13/08/2020 Gulf migrant workers face crisis of unpaid wages amid pandemic While mediation mechanisms come in handy for migrant workers who do not speak or read Arabic and who play a crucial role in resolving labor disagreements, Cholewinski said, “Tell the worker to 'take 50% and we are done' should be avoided.”  Also, low-income workers cannot afford the judicial process and fear reprisal if they speak out — rights groups have long likened the Gulf’s sponsorship system to modern slavery.  Thus, only a negligible number of cases reach the courts as migrant workers, who are the backbone of Gulf economies, often simply give up and return home empty-handed. “In the Gulf, access to justice is very intimidating,” William Gois, regional coordinator of the Philippines-based regional advocacy network Migrant Forum in Asia, told Al-Monitor. Lack of influence on bilateral negotiations In theory, most unpaid workers have the right to mandate by power of attorney their embassies to act on their behalves to seek compensation. Still, many countries have “not exercised this power often enough,” Gois said. Foreign missions argue they cannot replace failing national justice systems, nor do they have sufficient resources to do so. Less than 1% of the Nepalese government budget is allocated to the protection of migrant workers' rights. At the same time, remittances are a lifeline for 3 million households while accounting for over https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/08/gulf-migrant-workers-wages-covid19-qatar-uae-india-nepal.html 6/12