The effects of the Saudi Arabia-led blockade of Qatar, which has been in place for over 100 days, are beginning to show. Prices of commodities such as rice and vegetables have been rising bit by bit, travel out of and into Qatar is getting more expensive, and jobs are vanishing. Everyone feels the pinch, but […]
Category: Migrant Labor
Some hills in the Genting Highland look like the most remote part of Malaysia. Cut off from electricity and good transportation facilities, these desolate hills are home to Nepali migrants, mainly undocumented workers, who work as farmhands to eke out a living. Forty-one-year-old Top Chalami is one such worker. A permanent resident of Daga-Tumdada in Baglung district, […]
Each flight that takes off from India to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has in it many Indian workers hoping to fulfil a dream: to make a decent living for themselves and their families. Tens of thousands of workers in the prime of their youth from across India make a beeline for jobs in West […]
In the past four months alone, Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police rescued 81 women from India and other countries. They were victims of trafficking. However, police could neither identify the agents involved nor make any arrests. The reason – none of the victims filed cases against their traffickers. The CIB receives information on Nepali women trafficking victims who are stranded in various Indian cities through various contacts […]
Thousands of Nepalis in Malaysia prefer to be undocumented than be exploited and mistreated by their official employers. In the shadows Panic spreads on the sidewalks of the Kotaraya area of the Malaysian capital as immigration police sweep down during one of their raids on undocumented migrant workers. There is a palpable fear in the […]
Ghulam Muhammad, 28, lives in Kot Radha Kishan outside of Lahore. Not long ago, he was sitting in his home thinking “If I can make it to Dubai, it can make a difference in my life. My younger siblings might become doctors or engineers.” He comes from a family of nine, with five brothers and […]
India’s decision to scrap a financial guarantee scheme for migrant domestic workers in Oman will make it harder for maids who are abused or unpaid to get home, campaigners said on Tuesday. The Indian embassy in Oman issued a notice on Monday, saying it was scrapping the scheme because employers and recruitment agencies said it […]
Migrant workers from Pakistan’s villages arrive in the oil rich country UAE with dreams of making good money to send home. They work tirelessly for a meagre salary which is often not paid on time. These migrant labourers struggle with depression and anxiety and the fear that their passports will be confiscated. They live difficult […]
It is a city renowned for glitz, glamour and boasts the world’s tallest building. But there’s an ugly side that you won’t read about in its tourist brochures. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building and a popular tourist destination — its army of migrant workers. The workers, who are largely from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, are paid well […]
Roshan Bhatta looked hopeless during an encounter at the Nepalese embassy in Malaysia which is situated along Jalang Ampang road. Bhatta, an employee at a Rawang based company that produces paper bags, became undocumented after he continued to work in Malaysia without extending his visa after it expired two years ago. Bhatta, a resident of Basundhara-Kathmandu, wanted to return home to meet his sick mother. The process was proving much costlier than […]