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Workers are seen inside the Lusail stadium which is under construction for the upcoming 2022 FIFA soccer World Cup during a
stadium tour in Doha, Qatar, December 20, 2019. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
South Asians have for years travelled to wealthier Gulf countries for employment, mostly as domestic workers or in the construction
and hospitality sectors.
One migrant worker often supports many relatives and can earn far more than they would make in the same job at home.
But their migrant status makes it much harder for
them to seek justice when things go wrong - as they
have for large numbers in recent months as the
pandemic has closed borders and devastated
economies.
Even before the pandemic, unions and lawyers like
Kochery say, the system for dealing with such cases
was lacking.
Now, they say, there is a desperate need for an
"Non-payment of wages or bene ts has always
plagued migrant workers in Gulf countries. But
during COVID, the impact is being felt 100 times
more. People left in fear, in a hurry, and most did not
have time to collect pending wages or bene ts as they
boarded special ights to return home. Now they are
counting their losses."
- Nizar Kochery, a Doha-based lawyer who specialises
in labour law.
overhaul to cope with the challenges that come
with the large-scale return of migrants.
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ANGLICAN OVERSEAS AID (/features/106-
The number of wage theft cases reported from Gulf countries rose more than three-fold between April and July compared with the
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same period last year, says the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, which advocates for human rights in business.
Bhoomaiah Motapalkula, 38, who worked as an of ce messenger, had not been paid his full salary since April 2019 when he had to
return to India.
Anglican Overseas Aid is a relief and
development agency of the Anglican Church of
Now home, he is talking to lawyers about getting the AED25,000 ($US6,800) he says his employer in Dubai owes him.
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"I trusted my employer each time he reassured me about my wages and handed me a little money to meet my needs," he told the
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In Bangladesh, returning migrants have on an average lost about 175,000 taka ($US2,000), according to a study by the Refugee and
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The charity, which based its gures on interviews with about 50 migrants, found most of the losses were unpaid wages.
Many workers have also lost out on the end-of-service bene ts that they typically receive in the Gulf, said Ryszard Cholewinski,
senior migration specialist for Arab states with the International Labour Organisation.
"Workers that have been affected by the crisis and have lost their employment are leaving without payment of those contractual end
of year bene ts," he said.
"If you've been working in the Gulf for say 15 years, that's a substantial sum."
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