Category: Destination Country

Destination Country Migrant Labor Qatar

Qatar’s Struggle to Reform Labor Laws

On March 22, the International Labor Organization (ILO) moved to give Qatar until November to reform its laws governing migrant labor. This builds on an ongoing investigation following a complaint lodged with the ILO in 2016 that workers are drawn into “forced labor.” The ILO will determine if Qatar’s labor laws contravene the forced labor […]

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Destination Country Jordan Migrant Labor

Photo Essay: Migrant Workers in Jordan’s Garment Industry

South Asian migrant workers in a garment factory in Jordan. Photo by Sabrina Toppa.

Over the past twenty years, Jordan has emerged as a critical node in the global apparel supply chain, which in Jordan employs more than 60,000 workers. Almost 70 percent of the kingdom’s garment employees are female foreign workers from South Asian countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Yet while the kingdom offers comparatively favorable […]

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Malaysia Migrant Labor Nepal

The Cycle of Migration

FOLLOWING FATHER: After his father Man Bahadur Limbu returned from Malaysia, 20-year-old Prakash Limbu went to work as a migrant worker.

Man Bahadur Limbu went to Malaysia in 2002, hoping to escape poverty and war. He worked in a factory for four years and was allowed to visit his family only once, in 2004. He endured the burden of a loan, inhuman working conditions and separation from family. Man Bahadur, a fifth-grade dropout, ploughed his savings […]

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Migrant Labor Oman Pakistan Qatar Saudi Arabia

Migrant Workers in the Gulf Feel Pinch of Falling Oil Prices

A labour camp in Dubai. Workers are allocated sleeping quarters based on nationality, and the number of occupants may be as high as eight per room. Credit: S. Irfan Ahmed/IPS

In the Al Quoz industrial area of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a number of medium and large-sized buses can be spotted transporting workers clad in company uniforms to distant worksites early in the morning. In the evening or, in certain cases, late at night, these workers are brought back to labour camps […]

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India Jordan Migrant Labor

Great migrant hope

Indian migrant labourers in Jordon and other West Asian countries have little to hope for unless there is considerable labour reform. For millions of Indians who travel to the Gulf and other West Asian countries for work, the kafala (sponsor) system is a known devil. As per the system, which operates right across the region, […]

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