The statement also noted that the repatriation procedures have been undertaken hastily by
countries of both origin and destination, without any proper redress mechanism, since courts
and other labour dispute mechanisms have also been closed during the period of the lockdown.
The rights bodies said the transitional justice mechanism will address grievances, claims and
labour disputes of repatriated workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. The
mechanism needs to be expedited, accessible, a ordable, and e
cient, they added.
The organisations said it should be a priority to guarantee that all repatriated workers with
legitimate claims are able to access justice and some kind of compensation.
They said it must be of the utmost importance to ensure that cases are resolved as soon as
possible, without delay, especially in cases involving labour disputes, safeguards must be put in
place to ensure that migrants are able to pursue their cases post return.
Access to legal advice and support, facilitating power of attorney procedures, and easing
requirements for in-person testimony and court appearance or appearance in front of a
tribunal/grievance mechanism are paramount, the organisations observed.
They said states should require employers and businesses to keep all employment records,
including payroll, employee lists, and hours worked and allow workers to take copies of their
records with them.
“If we are to ‘Build Back Better’, we cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the issue of wage
theft that has been persistent across migration corridors for years, and will be unprecedented
in the case of repatriated migrant workers in the COVID 19 pandemic,” the statement read.
It added many migrant workers have reconciled to the situation of wage theft in the form of
unfair or unpaid wages for months and years before the COVID 19 pandemic.
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They have accepted it as their fate and refrained from complaining lest they lose their jobs, or,
worse still, live with the fear of being made undocumented. Each year, millions of dollars are
lost in potential remittances due to wage theft, even as countries of origin continue to explore
new markets for deployment of migrant workers while countries of destination thrive on cheap
and exploitable migrant labour.
Repatriation of migrant workers without due diligence by states in the time of the COVID 19
pandemic will only serve to leave unattended the injustices that migrant workers bear,
exonerate employers and perpetrators of violence against migrant workers, and wipe away all
records of legitimate claims and grievances.
The millions who are and will be repatriated will impact the development trajectory of families
for whom a single migrant worker is a source of hope for a better future for generations to
come.
This dream, this resilience of the migrant’s journey must not be sti ed as the COVID 19
pandemic runs its course. The rights activists said if unaddressed at this time, ‘we run the risk
of forever delinking the patterns that connect migration to development, as the stories of the
lives of migrant workers will bear witness to this mass injustice for years to come.’
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