Month: January 2018

Bangladesh Migrant Labor Saudi Arabia

Female migrants – Realm of modern day slavery

Young Bangladeshi female migrants, working in the middle eastern and other oil-rich countries are increasingly subjected to torture and sexual abuse by their employers. Sources in Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh said that of the victims, younger ones become more vulnerable despite their legal status in the destination countries. In many cases the employers pick them […]

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Migrant Labor Sri Lanka

Journey to despair

The number of people circumventing the legal route to go abroad for domestic work and unskilled jobs has increased. Without the help from the host countries, there cannot be a solution to the problem of trafficking, and exploitation, of migrant labourers. SITTING in a barely comfortable cubicle at the immigration counter, an officer can almost […]

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India Migrant Labor UAE

Mission possible

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is home to around 2.8 million Indian nationals, of which 60-70 per cent are blue-collar workers. The UAE has the second largest community of Indians, after Saudi Arabia. But the exact number of Indian blue-collar workers there is not available as the UAE authorities do not share such data with […]

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Migrant Labor Qatar

Qatar’s migrant mothers toil for a pittance, continents from their children

Despite recent reforms in the country, Doha’s restrictive employment policies continue to challenge migrant mothers and split families On an average day, Faith sends nearly 100 messages on WhatsApp to her children and family back home in Nairobi, Kenya. “It’s cheaper than calling,” she said. “And I’m only working in Qatar to support them.” In […]

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Migrant Labor Sri Lanka

Disasters bring upheaval to Sri Lanka’s rural economy

Last year was an annus horribilis for 52-year-old Newton Gunathileka. A paddy smallholder from Sri Lanka’s north-western Puttalam District, 2017 saw Gunathileka abandon his two acres of paddy for the first time in over three-and-a-half decades, leaving his family almost destitute. The father of two had suffered two straight harvest losses and was over 1,300 […]

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Bangladesh Migrant Labor

Homecoming in Coffins

Bangladeshi migrant workers experienced the worst year in 2017, with around 3,500 dead bodies sent back from different countries, the highest number ever in a single year. Most of these migrant workers who died due to “heart attacks and strokes” were between the ages of 30 and 45 — an unlikely age to have such […]

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