Force majeure rules allowed companies (h ps://mideastyouth.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?
u=734d825dbbff4d439f1774712&id=10d0dc34e8&e=e1b66013f3)
to
reduce
pay
(h ps://mideastyouth.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?
u=734d825dbbff4d439f1774712&id=f6fa85fd19&e=e1b66013f3), terminate workers, or put them on leave
without pay. Measures were introduced to ensure business continuity even if these measures infringed
on workers’ rights. The lack of civil society and trade unions and inability to negotiate collectively –– all
disempowering conditions that preceded the pandemic –– meant workers’ voices and representation
were
limited
and
muted
(h ps://mideastyouth.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?
u=734d825dbbff4d439f1774712&id=bf7dcaef18&e=e1b66013f3). No mechanisms were established to
challenge the unfair implementation of the measures. Access to justice was riddled with even more
problems than before, as wage theft and other labour abuses from the pre-COVID era were yet to be
resolved. This post is not even a empting to explore the vulnerabilities and exclusion of undocumented
workers –– many of whom are forced into irregularity by the sponsorship or Kafala system.
“When a population has been dehumanised and othered for so long –– as being temporary, their
labour merely transactional –– a pandemic will not magically correct decades of poor policies.”
#DevMa ers
Tweet (h p://twi er.com/share?&text=%22When%20a%20population%20has%20been%20
dehumanised%20and%20othered%20for%20so%20long%20%E2%80%93%E2%80%93%20as%20bein
g%20temporary%2C%20their%20labour%20merely%20transactional%20%E2%80%93%E2%80%93%2
0a%20pandemic%20will%20not%20magically%20correct%20decades%20of%20poor%20policies.%2
2%20%23DevMa ers&url=h ps://oecd-development-ma ers.org/2021/01/19/protecting-migrant-wor
kers-in-the-gulf-dont-build-back-be er-over-a-poor-foundation/)
In the plethora of webinars that consumed the early months of the pandemic, human rights advocates
and activists repeatedly spoke of the lessons being learnt, the new normal that awaited us at the end of
the dark tunnel, with ‘building back be er’ punctuating every discourse. What they failed to recognise is
that when a population has been dehumanised and othered for so long –– as being temporary, their
labour merely transactional –– a pandemic will not magically correct decades of poor policies.
In fact, we saw the opposite, with migrant workers being blamed (h ps://mideastyouth.us1.listmanage.com/track/click?u=734d825dbbff4d439f1774712&id=efcce3088e&e=e1b66013f3) for spreading
infections, because of their living conditions over which they had no control over. Ten months into the
pandemic, it is almost back to business as usual, (h ps://mideastyouth.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?
u=734d825dbbff4d439f1774712&id=61c60742d3&e=e1b66013f3) with malls, offices, schools and even
tourism, opening up in stages. Vaccination drives have begun, with a promise to include migrants in all
of the Gulf Co-operation Council countries. But the most marginalised are still housed in deplorable
conditions, their temporariness being reinforced. And the first sector that re-opened for recruitment was
domestic
work
(h ps://mideastyouth.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?
u=734d825dbbff4d439f1774712&id=c04e4b1499&e=e1b66013f3) bringing in more women from
impoverished countries reeling from the impact of the pandemic.
If there is one takeaway for human rights advocates it is that a socio-economic environment devastated
by the pandemic is not fertile ground for righteous policies. If anything, origin and destination countries
may go lax on due diligence over corporations in the name of business continuity and impose tighter
controls over migrants under the pretext of protection.