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Experts for collective efforts to stop forced return of migrants


Published : 26 Jun 2020 08:56 PM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 05:26 AM

Speakers at an e-Symposium urged the courtries of origin to collectively negotiate with the countries of destination to stop any forced return of migrants. 

They noted that global migration regime obliges destination countries to look after the migrants, irrespective of their immigration status. 

However, at this critical time migrants were left unprotected and are being subjected to forced return. States that benefit from migrants’ remittances failed to meaningfully alleviate their sufferings as well. 

They felt non-payment of wages of migrant workers amounted to “wage theft” and demanded proper mechanism be put in place so that workers can secure reimbursement of their lost wages. 

These observations were made at an eSmposium organized by the RMMRU on ‘Migrant Workers of South Asia: Experiences of Return, Repatriation and Deportation’ held on Wednesday. 

In his opening statement Prof. C R Abrar of RMMRU said that linking repatriation with future labour market opportunities amounts to blackmailing by destination countries. “In this trying time there has been stark deficit in protection of migrants in the countries that they help build”, Abrar noted.

Former member of the Nepal’s Planning Commission Dr. Ganesh Gurung highlighted the role that diaspora community can play in rendering services to migrants in the destination countries. He also directed attention to the need for extending psycho-social support to return migrants, who may face serious trauma. 

Dr. Jagannath Adhikari stated that Covid 19 has exposed the vulnerablity of migrants in the developed world as well. L.K. Rugunage, migration expert from Sri Lanka, reported that in some countries with the support of the government employers have lowered workers’ salary by 20-50 percent. 

“This is unacceptable”, he noted. The meeting was told that Sri Lanka negotiated with destination counries that workers would tested for the virus at no cost before they are repatriated home. 

William Gois, Coordinator of the Migrant Forum in Asia observed that taking advantage of their government’s repatriation programmes many employers of destination countries are terminating conracts of migrants without clearing their due wages. 

“This amounts to wage theft”, and demanded origin countries to immediately begin documenting during repatriation of workers or soon after arrival. HIghlighting the treatment of migrant workers 

Dr.Irudaya Rajan of India stated that “the world has failed them: states, regional processes and international actors, even us, the academics”. 

Rajan said, while in the short run the situation may look bleak, eventually things would work out for the better for the migrants as new corridors of migration will open up such as in Africa and demands for new types of jobs will be created. 

Prof. Nasra Shah of Lahore School of Business noted that even in instances where state authorities announced that work visa would be extended the employers did not comply with them. The declaration of amnesty and waiver of fines by some states only methods “to expedite return”, she noted. 

Eminent migration expert and former ILO senior specialist Dr. Piyasiri Wickramasekara noted with regret that regional processes have not been of much use when migrant workers needed them the most. To help develop appropriate policies he underscored the need for proper data generation on return migrants.

This was the second e-Symposium that RMMRU organised under its Covid 19 and Migration seminar series titled Build Back Better. A number of academics, rights activivists, development partners and representatives of migrant organizations attended the symposium.