KARACHI: States ignore rights of migrant workers: Seminar told
KARACHI, Sept 5: The attacks on Sept 11 have brought about a change in the priorities of the developed countries and they are more concerned about their internal security issues and less about the rights of the legal or illegal migrant workers.
This was stated by the speakers at the “International Seminar on the Migrant Workers’ Rights, Problems and Remedies”, organized by the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA) at a local hotel on Thursday night.
Renowned professionals from Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan spoke at the seminar. David Soysa — the director of the Migrant Service Centre of Sri Lanka — informed the participants that due to the absence of visa restrictions for the citizens of the SAARC countries many Pakistani migrant workers went to Colombo in search of jobs.
Most of these Pakistanis went with the help of agents who promised them jobs, he said, adding the workers were often involved in difficult, dirty and dangerous work.
He said due to low literacy and lack of knowledge about health issues these migrant workers were vulnerable to many deadly conditions like HIV and AIDS. He observed that mobility itself was a challenge and people’s movement from one country to another in search of employment was a major push factor.
Mr David said the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families came into force in 1990 and Guatemala — the 20th state — had ratified it on 14 March. Sri Lanka ratified the convention in 1996, he said and urged the government of Pakistan to do the same.
Dr Irene Fernandez, the Chairperson of the CARAM Asia and Tenaganita, in her lecture said the current situation seemed to indicate that labour export was a key agenda in Pakistan. She said recently the Malaysian government had offered to recruit 100,000 Pakistanis in Malaysia and added that many cases of exploitation of Pakistani migrant workers were reported in Malaysia.
She said Tenaganita — the Malaysian NGO working with migrant workers — had received 30 complaints from Pakistani workers in 2000, four complaints in 2001, 35 complaints in 2002 and till July 2003 only two complaints. Most of the complaints were related to pay-scale, duty hours and nature of work, she said.
She observed that it was fundamental for the potential migrant workers to know about the requirements for employment in Malaysia and the Memorandum of Understanding between Pakistan and Malaysia.
Zia Ahmed Awan, President of the LHRLA, in his presentation said the Malaysian government’s offer to provide employment to one hundred thousand Pakistani workers in Malaysia was a good opportunity that would help ease the unemployment problem in the country. However, the government should adopt measures that could help the potential migrant workers avoid exploitation.
He said prosperity in Malaysia attracted many fellow countryman and hundreds of young unskilled male workers had already gone to Malaysia through agents and recruiters. He said recently a two-member LHRLA fact-finding team visited Malaysia and interviewed many Pakistani workers there.
During the interviews the workers revealed that breach of job contracts, inhuman living conditions, indifferent behaviour of the Malaysian police and immigration department was common.
The fact-finding team came to know that Pakistani workers suffered due to exploitation through changes in their contracts, non-payment of wages, unhealthy working conditions, long hours and exposure to unnecessary risks.
The team was informed that the employers kept the workers in dangerous, dirty and difficult jobs that did not provide appropriate compensation for, and protection from, the nature of the work done.
The LHRLA’s president said most of the workers, who belonged to the different areas of the country, informed that they had paid thousands of rupees to the agents or recruiters to get jobs in Malaysia but their employers did not fulfil all the conditions mentioned in their agreements.
Salma Safitri — the Program Coordinator of the Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia — and Dr Khalida Ghaus, the Chairperson of the Women Studies Department of Karachi University, also spoke on the occasion.
The seminar demanded of the Pakistani government to ratify the UN Conventions and address the problems of migrant workers from a human rights perspective, not merely from an economic or political bent. The bilateral agreements that addressed the dependence of the South Asian economies on foreign remittance must be drafted.
The government and NGO sector should work in tandem to protect migrant workers against exploitation. — PPI
