7/22/2020
Migration News Strong Campaigns Suggested for Establishing Transitional Justice Mechanism for Migrants
Migration (IOM) for supporting the repatriation of the distressed
migrant workers from the destinations.
During the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of the poor
migrant workers have been the worst victims of the wage theft
at their destinations, especially in the Gulf countries as they
have been forced to return to their homes amid the COVID
pandemic, they said.
The virtual panel series-13 on "Transitional Justice: Towards
“Building Back Better” was jointly organized by Migrant Forum
in Asia (MFA), Manila, Philippines, Global Research Forum on
Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT), New Delhi, India
and Cross Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants
(CCRM), Beirut, Lebanon.
MFA regional coordinator William Gois, also a global migration
expert, moderated the webinar which was online joined by
about 550 distinguished participants.
In his welcome address, William recalled that on 1st of June, a
coalition of civil society organizations and trade unions
launched an appeal for an “Urgent Justice Mechanism”, to
address the plight of millions of migrant workers who have
been repatriated or are awaiting repatriation as a result of
pandemic-related job loss.
They have appealed to the governments to establish a
transitional justice mechanism that would specifically address
the huge volume of cases of wage theft and other outstanding
claims heightened in the course of the pandemic, ensuring
migrant workers ability to access justice and receive their due
compensations.
As a panelist, Bangladesh former foreign secretary Md
Shahidul Haque said that there were some migrants’
inequalities, injustices and wage thefts taking places amid the
COVID pandemic situation.
Over 500,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers have returned
home penniless from the destination countries after they were
terminated there, he said.
Shahidul Haque said that Bangladesh prime minister has been
raising the issues of the migrant workers at the international
forums.
He advised the civil society organizations to boldly launch
campaigns for establishing transitional justice system for the
migrant workers.
Another panelist Neha Misra, Senior Migration Specialist of
Solidarity Center in Washington DC, called for ensuring ‘basic
workplace rights’ of the migrant workers as per the ILO
standards.
She stressed the need for allowing the workers’ ‘freedom of
associations’ to help realize their wage theft at the
destinations.
Among other noted panelists, Shashi Tharoor, Member of
Parliament, India and Former Senior UN Diplomat, Dr. Dilip
Ratha, Lead Economist, Migration and Remittances and Head
https://migrationnewsbd.com/news/view/32330/38/Strong-Campaigns-Suggested-for-Establishing-Transitional-Justice-Mechanism-for-Migrants
2/5