But it said foreign workers who have left the country must assign a Saudi citizen or resident to follow up on the
case on their behalf.
Other Gulf countries also require departed workers to assign power of attorney to a local resident, something
unions and labor rights lawyers say is expensive and leaves those unable to do so with no recourse to justice.
‘Not fit for purpose’
Many labor rights campaigners see the current crisis as an opportunity to rework what they say is a system
loaded against migrants.
“For years we have been fighting for work contracts to include a clause that gives default power of attorney to
embassies to file complaints on the behalf of workers,” Kochery said.
“Now is the time to set things right, use community welfare funds better and protect migrant workers who
don’t know how to access grievance redressal mechanisms. Everyone needs to step up to the crisis because
thousands of families depend on it.”
That view is echoed by Isobel Archer, Gulf project officer of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.
She said companies should take action to allow repatriated workers to file and follow up on claims of unpaid
dues from abroad and access documents in their home languages.
“Workers don’t have any leverage when the labor system itself is not fit for purpose,” she said, adding that
companies should not need states to intervene to ensure their workers have access to justice.
“We are talking about large multinationals with the resources… to help migrant workers access the things they
are entitled to,” she said.
With their chances of returning to work low, many migrants desperately need those lost earnings.
The World Bank forecasts remittances to South Asia will decline by 22 percent to $109 billion in 2020, hit by
the global economic slowdown and oil price declines.
Motapalkula returned to India in March and is already feeling the pinch.
“My savings are running out and I have no job here,” he said.
“I am trying, but it is becoming very hard for me and my family to survive. I want my wages back, I worked
very hard to earn them.”
KEYWORDS
MIDDLE EAST (HTTPS://WWW.JAPANTIMES.CO.JP/TAG/MIDDLE-EAST/), IMMIGRATION
(HTTPS://WWW.JAPANTIMES.CO.JP/TAG/IMMIGRATION/),
SAUDI ARABIA (HTTPS://WWW.JAPANTIMES.CO.JP/TAG/SAUDI-ARABIA/),
BANGLADESH (HTTPS://WWW.JAPANTIMES.CO.JP/TAG/BANGLADESH/), UAE (HTTPS://WWW.JAPANTIMES.CO.JP/TAG/UAE/),
SOUTH ASIA (HTTPS://WWW.JAPANTIMES.CO.JP/TAG/SOUTH-ASIA/), COVID-19 (HTTPS://WWW.JAPANTIMES.CO.JP/TAG/COVID19/)
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