Urgent Justice Mechanism Needed for Repatriated Migrant Workers
A Large
Coalition of Civil Society and Global Trade Unions Launch a Call for an Urgent
Justice Mechanism for Repatriated Migrant Workers
On June the 1st, 2020, a
large coalition of civil society organizations and global trade unions launched
a call for an urgent
justice mechanism for migrant workers repatriated as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic.
Globally, the International
Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 195 million jobs will be wiped out as a
result of the pandemic. In the Middle East region alone, an estimated 5 million
jobs will be lost, with many of those jobs held by migrant workers. Since the
start of the pandemic, more than 200,000 migrant workers have been repatriated
to Asian countries of origin from different parts of the world. This number is
expected to rise exponentially over the next few months. Countries like India,
Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines anticipate the eventual return of a large
number of their migrant worker population from abroad.
Without proper controls,
employers might take advantage of mass repatriation programs to terminate and
return workers who have not been paid their due compensation, wages and benefits.
Millions will be repatriated to situations of debt bondage as they will be
forced to pay off recruitment fees and costs, despite returning empty handed.
Without ensuring that
companies and employers are doing their due diligence to protect and fulfill
the human rights and labour rights of repatriated migrant workers, states
across migration corridors become complicit in overseeing procedures where
millions of workers will be returning without their earned wages or workplace
grievances being heard, nor seeing justice in their situation.
“Extraordinary times call
for extraordinary measures,” said William Gois, Regional Coordinator of Migrant
Forum in Asia. “Millions will suffer if this crime goes unnoticed. We cannot
see this as collateral damage brought by the pandemic.”
It should be a priority to
guarantee that all repatriated workers with legitimate claims are able to
access justice and some kind of compensation. The appeal which civil
organizations and trade unions have launched together calls on governments to
urgently establish a transitional justice mechanism to address grievances,
claims and labour disputes of repatriated workers who have lost their jobs as a
result of the pandemic.
Many migrant workers have
reconciled themselves to the situation of wage theft in the form of unfair or
unpaid wages for months and years before the COVID 19 pandemic. They have
accepted it as their fate and refrained from complaining lest they lose their
jobs, or, worse still, live under the fear of their status being made
undocumented.
“The pandemic must not
stifle our will, our spirit and commitment for justice,” Gois said. If we are
to ‘Build Back Better’, we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the issue of
wage theft that has been persistent across migration corridors for years, and
will be unprecedented in the case of repatriated migrant workers in the COVID
19 pandemic.
To access the Appeal please
see: www.mfasia.org/call-for-an-urgent-justice-mechanism-for-repatriated-migrant-workers/
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
William Gois
Regional Coordinator
Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)
mfa@mfasia.org
+63 9209600916
RoulaHamati
Regional Coordinator
Cross Regional Center for
Refugees
and Migrants (CCRM)
rhamati@insanlb.org
+974 50590778
Alonzo Suzon
Regional Program Director
Solidarity Center
asuson@solidaritycenter.org
+94 777870985
LaxmanBasnet
Secretary – General
South Asian Regional Trade
Union Council (SARTUC)
sartuc.kathmanduoffice@gmail.com
+9779851021878
Henry Rojas
Coordinator
Lawyer Beyond Border (LBB)
henryrojas888@yahoo.com
+639178224710
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