Sanjay Sharma

The ‘Oil Boom’ in the Persian Gulf in the 1970s marked a steep increase in the demand for migrant labourers in the region. To meet the requirement of oil in the international market and the rapid economic growth in the Gulf region, a lot of workers from various parts of Asia migrated there. Many South Asians, primarily Indians and Pakistanis went to the Gulf states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—as labourers in the first half of the 1970s. Soon individuals from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka joined the trend. Nepalis started migrating to the Gulf only during the 1990s. As South Asia has always been marred by the lack of economic and employment opportunities and political deadlock, the Gulf has provided a perfect platform to the migrants; more so to the unskilled workers who mostly remain unemployed in their respective countries of origin. So the trend of sending their able-bodied men and women for foreign employment and sustaining economies by remittances sent by the migrants in times of crisis has been a key feature of South Asian countries.

Although they provide ample opportunities to earn and learn new skills, the Gulf states have very strict laws which are severely limited from a human rights perspective. As those countries do not ensure most of the basic workers’ rights such as timely payments and offer very poor working conditions, workers there are left exposed and vulnerable. South Asian governments have not been able to advocate for the protection of their citizens working in the Gulf countries and severely failed to use their bargaining power via the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Even though millions of South Asians have been working hard day in and day out in the Gulf and helping the region sustain economically, they are left vulnerable to abuse, torture, and even death.

According to Ozaki, in the year 2010 alone, about 1,500,000 South Asians went for foreign employment. And as per Thimothy and Sasikumar, 85 percent of them went to the Gulf. Data from Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Sri Lankan governments show that more than 50 percent of all migrants are unskilled. Due to this very reason—the cases of Nepal and India show—most of these workers are duped by the recruitment agencies back home and employer organisations in the destinations. They are also unable to fight for their rights and have to live at the mercy of their employers and are forced to continue working in abusive conditions. The degree of vulnerability of South Asian women migrant workers is even higher because they generally go to the Gulf as domestic workers and are incomplete supervision of their employers. The ‘Kafala’ system of sponsorship practiced in most of the Gulf countries gives complete liability of the workers to the employers. The workers are not able to bring out the exploitative incidents that happen within the four walls of their employers’ houses out in the public, and therefore compelled to live in abusive environments, with no access to justice.

Though thousands of South Asians reach various parts of the Gulf and remit millions every day, South Asian countries have failed to come together for the common issue that has been bothering many of their citizens. Given the similar socio-economic and cultural background of the South Asians and the common risks the migrants are exposed to, the countries of the region must come together and lobby with the governments of the Gulf region for the protection of the rights of their workers.  Although there are international instruments to protect the rights of migrant workers, South Asia has failed to lobby to make the Gulf countries signatories to most of them and ensure the safety of workers. The primary reason for this is that South Asian governments have failed to collaborate amongst themselves and act as a regional unit. The Gulf countries, on the other hand, have devised strict policies to provide limited rights and privileges to migrant workers. These governments are gradually becoming restrictive and have adopted policies to cut down the number of migrants. Saudi Arabia has brought forth policies to replace migrants with native workers. This has further complicated the situation of migrants working there.

South Asian governments should plan on producing a highly-skilled workforce that is more aware and better able to negotiate on and understand their rights and duties. Although the efforts of individual governments like Sri Lanka and India are noteworthy in this regard, all South Asian governments must understand—given the similar types of problems migrants face—that when they come together, their bargaining power will increase manifold compared to acting alone. For this, the best option is to lobby with the GCC as SAARC, and invite international organisations like the International Labour Organization as mediators.

Sharma is a Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Labour and Mobility, Kathmandu

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Published on: 3 September 2013  | The Kathmandu Post