Express Editorial: Weaving a safety net

25 Oct 2022 Express Editorial: Weaving a safety net

Source: The Indian Express

News: Reports published in Indian Express raises issues of labour violations and exploitation of Indian workers in the Gulf countries.

Migrant issues in Gulf countries:

• Violation of labour rights in destination countries, especially in Gulf countries.
• Vulnerabilities of low-skill migrant workers doing jobs at Dubai Expo, the construction of stadiums for the Qatar world cup and the Covid pandemic.
• Lack of access to healthcare services and the absence of health service firewalls for undocumented migrants in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries created panic during Covid-19.  
• Issue of wage theft in the GCC-South Asia region: Return Migration Survey conducted among 2,000 Vande Bharat returnees revealed the extent of job loss, non-payment of wages, reduction in wages, contract violations and intimidation of workers.
• Concerns over the rights violations and deaths of migrant workers during construction of  stadiums for the football World Cup in Qatar. 
• GCC countries’s aim to reform the Kafala system is merely symbolic as these countries simultaneously started implementing nationalisation policies, which may  lead to forceful job termination. 
• Country of origin reacts to large-scale violation of labour rights only when an issue is reported.
• Little impact on existing MoUs with GCC countries on domestic workers’ recruitment and prevention of irregular recruitment.
• Governments failed to develop a collective conscience on global labour mobility.
• Lethargy of Indian government towards migrant welfare: Indian government’s migrant welfare efforts are limited only to  “repatriation exercises” during the crisis.

Initiatives to address migrant issues:

• “Madad” portal by the government that can be used by migrant workers from the country to file their grievances. Madad portal resolves around 95 percent of the registered grievances.
• Abu Dhabi Dialogue process for cooperation between Asian countries that are the origin of and destination for labour.

Way forward:

• Joint efforts by civil society, trade unions, recruitment agents and governments to prevent  large-scale violation of labour rights.
• India as a key player in the South Asia-GCC migration corridor should serve as a role model for South Asia to address grievances of migrant workers.
• Pass draft Emigration Bill of 2021 (originally drafted in 2019)  as soon as possible to address issues of low -skilled migrant workers.
• Joint effort between countries of destination and origin to address the migrants issues  in situations like the pandemic and migrant deaths.
• Build regional alliances in the South Asia-GCC corridor to address the issues faced by  South Asian migrants.
• Abolish Kafala and other anti-labour laws of Gulf countries to make the GCC region as migrant-labour friendly.

sharad