Nepal asks Israel to resume hiring caregivers

PRABHAKAR GHIMIRE

KATHMANDU, Sept 5: The government is mulling various options to make the recruitment process of Nepali caregivers in Israel transparent after Israel stopped issuing visas to aspirant caregivers three years ago objecting to exorbitant commissions charged by Nepali manpower agencies. Talking to Republica on Monday, a top government source said senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) are discussing four options - involving the government in the recruitment process as practiced under the Employment Permit System (EPS) by South Korea, increasing the existing recruitment charge by manpower agents, verifying the recruitment documents through coordination between the embassies of both the countries, or interviewing the job aspirants before the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) gives employment permission to Israel - to ensure that the workers have not been overcharged by their manpower agents. Though the government has fixed the charge at Rs 75,000 per job-seeker (excluding air ticket), manpower agents have been found charging up to Rs 500,000. Minister for Labor and Employment Kumar Belbase invited Israeli ambassador to Nepal Hanan Goder-Goldberger to the ministry on Monday to seek Israel´s cooperation for restarting the recruitment of caregivers. "We urged Israeli envoy to resume issue of visas for Nepali caregivers. We will monitor the Nepali recruitment agencies and we are ready to establish a transparent system for selecting workers. We have also expected Israel´s cooperation in controlling exorbitant commissions being charged by Israeli local brokers," Minister Belbase told Republica after the meeting. Nepali recruitment agencies say the charge for sending Nepali workers increases due to high charges levied by the Israeli brokers. A total of 151 Nepali agencies are involved in sending workers to Israel. During the meeting Israeli ambassador Goldberger asked Nepal government to end the practice of ´under the table´ dealings between jobs seekers and manpower agencies. "Israeli envoy has expressed serious concerns over the practice of under the table agreement between recruitment agencies and job aspirants, which is the main reason for higher cost. He also said the Israel government would work to prevent Israeli recruitment agents from levying higher charges on Nepali recruitment agents," said Belbase. On the occasion Minister Belbase had stressed the need for establishing strong mechanism to end irregularities by ensuring transparency in the recruitment process. Currently, some 8,000 Nepalis are working as caregivers or farm workers in Israel, the most lucrative job market for Nepali women workers. At the meeting, the Israeli envoy had informed to Nepali officials that around 100 Nepali caregivers reached Israel during the fiscal year 2011/12. However, DoFE´s data shows that only eight Nepalis flew to Israel to work as caregivers during the year.
Published on 2012-09-05 03:30:20