Nepal - Qatar: Recruiter licensing

Most overseas migration from Nepal, including to the Gulf, is facilitated by private recruitment agencies. Nepal has a complex and highly centralized licensing operation, and recently introduced measures to improve transparency. Most licensed recruitment agencies are headquartered in Kathmandu - there are only branch offices outside the capital in four of Nepal’s 75 districts. The concentration of agencies in the capital and other major cities, as well as Nepal’s mountainous and rugged terrain, which makes travel difficult, means both licensed agencies and aspiring migrants across Nepal use the services of intermediaries, in the form of individual local ‘agents’, ‘sub-agents’ and ‘brokers’, the vast majority of whom are unlicensed. The government has recently banned agencies from using sub-agents, requiring them to establish branch offices instead, but in practice, these informal, unregistered local actors remain deeply embedded in Nepal’s recruitment processes. These intermediaries are often fundamental to Nepali workers’ decisions to migrate. They often deceive prospective migrant workers over the terms and conditions of employment abroad and negotiate recruitment fee payments. Despite this, many migrants trust unlicensed agents in their communities more than they trust licensed agencies in Kathmandu. Elements of Nepal’s licensing system that prioritise the mobilisation of large numbers of workers for foreign jobs make it difficult for ethical business models of recruitment to thrive.

Qatar’s recruitment agency licensing system covers recruitment for all kinds of work though there are few requirements specified in relation to fair recruitment. The licensing system does not address the specific role of labour supply or “manpower” companies, which - working with partner recruitment agencies - recruit workers, sponsor their visas as employers and subcontract their workforce onto construction and other worksites temporarily to help other companies with short- time labour shortages. Some non-legal standards developed by major parastatal contractors apply more comprehensive authorisation processes than the existing state licensing scheme for recruitment agencies. At the time of writing, there was no publicly available register of recruitment agencies in Qatar where workers and others could verify the legitimacy of agencies and placement offers.

Recommendations to the Government of Nepal:

• Institute an ethical recruitment framework into licensing and regulatory machinery such that prospective or existing recruitment agencies need to demonstrate compliance with ethical recruitment principles, and for this compliance to be verified and audited by an independent third-party; consider the introduction of incentives for agencies who can genuinely demonstrate due diligence, commitment to zero-fee recruitment and a duty of care for migrant workers.
• Introduce legislation to make licensed labour recruiters liable for the actions of any unlicensed partners and intermediaries in Nepal.
• Remove regulations that require agencies to secure jobs for a minimum number of workers each year.
• Make public the reasons for the blacklisting and suspension of recruitment agencies, and on the numbers and outcomes of inspections of each agency.
• Permanently ban from directing, owning or being employed by recruitment agencies any individual found to have offered bribes or other form of illegal benefit to government officials in connection with labour recruitment.

Recommendations to the Government of Qatar:

• Institute, through amendments to Ministerial Decision 18 of 2005, an ethical recruitment framework into licensing and regulatory machinery such that prospective or existing recruitment agencies need to demonstrate compliance with ethical recruitment principles, and for this compliance to be verified and audited by an independent third-party; consider the introduction of incentives for agencies who can genuinely demonstrate due diligence, commitment to zero-fee recruitment and a duty of care for migrant workers.
• Make public the reasons for blacklisting and suspension of recruitment agencies, and on the numbers and outcomes of inspections of each agency. Coordinate pro-actively with country of origin embassies to share information about abusive employers and to ban employers and recruiters (local and overseas) from hiring or recruiting in future if they have been found to have abused migrant workers.
• Consider the introduction of special licensing requirements for “labour supply companies”, given the high risk workers employed by such firms can be exposed to, and their close involvement in the recruitment process.
• Amend the law to hold employers and recruitment agents jointly liable for actions of third party intermediaries, including outside Qatar, in connection to the recruitment of migrant workers.
• Permanently ban from directing, owning or being employed by recruitment agencies any individual found to have offered or accepted bribes, “kickbacks” or other form of illegal benefit in connection with visa allocation and labour recruitment.