issues show cause order on death of migrant workers

Kathmandu, 7 March - The Supreme Court of Nepal on Tuesday issued a show-cause order in the name of the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) and other concerned ministries including Department of Foreign Employment and Foreign Employment Promotion Board regarding the alarming death of Nepali migrant workers abroad.

Responding to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), a single bench of Justice Deepak Raj Joshi issued the order seeking reason behind the lack of proper policy to repatriate the dead body irrespective of legal status.

The order requires the government to furnish a reply about lack of necessary arrangement in the international airport such as a proper facility for handling the body, waiting area for the family and other logistic arrangements including the lack of postmortem requirement of the dead body (if required at Nepal).

On December 27, Law and Policy Forum for Social Justice (LAPSOJ) and Pourakhi Nepal had registered the PIL at the apex court to identify the cause of death of migrant workers and reform the orientation training and pre-departure health check up to reduce the number of death of migrant workers abroad (as most of the death in recent times are considered as preventable deaths).

Advocates Hari Phuyal, Milan Rai, Kedar Dahal, Barun Ghimire and Anurag Devkota argued before the Supreme Court in Tuesday's preliminary hearing.