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INDIVIDUAL REPORT
Focus Question: Are low-income migrant workers the most vulnerable to labor
exploitation?
Introduction
As maintained by The International Labor Organization (ILO), labor exploitation is
comprehensible under two practices which comprises of: violations of fundamental
principles and rights at work and labor rights and forced labor and slavery-like practices.1
Because there is no international definition of labor exploitation that has so far been
mutually agreed upon, a general definition can also be perceived that has been put
forward by the Oxford University Research Archive which states that, “it is the action or
fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work”2
Per annum, the percentage of migrant workers increases, this has been backed up by a
report of the ILO in 2021 which concluded that in between 2019-2020, there were 160
million international low-income migrant-workers stationed globally 3, similarly, a report
by IOM (International Organization for Migration) from 2016 which is based upon 71 in-
depth interviews of migrant-workers worldwide addresses the challenges and right-
abuses migrant-workers face, where often they are lied to, manipulated and are forced
to work in risky conditions.4
Although, many migrant-workers from Pakistan and worldwide have benefitted from the
opportunity of working overseas, many have not. Following a common deception of
“getting rich overnight after moving overseas” has exposed many to breeds of labor-
exploitation.
As a Pakistani who lived overseas with her family as an immigrant for 10 years and has
witnessed the nature of labor exploitation of migrant-workers, this topic caught my
attention.
Global Perspective
The Council on Foreign Affairs published an article which emphasized upon the kafala
system which was a legal framework built in GCC states (Gulf Countries Cooperation),
like Jordan and Lebanon to construct a healthy environment for migrant workers and
employers to benefit them socially and economically. Despite that, Houtan
2
Homayounpour, the previous head of the Gulf office of ILO gave a statement in which
he said, “They would bring in workers from abroad that didn’t speak the language,
that were not aware of the cultural sensitivities, that came without a social support
network,”5 And also mentioned that albeit sponsors were suppose to take care of their
necessities like healthcare and insurance according to contracts but neglected them
instead.6
The ILO (International Labors Organization) wrote and presented a report called
“Tricked and Trapped”7 based upon 650 interviews of migrant workers in Gulf-States like
Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE over the period of two-years which concluded that most
low-income migrant-workers are lied to about their job description. It further mentioned
that in sectors such as construction, manufacturing and factory work, and agriculture,
workers are “routinely deceived with respect to living and working conditions, the type of
work to be performed, or even the existence of a job at all”.8
National Perspective
Hiba Shoaib wrote an article for the Habib University website after interviewing Rashid,
a Pakistani migrant-worker in Saudi Arabia who drove cabs. In the interview he
mentioned that he was manipulated by his agent and was made false promises of getting
rich, he mentioned that his promised wage was 2000 Riyals but was paid 1700 Riyals,9 he
also stated that he wasn’t informed of the inadequate living conditions, “I mean, these
details might’ve been in my contract that I signed in Pakistan, but I did not have any
knowledge of them when I left Pakistan”.10 He claims that he was also blackmailed on
certain occasions when asking for a leave. Furthermore. The article further quoted an ILO
report from 2016 which stated that 50.1% immigrant workers from Pakistan went to
Saudi Arabia between 1971-2015 and 41% were employed in low-skill and less-income
job categories.11
Government Parliamentarian Commission for Human Rights Department - Pakistan
(PCHR-P), Chaudhry Shafique said: “Exploitation of migrant workers is not just an
individual issue, it affects their families, the community and, most importantly, the
economy.”12
Similarly, Dawn released a report in Islamabad, “The cost of living: migrant workers’
access to health in the Gulf”13, it stated that Pakistanis faced labor difficulties overseas
due to their lack of understanding of the labor recruitment process, laws that were
exploitative towards migrant workforce and the lack of legal-protection by home country.
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Causes
The two root causes behind the practice of the exploitation of migrant workers.
For one, labor exploitation has greatly to do with the legal status of migrant workers,
most of them do not have legal documents with them and have precarious resident
statuses, employers and contractors blackmail and use the workers’ fear of deportation
and arrest to exploit them. For example, most low-income immigrant-workers enter the
United States without a legal status through contractors and if they leave their job, they
lose their somewhat legal-status protection and become subjected to deportation.14
Secondly, xenophobia is a major cause, many migrant workers become targets of
xenophobia and find difficulties in getting employed, this also acts as reason for
employers to exploit the migrant workers. For example, The National Institutes of Health
shows that Latino workers in the United States, have the highest job fatality rate and are
paid below minimum wage but they cannot move jobs due to xenophobic environments
and fear of deportation, they were also labeled “essential workers” during COVID-19,
and were forced to work during the pandemic in food processing industries.15
Consequences
Psychological and mental distress is the first consequence of the exploitation of migrant
workers, according to a study based in Singapore regarding the vulnerable position of
migrant workers, there is a 62%17 rise in diagnosed psychological and mental distress
within workers who face salary disputes overseas18, due to which many workers develop
unhealthy coping mechanisms, a research study by the International Journal of Social
Psychiatry states that out of 275 migrant workers 44.5% were victims of substance abuse
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, particularly alcohol.
A migrant worker in the United Kingdom stated: “I worked 72 days without a day off. I
was working 12-hour shifts every day, so physically and mentally they broke me down.”20
The second consequence is social isolation, many migrant workers face social adversities
like language barriers, cultural differences and separation from families which stimulate
the feelings of alienation. The article by Hiba Shoaib, also shares the inability of a
migrant cab driver in Saudi Arabia, to understand the traffic signs in Arabic,21 He
revealed that he was unable to converse with his Kafeel: “My Kafeel used to converse in
English or Arabic, and I couldn’t understand either. This caused a lot of problems”.22
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Course of Action
In order to break the monopoly of labor exploitation, the best course of action is to
establish an International Migrant Workers Rights Watch Committee which will be
regulated by government Labor Departments and ministries and UN organizations like
ILO (International Labors Organization). This Watch Committee will monitor the living-
conditions, regularity of wages and working-hours, provisions of insurances, method of
recruitments, and adherence of employers to the provided job description and contracts
for migrant workers. The determination of the protocols and rules will be extracted from
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families, under which the Watch Committee will visit sites with large
employment of migrant workers, they will set up a complaint system department which
will entertain complaints of violations of rights of migrant workers and conduct monthly
visits in such sites, in case of evident violation and exploitation of workers, a report will
be written and submitted to the ILO and the Government Department of Labor and
necessary measures will be taken to have the site restricted or, under serious violations
and complains, shut down.
The impact will be long-term as not only will culprits of labor exploitation be facing
consequences of the violations of migrant-workers’ rights, but culprits of exploitation
will be bound to improve their conditions for migrant-workers, workers will also be
cognizant of their rights and will know whom to reach out to incase of indications of
exploitations rather than persevering through brutal consequences. Though, this may not
be acceptable to the contractors and recruiting agencies, it is acceptable to governments,
International organizations and workers.
Evaluation of Sources
Though many sources were used in my research, the main source I used was the
International Labors Organization (ILO), it provided me with specific-information upon
labor-exploitation, there was a lot of data and statistics. It not only provided me with
information on migrant-workers nationally but Internationally as well., it was to the point
and had the dates/authors/titles mentioned, I also got access to a lot of articles and
conventions through links that it had given in the bibliography. It was full of expert
opinions too. There were constant updated-reports upon labor-exploitation on the
website so I could access material which was up to date albeit, it was too extensive.
Another source I used was the article of Hiba Shoaib. It was well-structured and had
many statistics and references of sources that were used, it comprised of an interview of a
migrant-worker from a YouTube video which introduced many aspects and forms of
labor-exploitation to me and was to the point, however the videos link is not mentioned
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and neither was the date of the article which made it difficult for me to identity whether it
was out-of-date or up-to-date, and it was only focused upon migrant-workers from Arab
Countries and had no expert views for me to study.
A weaker source I used was the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants,
(Committee on Migrant Workers), the name of the author was mentioned however the
date wasn’t, it focused on a more general view of labor-challenges and did not have
specific details, it wasn’t well-structured either and did not provide me with any new
information upon labor-exploitation, neither was it very relevant to it.
Reflection
Yes, low-income migrant workers are extremely vulnerable to labor exploitation.
Before starting my research, I had a general idea about what “labor exploitation” is, but
after conducting research I’m surprised to see how common indicators of labor
exploitation are and how we choose to ignore them. I am much more aware now and have
come to realize how big of a Human rights abuse this truly is.
As an individual, I can spread awareness about it through platforms like Instagram or
Facebook which are accessible to everyone and try further enhancing my depth of
knowledge upon this issue so that in the future I can contribute in the slightest way to
have improvements made upon this problem.
Words: 2000
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
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