Category: Migrant Labor

Migrant Labor Nepal Qatar

Greens from Nepal in Qatar’s desert

Nepal is not just exporting manpower to Qatar now, but also veggies There is something inherently elitist about labels like ‘expat’ and ‘diaspora’. They refer to skilled Nepalis studying, working or living abroad and not to the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers when, in fact, both are just individuals moving out for better opportunities. […]

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Migrant Labor

Quarter of a Million Rohingya Face a Choice: Saudi Jail or a Massacre in Myanmar

Hanif Hasan is a 25-year-old Rohingya Muslim living in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He has been unemployed for two years and hasn’t left home for a month, fearing arrest. “It’s hard even to breathe here,” Hasan says. “Every moment feels like it might be the last.” On November 15, the Saudi Interior Ministry launched a plan to supervise […]

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Bangladesh Migrant Labor UAE

Will Migrant Domestic Workers in the Gulf Ever Be Safe From Abuse

JAHANARA* HAD HAD enough. For a year, the Bangladeshi cook had been working 12 to 16 hours a day, eating only leftovers and sleeping on the kitchen floor of her employer’s Abu Dhabi home – all for half the salary she had been promised. She had to prepare four fresh meals a day for the eight-member […]

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Migrant Labor Nepal

Changing the headlines on migration

The road to the Global Compact on Migration in Marrakesh this week has not been smooth in a politically tense global environment as an anti-migration wave is fuelled by nationalism and xenophobia. On Monday, the United States, Australia, Hungary and some other eastern European states said they would not participate in the Compact. While the adoption […]

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Bangladesh Malaysia Migrant Labor

Job Regularisation in Malaysia: Agents rake in millions

Agents in Malaysia have swindled a huge sum of money from thousands of Bangladeshi workers in the Southeast Asian country, who, over the last two years, had applied to regularise their immigration status, victims and researchers said. The exploitation of workers began after Malaysia declared a rehiring programme in February 2016 and appointed three private […]

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Bangladesh Malaysia Migrant Labor

Where is justice?

Hasan had applied for a work permit nearly six months before the Malaysian authorities’ rehiring programme for undocumented foreign workers ended on June 30. He had all the documents to prove that, but those meant nothing to the immigration police. On September 3, the police detained him and dozens of others from Bukit Bintang area […]

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Migrant Labor Nepal Qatar

The workers’ football

In a world where populist anti-immigrant narratives dominate, the diverse composition of football teams in the World Cup in Russia did not go unnoticed. Players of foreign origin including former refugees and children or grandchildren of immigrants, especially in the winning French team, stole the show. In Doha, Nepali workers busy building the infrastructure for […]

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India Kuwait Migrant Labor Oman Saudi Arabia UAE

Number of Indians committing suicide in Gulf countries rose to 322 in 2017 from 303 in 2016, reveals RTI reply

For many Indians, the term “Gulf nation” symbolises hope, a sign of good life and prosperity. Gulf countries attract Indians in large numbers, especially from Kerala. But sadly, the ground reality that has emerged paints a different picture altogether — with reports of workplace harassment, “horrible bosses” and difference in culture, many Indians are quitting […]

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