The UAE has the largest wage theft cases registered among the migrant population in Asia and the Gulf region, according to a latest report of the Migrant Forum in Asia released recently. The UAE has 357 known registered cases on wage theft. In Saudi Arabia, 252 cases has been registered, said the report “Crying Out for Justice: Wage Theft Against Migrant Workers during COVID-19”. The analysis report documents cases of wage theft from the January to May 2021. Kuwait had 182 registered cases, Malaysia 95, Philippines 60, Bahrain 46, Qatar 41, China 29 and Oman 18, the analysis said. It said that 753 cases of wage theft out of the 1,113 analysed cases were experienced by documented workers and 359 by undocumented workers. In cases documented from origin countries, India came with the largest proportion of cases at 620. Of this, 51.9 per cent of cases from India were registered in the UAE, the Migrant Forum in Asia said. Kuwait was next in line where 27.1 per cent cases from India was registered. In Saudi Arabia, 20.6 per cent cases were from India. The report marks the first anniversary of the Justice for Wage Theft campaign. the campaign is a joint effort by a coalition of trade unions and civil society organisations, started in June 2020. It calls for urgent justice mechanism for migrant workers repatriated due to the COVID-19 pandemic without being paid their due wages, salaries, and end-of-service benefits. Regional Coordinator of Migrant Forum in Asia William Gois said that the prevalence of wage theft was endemic to labour migration.