In early June, Nepali authorities announced that they would not issue work permits to outbound workers if employers did not bear the cost for visa and air ticket. The Ministry of Labor and Employment (MoLE) maintained that the provision was meant to prevent economic exploitation of workers in the name of recruitment fee and eventually […]
Category: Migrant Labor
After the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) began issuing labour permits from its Tahachal office last year, the road leading to it past Soaltee Crowne Plaza was perpetually teeming with migrant workers lining up for their travel documents. But this week, after the government’s new zero-cost migration policy came into effect, the road is crowded […]
When everything is a commodity, labour rights count little, says Josiah Mortimer. There’s a war going on in Asia – and it’s one that, unlike ISIS in Iraq or the chaos in Syria, is failing to make the headlines. It’s the war on workers that is taking place across much of the continent, according to […]
The plan to export manpower to Malaysia under private management without a strict monitoring system may create room for abuse and exploitation of overseas job seekers, as seen in the past, warned labour rights activists. Malaysia last month announced that 15 lakh Bangladeshis would be recruited in the next three years under B2B (Business-to-Business) agreements.
“Qatar deserves the best”. That is the slogan on boundary boards along important roads in and around Doha, the capital, with a population of 1.7 million. It ranks as the world’s richest country per capita thanks to its natural gas reserves, the third largest in the world. The country is preparing for the 2022 FIFA […]
Malaysian authorities are found to have been violating their own law in not allowing migrant workers any trade union membership. Although the Malaysian Employment Act, 1955 guarantees all workers, including migrant workers, the right to join a trade union, immigration authorities and local employers are systematically preventing the migrant workers from being a part of […]
It’s shocking to learn that an estimated 6,000 people from Bangladesh and Myanmar are fighting for survival in the Andaman Sea and the Straits of Malacca as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are refusing to accept them to their respective shores. While Myanmar disowns the Rohingya people drifting in the sea amid total uncertainty, Bangladesh seems […]
“…but I’d paid for and been assured of an automobile driver’s job,” Maqbool protested when the employer (kafeel) in Abu Dhabi the poor Pakistani chap had reached, told him that he would be driving a herd of sheep and not a vehicle. “I couldn’t turn round and go home as the employer wouldn’t hand over […]
The river Yamuna is choked with all kinds of filth- plastic water bottles, poly bags, rubber, flower garlands and coconuts thrown during the Hindu death rituals. This waste, however, is the source of livelihood for some people living at Yamuna Nagar near Nigambodh Ghat. They row boats throughout the day and sieve all possible waste […]