Kathmandu, Nepal ma prawasi majdur sanrachan mahasandhi hastacher garna awashek. The International Migrants Day has been celebrated in Nepal on Thursday, December 18, 2014, the day when the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families was endorsed by the UN in 1990. Nepal celebrated this day with the slogan “Necessity for safe migration: Commitment from all of us”. According to International Labour Organization, the number of international migrants in the world is 2.32 billion, of which 25 percent live in the Asia-Pacific region. Even within the Asia-Pacific region, South Asia occupies a large chunk of the migrants. In Nepal, migration has become a pillar of national economy. As per the government data, the number of Nepalis who went abroad for foreign employment until Kartik, 2071 BS has reached 3.497 million. Of them, 3.3 million is male and the remaining is female. A large number of Nepalis have also gone abroad for tourism, trade and further studies. Every day, more than 1,500 Nepali youths fly for foreign employment abroad and this trend is going up. This figure is legal and the number of unregistered migrant workers, who go to foreign countries via India, is also significant. In Fiscal Year 2070/71 BS, the remittance received by Nepal was Rs 596 billion, which is almost equal to Nepal’s annual budget. In 1996, 42 percent Nepalis used to live below poverty line. In 2004, it was reduced to 31.4 percent. In 2013, this figure has further reduced to 23.8 percent. In the mean time, remittance has reached to 58 percent households of Nepal. However, the failure to utilize remittance in productive sector has contributed less to the national economy. A World Bank report says 80 percent of remittance is spent on daily commodities and entertainment and only 3 percent of the remittance is invested to build capital. Most of the agriculture sector labour force has landed in foreign countries. As a result, agricultural production has decreased and Nepal has been importing food now. Nepal last year imported food items worth Rs 12 billion from India and other countries. Despite migrant workers’ contribution to lower unemployment and poverty, the situation of most of them is pathetic. In spite of reaping benefit of remittance, Nepal has not so far endorsed the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. As of 2014 end, 47 countries have ratified this UN Convention. Most of them are countries of the origin of migrant workers. However, most of the destination countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Malaysia have not endorsed this Convention. As Nepal is harvesting more benefits than losses, it is the country’s obligation to ratify the Convention at the earliest and work towards protecting human rights of the poor Nepali migrant workers, on the money of which, Nepal has set up the backbone of its economy.