13/08/2020 Gulf migrant workers face crisis of unpaid wages amid pandemic turn to moneylenders who lend at exorbitant rates of interest.  Fees charged on them by recruitment agencies are about 15 times more expensive than the one set by a ministerial directive issued in 2015 that required Gulf employers to cover the costs of their visas and airfare. According to Rameshwar Nepal, the regulation has “not been implemented.” While the pandemic wreaks havoc on the airline industry, the job of a worker recruited to work at Dubai Airport was put on hold. A UAE-based manpower supplier who contracted the worker refused to pay him a salary but provided free accommodation. “I asked many times but could not solve it. They do not want to pay us,” he told Al-Monitor. Jobless and unable to send money back home, the worker asked his family to borrow again to keep repaying the $800 loan taken out in early 2020 to afford prohibitive recruitment fees.  “We are the main pillar of our families, so if we do not send them money every month, how can they eat food?” the worker asked. Far from the Middle East's commercial hub, the wage theft crisis impoverishes communities that pinned their hopes on labor migration. Gois wonders when Gulf governments will finally step up and take responsibility. More from Sebastian Castelier https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/08/gulf-migrant-workers-wages-covid19-qatar-uae-india-nepal.html 8/12