Migranter eller kontraktarbejdere som vandrer fra et sted til sted i søgen efter arbejde bør beskyttes. Netop nu mødes flere asiatiske lande, for at drøfte mulighederne for dette, skriver bl.a. Human Rights Watch tirsdag.
(Dhaka) – Ministers from Asian labor-sending countries meeting in Dhaka this week should together endorse protections for migrant workers, Human Rights Watch, Migrant Forum in Asia, and CARAM Asia said in a briefing paper released today. They should give priority to protecting migrant domestic workers, who are at especially high risk of abuse, and to ending recruitment-related exploitation, the organizations said.
On April 19 to 21, 2011, Bangladesh will host the fourth round of the “Colombo Process,” a series of regional consultative meetings on Asian contractual migrant workers. Under the theme “Migration with Dignity,” delegates from 11 Asian countries that send large numbers of workers abroad will discuss strategies to improve coordination, optimize benefits from migration, and prevent abuses at home and abroad. Several labor-receiving countries from Asia and the Middle East will attend as observers.
“Abuses against migrants are often linked to gaps in information, poor coordination, and competition for jobs, so it’s a big deal for these governments to sit around the table and address these problems together,” said Nisha Varia, senior women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Dhaka meeting is also a chance to share information about successful reforms with other countries in the region.”
Some 3 million Asian men and women migrate each year, a large proportion working in domestic service, construction, manufacturing, and agriculture in other Asian countries and the Gulf states. Migrant workers play a key economic role – they fill labor demands in host countries and in 2010, Asian migrants sent home an estimated US$175 billion in remittances. Gulf countries in particular rely heavily on Asian contract labor; for example, there is approximately one migrant domestic worker for every two Kuwaiti citizens. Migrants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have fueled construction booms in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
But inadequate protections mean migrants also risk an array of abuses, the groups said, including recruitment-related deception and debts, unpaid wages, hazardous working conditions, physical and sexual abuse, and forced labor, including human trafficking. Unlicensed recruiters often operate with impunity, migrants have limited information about their rights and channels to seek help, and immigration policies can trap workers with abusive employers.
“When high, and often inflated, recruitment fees leave migrants heavily indebted, they are especially vulnerable to abuse,” said Dr. Chowdhury Abrar, chairman of the international relations department at the University of Dhaka. “Cracking down on excessive fees and unethical recruitment practices will be a key ingredient to any reform.”
