CONCLUSIONS Delayed and non-payment of wages has been a systemic issue in the Arab States. The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity to take stock of lessons learnt and to devise innovative solutions to build back better. Given the scarcity of available quantitative data on the extent of the problem, one important lesson is the necessity of documenting instances of delayed, incorrect and non-payment of wages, including end-of-service benefits, so that competent authorities in countries of origin and destination can continue to pursue justice for workers, even after repatriation. The fact that data on the scale of the problem remain piecemeal and hard to access, makes it challenging to build targeted policies and solutions. Nonetheless, some key conclusions can be drawn, particularly for countries of destination in the Arab States, as international recruitment (particularly for migrant domestic workers) re-starts: 1. Governments in countries of destination need to take active steps to ensure that departing workers are provided with their owed wages and related benefits, including for workers in an irregular situation. ILO Convention No. 95, which has been ratified by several countries in the region, can form a useful framework for ensuring the adoption and effective implementation of laws, policies and practices to meet this objective for all workers, including domestic workers. In this context, it is noteworthy that Convention No. 95 is meant to ensure all wages and benefits owed are paid to workers. One way in which governments can support payment of wages in an expedited manner is via a resourced government-facilitated insurance fund, which can directly compensate workers in case of nonpayment, and then seek reimbursement from companies responsible, through separate proceedings. 2. Accessible and expedited disputeresolution mechanisms are critical to ensuring that workers who are departing the destination country are not denied justice. This requires urgent action by Ministries of Labour and Ministries of Justice in strengthening their administrative capacity in order to deal with the scale of the problem, ensuring access to free translation and interpretation, facilitating power of attorney procedures, providing legal aid, and encouraging workers to come forward to register their labour complaints. In cases where the worker has already returned to the country of origin, countries of destination could consider enabling workers to still file a claim, either by virtually completing a power of attorney or (at least during this unprecedented period) to temporarily enable workers to file complaints in destination country embassies in their countries of origin. 6