Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Protection of migrant workers key

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that protection of the most vulnerable, including the migrant workers and those in informal sectors, and provision of adequate social security and health care is key to minimise the impact of Covid-19.
Prime Minister oli – addressing virtual ‘Global Summit on Covid-19 and the World of Work: Building a Better Future of Work’ convened by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) today, he also said that the world economy has suffered a lot due to global decline in investment, trade and disruption in travel industry, which has thrown millions of workers and enterprise vulnerable. “The impact is unevenly high in the LDCs and low-income countries,” he said.
Expressing support to the human-centred agenda of decent work, he called for robust global response to the pandemic with United Nations (UN) and its specialised agencies like ILO at the centre.
Highlighting that the migrant workers are losing hopes and returning home in the midst of pandemic without protection of job and income, Prime Minister Oli said that this situation could have been avoided and norms of WHO should have been observed in the process.
“Humanity is tested in the time of crisis; our conscience should guide us to uphold justice and fairness even in the time of extreme difficulty,” he said, adding that international solidarity at this hour could prevent the job loss, return of migrant workers and reversal in the progress of SDG and resulting rise of poverty.
The Prime Minister underlined the efforts made by Nepal to the prevention and mitigation of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic. Highlighting the immediate and medium-term measures taken to the protection of workers in the formal and informal sectors and creation of sustainable employment opportunities, he expressed commitment to partnership and social dialogue at the national level and called for greater solidarity to address the situation globally.
The Global summit has brought together over 50 heads of the State and Government, prominent leaders of employers organisations and trade unions as well as heads of international organisations to discuss on the impact of Covid-19 in the employment and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of workers around the world.

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