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KATHMANDU— Indo-French serial killer Charles Sobhraj is all set to be freed from prison after the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered his release on grounds of his age.

A bench of SC Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Til Prasad Shrestha issued an order to release him and arrange for him to return to his country within 15 days if he does not have to stay in prison in other cases.

The bench said that in the case of Sobraj’s detention, he has served 19 years of imprisonment and as he is 78 years old, he should get the facilities provided by the law.

In 1975, he was found guilty by Kathmandu and Bhaktapur District Courts for the murder of American and Canadian citizens.

Within two days of killing an American citizen in Manahara, Kathmandu, he murdered a Canadian citizen in Sanga of Bhaktapur in the same year.

He has been serving his sentence in Central Jail Sundhara since 2003.

Kathmandu – More than 3,000 Nepalis have lost their lives in foreign lands over the last three years, officials have said. According to ‘Nepal Labour Migration Report 2022’ published by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, 3 thousand 199 Nepali youths lost their lives from 2019/020 till 2021/022.

A total of 3 thousand 115 men and 84 women were among those who lost their lives. Looking at the province wise, Madhes province has the highest number of deaths, 751 people lost their lives in Madhes province. Similarly, 709 people from Province 1, 677 from Lumbini Province, 478 from Gandaki Province, 409 from Bagmati Province, 110 from Karnali Province and 56 from Sudurpaschim Province lost their lives.

Causes of death reported included cardiac arrest, heart attack, natural causes, vehicle accidents, suicide, corona, death at work, etc. In 2021/2022, 207 Nepalis lost their lives abroad due to Corona epidemic.

Similarly, the Ministry claimed that 215 people lost their lives ‘due to natural causes’ and 129 people died due to road accidents. Road accidents and natural deaths are the most common causes of death. Looking at the situation from 2008/09 to 2021/022, it is seen that 10 thousand 666 Nepalis lost their lives in foreign lands. Among them, 10 thousand 411 were men and 255 were women.

Kathmandu, Nepal — Nepal’s president on Sunday called on the country’s political parties to try to form a new government within a week after last month’s inconclusive national election.

The ruling alliance, led by the Nepali Congress party of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, and the main opposition Nepal Communist Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party need the support of smaller groups to form a new government.

Nepal, a country of 30 million people that issqueezed between China and India, has seen 10 government changes since the abolition of its 239-year-old monarchy in 2008.

The political instability has hit economic growth and spooked investors.

The ruling alliance secured 136 seats in the election, two less than the required majority of 138 in the 275-member House of Representatives. The UML and its allies won 92 seats.

A statement from President Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s office said: “Any member of the House of Representatives, who can command the majority with the support of two or more parties” should stake a claim for being appointed as prime minister by 5 p.m. local time on December 25. ( Agencies )

Kathmandu : The Election Commission has presented certificates to the newly-elected lawmakers elected to the House of Representatives (HoR) through the proportional representation (PR) system of election.     

Chief Election Officer of the PR election system and EC secretary Gokarna Mani Duwadi handed the certificates to the lawmakers amid a programme held at the Election Commission today.     

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya congratulated the newly-elected MPs elected through the PR system of election. 

One hundred and ten lawmakers have been elected to the HoR under the PR system of election. The CPN (UML) has the largest number of PR lawmakers in the HoR. It has 34 lawmakers under this category, the Nepali Congress has 32 lawmakers, the CPN (Maoist Centre) 14, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party 13, the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party seven and the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal and the Janamat Party five lawmakers each elected under the PR electoral system. (RSS) 

Dr Ramhari Poudyal and Prerana Poudyal

The World is currently at the climax of the World Cup, which is held every four years. For the first time, a tiny Gulf nation, Qatar, has become its grand host. Football lovers from all over the World have gathered in Qatar. Qatar’s request to host the World Cup 12 years ago was initially considered unviable bymany. There were no stadiums in the country at that time. The desert and intense heat were contrary to hosting a global football tournament. However, we all have been surprised to see how Qatar seizing the opportunity to celebrate the historic world cup in a marvellous way. 

Many arguments, conjectures, and the smell of corruptioncame to FIFA when the Qatar was selected twelve years ago. However, currently, the way Qatar organised the event has surprisingly boosted the country’s reputation surprising. Te World is enjoying Qatar’s hotels, magnificent stadiums, and huge seashores, often don’t realise how this marvellous infrastructure was built. Who was involved with terrible blood and sweat? How many died in accidents? How many died or were killed by the extreme heat, long hours of hard work and working day and night without break and food? This article aims to expose the bitter truth of one of the most gigantic developments within a decade.  

It is estimated that there are approximately 272 million international migrants worldwide, t two-thirds of all labour migrants. The global remittance reached 654.33 billion dollars in 2019 (World Bank 2020; United Nations 2020). In 2019, the top five remittance recipient countries were India ($83.1 billion), China ($68.4 billion), Mexico ($38.5 billion), the Philippines ($35.2 billion), and the Arab Republic of Egypt ($ 26.8 billion) (World Bank 2020). Nepal received $8.75 billion in remittances in the fiscal year 2019/20, 23.23 per cent of the total GDP (Nepal National Bank, 2020).

Labour migration is an integral part of the Nepali economy. The Department of Foreign Employment (DOFE) granted work permits to more than four million Nepali workers from 2009 to 2019. Over the past decade, remittances from abroad have tripled from $2.54 billion to $8.75 billion. Among the 110 destination countries for labour migration, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Malaysia are the top five destination countries.

Qatar has a population of about 3 million, very similar toKathmandu, although 88% of these are foreign nationals. The number of migrant workers is estimated to be two million, which constitutes 95 per cent of Qatar’s labour force. About 1 million people are employed in infrastructure construction, while another 1 million are domestic workers. Many foreign workers, mostly men, come from South Asian countries, including the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. It is this body of migrant workers that have suffered a significant human cost of 2022 World Cup with their lives! – “Migrant workers were indispensable to making the World Cup possible, but it has come at a high price for many migrant workers and their families” Tom Dart writes in the Guardian

Not only did those workers sacrifice their precious lives, but they were also victims of widespread wage fraud, thousands suffered mutilations, and thousands faced unexplained deaths.” (Rothna Begum, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch)

Massive investment in the physical construction

Qatar has become the first Middle Eastern country to host a World Cup final. Qatar has spent 220-300 billion dollars on infrastructure projects. This considerable investment has given us the privilege of conducting the World’s most prominent sports event as a catalyst for nation-building. At $6.5 billion, Qatar built seven new stadiums for the tournament and renovated an eighth. Other construction projects include public transport, major road upgrades, new skyscrapers, hotels, residences, and the new city of Lucelle, which will host the World Cup final.

Intense heat

Five months of the year, the temperature in Qatar exceeds 37 degrees Celsius. Knowing this, the World Cup was moved to the winter season, by FIFA. The decision was made keeping in mind the health status of the players, spectators, and coaches during the extreme heat. However, workers for the project were at risk of accidents, heat-related illnesses, and other diseases due to the physical and mental stress of working long hours in hot weather. Suicide is another concern. Construction workers often live in vulnerable conditions, lacking safety precautions preventing even some preventable accidents. This starkly contrasts with the many grand features and prosperity they have built.

Status of Nepalese

Since 2010 in Qatar, thousands of Nepali workers have died at the construction site of the World Cup. According to local officials, 13,000 Nepalese have gone to Qatar to work on the World Cup construction site. But Qatari companies rarely give any compensation to the victims’ families. Most deaths were due to falls from tall buildings or heart attacks. Human rights groups have questioned working conditions in Qatar, where temperatures often reach 50 degrees Celsius. Although some of the workers have returned home, their health has deteriorated. Despite this, many Nepalese continue to go to the Gulf. Because there are few jobs in country andfollowingthe dream of high wages.. These people suffer the same fate as modern slavery. Every day their dreams turn into death and return home to their families in wooden boxes Nepal is benefiting from  the remittances, the state is unaware of their untimely death. Employment agencies are complicit in the sad and fraudulent exploitation of workers. Ironically, the Qatari government responds aggressively when the government speaks up for the workers also worrying that the employment agency will be forced out of business. 

Cause of death of young workers

The ILO report (2020)questioned the reliability of the death certificates issued and how “heart attack” or “natural causes” were considered high. Considering the relatively young age of Nepalese migrant workers and the mandatory medical examination before coming to Qatar, the cause of death appears to be the same for all; the report calls for more research and more accuracy in identifying the cause. It is the most extensive basis for workers’ families to receive fair work-related compensation. 

The research conducted 48% of severe occupational accidents were caused by falls, 28% by road accidents, 17% by falling construction materials at the workplace, and 7% by falling into machinery. National origins were Bangladesh 26.5%, India 19.6% and Nepal 18%. There were 60 deaths of young workers by such accidents occurred in July and 28 in March 2020

Human rights

After human rights groups raised the alarm about hundreds of workers being forced to overwork in scorching heat for little or no pay, the Qatari government barely listened to this argument. Workers were frequently forced to surrender their passports to employers and faced abuse, fraud and violence at the hands of employers. While the nationals of these countries continue to suffer such exploitation, none of the labour-sending countries in South Asia has publicly condemned Qatar or demanded accountability in bilateral or multilateral forums.

Increasing suicide

The increasing suicide rate of Nepali workers in Qatar is another significant exploitation.. The past decade has seen an alarming number of suicides. About 200 Nepalese migrant workers have committed suicide in Qatar. Hundreds of return coffins are classified as “natural deaths”, and no autopsies are performed. Those who die this way are healthy aged 20-45 who go to the Gulf countries only after having passed a medical test. What kind of psycho-social impact has there been on their dependent children and wives of the migrant workers when they stay away from their family and country for years? This is another topic of research.

The study of Dr Yagyamurthy Bhurtyal, who has a PhD from Sheffield University in the UK, has revealed their miserable condition in his PhD thesis. Similarly, Professor Dr Priyambada Paudyal’s Impact of Migration on the Health and Well-Being of Separated Families: A Systematic Review has been published in an international journal. 

Finally,

Thus, the government should take immediate action to protect the wellbeing of their workers starting firstly with an in-depth fair investigation into accidents and deaths during the development of the World Cup stadiums. In addition, such incidents could have been reduced if the workers were given basic training on traffic rules, safety, and skill training before sending them to the gulf countries. Without these changes, the government is undoubtably subjecting millions of migrants who risk their lives abroad to be destined to return to their respective home countries in a wooden box.

London — The technical-level discussion regarding the Gurkha issues was held at the British Ministry of Defense on Thursday.

The discussions were held between representatives of the Nepali Embassy in London, and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense (MoD). Representatives of ex-Gurkhas also took part.

The welfare issues such as medical treatment, education, employment and other welfare issues of ex-Gurkhas were discussed in the morning session of the meeting. In the afternoon session, pension related issues remaining in the previous phase were discussed in detail.

Regarding demands raised by the Nepali side in the meeting, MoD officials said that they are ready for further discussions in the coming days. It has been agreed that date of the upcoming meeting will be communicated soon through the government mechanism.

On behalf of the Government of Nepal, Military Attaché of Nepalese Embassy in London, Colonel Ratna Bahadur Godar and Second Secretary Rambabu Nepal participated in the discussion, while on behalf of the former Gurkhas, Major (A.P.) Jud Bahadur Gurung, Major (A.P.) Tikendra Dal Dewan, Major (A.P.) .) Uday Bahadur Gurung, Kesh Bahadur Gurung and Dharma Bahadur Tamang took part.

Likewise, on behalf of the British government, various officials from the British Ministry of Defense and its subordinate agencies participated.

Gurkha veterans have been demanding that those who retired before 1997 be awarded equal pension and benefits vis a vis their British comrades, but British officials said taking any ‘retrospective’ decision would set up a bad precedent. They, however, want to focus discussions on the welfare of Gurkha veterans who are now living in the UK and Nepal.

KATHMANDU — A China-funded project to supply Nepal’s remote areas with sanitation materials and daily necessities was inaugurated Friday in Lalitpur, a city in the Kathmandu Valley.

The project shall be funded through the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund of China and is the second in Nepal funded by the Chinese government through the cooperation fund after the food package distribution program under the Smiling Children Project.

The new project will provide supplies for sanitation, pandemic prevention and environmental protection as well as daily necessities for schools and communities in remote areas of Nepal.

The inauguration ceremony was held jointly by the China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD) Nepal Office and the Nepal Country Office of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Addressing the ceremony, Xie Yu, economic and commercial counsellor of the Chinese embassy in Nepal, voiced his hope that the project can cover those truly in need and make the students in 25 schools in Nepal’s remote areas feel the care and love of the Chinese people and help lift them from the impact of the pandemic.

Xie called the new project part of the efforts to help Nepal achieve the UN sustainable development goals as early as possible.

“Our role is to bring the partners together, and we started to discuss how we can work together,” Vijaya Singh, assistant resident representative of UNDP Nepal, said at the ceremony.

In the past seven years since its entry into Nepal, the CFRD Nepal Office, greatly involved in the drive toward the sustainable development goals, has implemented 15 projects in 57 of 77 districts in Nepal, benefiting more than 550,000 local people. (Xinhua)

(New York) – The policies of the Kathmandu Municipal Government toward street vendors, landless people, and begging are threatening the human rights of thousands of city residents, Human Rights Watch said today. They include the rights to work, to housing, and to an adequate standard of living.

Recent campaigns by the city administration under Mayor Balendra Shah, who was elected in May 2022, have used the municipal police to mistreat the urban poor, including from vulnerable Dalit and Indigenous communities, without measures to provide alternative livelihoods or housing.

“Being poor is not a crime, and taking a punitive approach to street vendors and landless people violates their rights,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities have a responsibility to promote livelihoods and ensure suitable housing for everyone, but instead are driving people to destitution by failing to offer safe working conditions and proper resettlement opportunities.”

According to 2018 figures from Nepal’s Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal has over 34,000 “street businesses,” which provide income to over 45,000 people, many of them living in poverty in the capital, Kathmandu. Since July, the city authorities have deployed municipal police officers to seize their property, placing them at risk of destitution. The city is also home to thousands of landless people who built homes over the years at the side of the Bagmati river, which the authorities intend to demolish without providing other places to live.

In November, Kathmandu municipality announced plans to bulldoze an illegal settlement on the north bank of the Bagmati river, which has been occupied by landless people for over a decade, leading to clashes between residents and the police on November 28.

The authorities claim the evictions are necessary to enforce the rule of law, removing structures that encroach on public land. However, according to the National Land Commission, a statutory body, the city government has failed to provide an alternative place to live. Under international human rights law, everyone has the right to the opportunity to work and to an adequate standard of living, including food, clothing, and shelter.

On December 2, the National Land Commission called on local governments – including that of Kathmandu – to prevent action which may make landless squatters unsafe until it has completed a process of registering them and making alternative provisions. Attempts by authorities in the past to remove the settlement by the Bagmati in Kathmandu caused hardship to residents, who continued to live there even after their homes were destroyed.
In July, the Kathmandu authorities began a campaignagainst street vendors, accusing them of blocking sidewalks and obstructing pedestrian pathways. The campaign did not include provisions for alternative income and livelihoods for these vendors. Numerous videos on social media show officials chasing street vendors and confiscating their wares, which vendors have said are not returned to them, causing economic hardship. For those who are unable to find regular employment, selling goods on the street is a last resort, enabling the vendors to provide for their families.

A large number of women who have no alternative source of income support themselves and their children by working in the sector. Children also sell items on the streets and in public squares to support themselves and their families. Most people, including most families with young children, do not have access to social protection programs that would help them meet their daily needs.

A 14-year-old girl who sells balloons in a public place to help pay for her and her brother’s education told Human Rights Watch in July that the police frequently chase her, causing her balloons to burst and her family to lose money, and that they have fallen behind with school fees. Vendors have accused officials of soliciting bribes and mistreating children during these raids. The vendors, who have organized a trade-union-affiliated protest movement to defend their industry, say they would support municipal efforts to improve the city’s streets, but that suitable alternative places should be provided where they can trade.

Previous attempts by the authorities to discourage street selling have caused distress to vendors but failed to effect lasting change.

In another draconian policy, the city government announced in July that beggars would be removed from the streets, and placed in a homeless shelter, where there were allegations of abuse in 2019.

All levels of government, including federal, provincial, and municipal authorities, have a duty to support and provide for all residents, protecting their human rights, Human Rights Watch said. To help protect children from poverty and child labor, Nepal should follow through on plans to expand the Child Grant program, which makes social protection payments to families with young children but is not currently available nationwide. The Kathmandu municipality should recognize and incorporate street vendors’ livelihood activities in its urban planning and management.

According to government statistics, half of all businesses in the country are in the informal sector, and they employ 74 per cent of workers. People working in the informal sector, and living in urban poverty, require policies that address their needs, support their rights, and uphold their dignity.

“These are challenging issues faced by many cities around the world, which cannot be solved with abusive crackdowns,” Ganguly said. “Time and again the Kathmandu authorities have caused misery to people who have the least with harsh campaigns that do not address the underlying issues.”

Kathmandu, Dec 15: The Government of Japan has decorated Nepali Congress (NC) senior leader and former Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Ram Chandra Poudel with the ‘Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun’.

Japanese Ambassador to Nepal Kikuta Yutaka handed over the decoration, which was announced on 29 April 2020, to leader Poudel amidst a special function in Kathmandu on Thursday.

“Poudel received the decoration on April 29, 2020, in recognition of his contributions towards strengthening the relationship between Japan and Nepal and promoting the interchange of members of parliaments of both countries. Due to Covid-19 pandemic, the ceremony was unfortunately postponed, but has successfully completed today,” the Embassy of Japan stated by issuing a press statement.

The decoration being provided to the world’s outstanding personalities was announced for NC senior leader Poudel and founder of Microsoft Bill Gates.

Poudel contributed to the activation of contacts between parliamentarians of the two countries and established the Japan-Nepal Friendship Parliamentarian League in 1999 when he was the Speaker. He was the first Chairman of the League from the beginning until 2017.

The Embassy said that Poudel also actively involved in the promotion of bilateral relations by receiving many VIPs from Japan such as Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko, Prime Minister MORI Yoshiro, State Minister for Foreign Affairs KIUCHI Minoru, and others.

“Japanese Decorations are conferred upon foreigners twice a year, on 29th April and 3rd November, concurrently with the conferment of decorations and medals to Japanese nationals. The Order of the Rising Sun is bestowed upon individuals of merit, in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the nation or public. This is also conferred upon foreign nationals who have made notable contributions to the promotion of relations between Japan and other countries in areas such as politics and diplomacy, research and education, medicine and social welfare, economy and industry, and culture and sports,” according to the statement.

After receiving the decoration, senior leader Poudel expressed gratitude towards the Emperor of Japan, Japanese government and citizens of Japan and expressed the confidence that this move will further deepen our bilateral relations in future. Saying that Japan has been supporting for Nepal’s development efforts, agriculture, disaster management, technology, strengthening of democracy and other sectors, Poudel hoped for continued support in the days to come.

Also speaking at the event, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki thanked the government of Japan for decorating senior leader Poudel and said that this would contribute to deepen Nepal-Japan relations further in future.

Likewise, Minister Karki expressed gratitude to the government of Japan for providing continuous support to Nepal’s social, economic and infrastructure development.

Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu, NC leader, MPs, former ministers, and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.(RSS)

Around 400,000 Nepalis currently working in Qatar 

‘There is a huge danger that when the final whistle is blown on the World Cup, the contribution and sacrifice of so many migrant workers will be forgotten’ – Nirajan Thapaliya

More than three dozen Nepali civil society organisations have today published an open letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino calling on him to “stop looking the other way” while migrant workers are denied compensation after having suffered human rights abuses in Qatar in the years leading up to the World Cup.  

The organisations have also displayed messages on billboards across Kathmandu, including at Tribhuvan International Airport where workers from Qatar often return without their wages and where the bodies of migrant workers who have died overseas are regularly repatriated. The billboards include the slogans “Meet The Hardest Working Team In Qatar” and “What’s A World Cup Without Fair Play?”

The civil society organisations’ letter highlights how migrant workers are unable to access a compensation fund set up by Qatar in 2018 to reimburse stolen wages if they’ve already returned to Nepal, and also how bereaved families are unable to receive compensation if the causes of their loved ones’ deaths are not investigated. 

Som Prasad Lamichhane, Executive Director of the Pravasi Nepali Coordination Committee, which helped organise the letter, said: 

“We have come together to call on Gianni Infantino to make good on FIFA’s promises to respect workers’ rights and agree to compensate workers who have suffered abuses and families who have lost loved ones. We know the real human costs of the abuses faced by so many workers in Qatar. Families have spiralled into poverty, children have been taken out of school, and workers forced to migrate again to pay off debts. FIFA cannot be blind to this reality and must act to make things right.”

Around 400,000 workers from Nepal are employed across a range of sectors in Qatar and have played a huge part in building the vast infrastructure projects required to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Nepali workers typically have little choice but to pay illegal recruitment fees of more than US$1,000 to secure their jobs, and human rights organisations have regularly documented cases of forced labour and unpaid wages, including at sites linked to the World Cup. 

Workers have also lost their lives due to dangerous working conditions, and their deaths have rarely been investigated. A peer-reviewed study found that the deaths of at least 200 Nepali construction workers could have been prevented between 2009 and 2017 with adequate protection from extreme heat. In recent years, Qatar has introduced a number of reforms to strengthen labour laws and opened a new visa centre in Nepal aiming to reduce abuses. However, despite some progress abuses persist on a significant scale. 

Nirajan Thapaliya, Amnesty International Nepal’s Director, said:

“There is a huge danger that when the final whistle is blown on the World Cup, the contribution and sacrifice of so many migrant workers will be forgotten, and their claims for justice and compensation ignored.

“If FIFA wants to show respect towards the people who made this tournament possible, Gianni Infantino should finally agree to ensure workers and their families are compensated. Their claims must not be dismissed any longer.”

Campaign for remediation programme

Since May, a global coalition of human rights organisations, trade unions and fans groups has called on FIFA and Qatar to set up a remediation programme that would compensate workers and invest in programmes to prevent future abuses. The call has been supported by 12 football associations and four FIFA sponsors, with opinion polls showing strong support among the wider public in 15 countries. 

However, FIFA has refused to compensate workers for labour abuses related to the Qatar World Cup. Despite FIFA officials having previously said they were working on a plan to ensure workers were compensated, on the eve of the tournament Infantino merely said that anyone who had suffered abuses should “contact the relevant authorities to seek due recompense” from Qatar’s existing compensation fund. However, this mechanism remains inaccessible to those who have already left the country, caps the amount that can be paid to each worker, and will not support families of workers whose deaths may have been wrongly attributed to “natural causes” because investigations were not carried out.

On Monday, a coalition of international human rights organisations criticised FIFA for “misleading the world” on workers’ compensation. The coalition has called on Infantino to use a newly-announced “legacy fund” to compensate workers and establish an independent migrant workers’ centre, as requested by trade unions such as Building and Wood Workers’ International. The size of the proposed fund is not yet known and is currently intended to support educational projects and a planned “labour excellence hub”.