All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and former MP Dr Rama Chandra Khuntia attended the SAARC Inter-Parliamentary Meeting held in Nepal on December 10 and 11.
The meeting, organised by the Migrant Asia Forum and Solidarity Centre, was attended by 25 MPs, MlAs, ex-MPs and journalists from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Shri lanka. The meeting aimed at raising awareness and protecting the rights of migrant workers.
The participants opined that though the South Asian Countries at the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu in 2014 recognised the migrant workers issues as an area of cooperation but no specific action has been taken yet. The Parliamentarians decided to establish a South Asian Inter-Parliamentary caucus on labour migration. They resolved to work together to ensure upholding of migrant workers’ rights.
They decided to exercise oversight functions to monitor respective Governments’ actions regarding protection of migrant workers, urge the Governments to ratify core IlO conventions on migrant workers, etc.