Kamal Thapa exaggerates Nepali migrant worker death numbers

Sujit Mainali / April 25, 2017

                                                                                                                                                                                                 Graphic: Bikram Rai

Deputy Prime Minister and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Kamal Thapa while addressing a function in Bhatatpur of Chitwan district on April 19 said the following:

“Every day, around 4-5 bodies [of Nepali migrant workers] arrive home in coffins” 

South Asia Check has examined whether this statement is fact-based or not.

According to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), 1004 Nepali migrant workers died in different countries in the fiscal year 2014/15. This means the daily average death rate is less than three.

Malaysia recorded the highest number of Nepali migrant worker deaths followed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait. Although the number of Nepali migrant workers in Lebanon is comparatively less (6993 in 2014/15), their death rate is highest. After Lebanon, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia etc respectively have higher death rate of Nepali migrant workers.

Therefore, Deputy Prime Minister Thapa’s claim that 4-5 Nepali migrant workers die every day is an exaggeration.

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