An international E- conference on ‘Migration, Diasporas and Sustainable Development: Perspectives, Policies, Opportunities and Challenges’ was jointly organized by Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT) and Centre for Research on North America (CISAN), from 2nd to 5th November 2020.
One of the sessions was dedicated to discussions on the impact of the present pandemic induced by COVID-19 on the various aspects of a migrant’s life. The session was chaired by Shabari Nair, who is Labour Migration Specialist for South Asia, based in the ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team (DWT) in New Delhi.
Bangladeshi migrants’ workers trapped in debt
Owasim Uddin Bhuyan presented a research paper on how COVID-19 Leaves Bangladeshi Women Migrants in Debt. The country is highly dependent on foreign remittances that are sent back to home by migrant workers. The research paper outlines how Bangladeshi migrants were forced to pay the highest migration costs. These migrant workers who were under the impression that they were remitting money free of cost; However they later realised that they were paying Bangladeshi Taka 1000 towards remitting every BDT 10000per head.
Migrant workers are so distressed by their conditions that they are forced to take loans to ensure their families’ survival. However, the prevailing conditions ensure that they are trapped in debt. As a result, many of the migrants are coming back; amongst which 25,000 are women. Most of them are unskilled and their condition is deplorable due to the enormous amount of exploitation they are made to endure. Women migrant workers who are engaged in domestic work are made to work more than they should, that too without any salary.
“Women were forced to work from morning to midnight; they weren’t paid any salary for their additional work. It is nothing less than wage theft”.
Effects of Pandemic on Migrant’s livelihood
Nitish Gogoi presented the paper titled “A life without hope: The untold story of informal migrant labourers at the time of COVID-19”. He has carried out research work in three villages of Assam, India. Gogoi interacted with eight migrant workers who returned home. He raised the question of how the migrant workers are facing difficulties to return at home.
Due to COVID-19, these workers are facing lack of food and social security. Migrant workers are living in vulnerable conditions and are being forced to use their savings to buy ration or necessary things.
“Migrant workers with no source of income, and no help from others became stressed to provide for their families”.
COVID-19 has not only impacted livelihood, but also increased the mental stress among the informal workers in the economy. Yet, most of them end up resorting to suicide.
They are not provided with proper facilities by the government. Their village quarantine centres are not properly sanitized and lack enough toilets. Health care workers do not attend them. Their families do not get the benefit of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) which is implemented by the Indian government.
Health care system is not equitable- upper-class people always end up receiving more benefits.
COVID-19 challenge for foreign students
Galina Ochiro & Yulia E. Plentneva spoke on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the status of international students in Russia. They conducted their study with various groups of student’s organizations.
Researchers interviewed 137 respondents from 34 countries. 13 percent of the students have been facing problems regarding accommodation, 13 percent are facing problems with medical support issues, and 43 percent of the students were having issues regarding transport. Most of the students support their families and relatives financially. During the pandemic, most people related to them lost their jobs. However, these students could not help them financially as almost 14 percent of them are facing financial issues. When the pandemic began to spread from China, students from Asian countries were at the receiving end of racial discrimination. Attracting foreign students remains the priority for Russian universities. However, these universities are finding it difficult to handle this situation and provide basic support to the foreign students who are more vulnerable than local students. For Russia to implement the plan of increasing the number of foreign students, higher education authorities need to develop a unified plan to overcome the crisis. Particular attention should be given to foreign students.
COVID-19 Intensified the Inequality in Singapore
Dhaval Bhate spoke about the “COVID-19 Nationalism and the experience of migration in Singapore”. Migrant workers are coming to Singapore from Nepal, India, and Bangladesh. Now there is an emerging threat to the migrant workers from a sense of the nationalism that is propping up in the back drop. Singapore has a political history of nationalism which is reigniting itself in this unprecedented situation.
Singapore government has taken a demarcating approach towards COVID-19. In Singapore, one way infection spread is by communities comprising of citizens, residents and white collar workers. On the Other hand, there is a high spread of COVID-19 cases among people living in dormitories. In fact the spread is higher in dormitories particularly, as there are no separate rooms for migrants. They are compelled to share packed dormitories making every individual residing everyone vulnerable to infection spread.
The incidents of inequality are on the rise as other communities are permitted to exercise in the park, buy things for basic needs or go to the restaurant. However, the migrant workers are not allowed to go anywhere even if they are segregated in dormitories.
In the isolation centres, migrant workers are forced to live in terrible conditions—many of the migrant workers sadly attempted suicide. This bifurcation in treating migrant workers and other community members separately has its origin in the notion of nationalism.
“COVID-19 is not just an infectious disease. It has social implications influencing globalization, transnationalism, inequality and even racism”.
Position of the women migrant’s workers in India
Shreya Malik is a PhD scholar at Department of Women and Gender studies. She presented the paper “Re-Gendering the lens: Unearthing the issues and challenges of women, home-based domestic workers during COVID-19 in India”.
The lockdown affected every sector of the economy, like small business, factories, construction sites, as all had to shut down. Hence, most of the migrants went back reluctantly to their native places due to lack of food and no source of income. Many migrants starved to death, some died in train accidents, faced police brutality, and were even denied access to medical care.
There are about 309 million women migrant workers in India, including those who are pregnant. The COVID-19 affects pregnant women, single mothers, transgenders, front line workers, homeless and older people. Those who are working in the domestic sector did not get a salary during the period of lockdown. The labour provided by these women are not valued when compared to the value attached to labour provided by men. During the pandemic, all media houses focused on the issues related to male migrant workers while completely turning a blind eye to the plight of their female counterparts.
Domestic work still presents a huge question in front of government policies in India. Many of the women migrants are facing the problem like sexual harassment and even have no access to basic needs like medical treatment. Only about 5 percent of the affected received the support from the government or private NGO’s, which includes single mothers and pregnant women. The lockdown also saw an increase in violence against women which led to further mental stress.
She concluded by offering a few suggestions for the wellbeing of women migrants especially for those who are pregnant. According to her, proper sanitation facilities must be provided for homeless people, and paid leaves be offered to domestic labourers. The government should also provide allowances and better compensation for the workers.
Restrictions of the travelling effects on mobility
Ananda Majumdar presented the paper titled “The images and scenarios of global migration and COVID-19”. He has discussed various scenarios across the globe where inmost of the countries imposed various travel restrictions for the protection of their citizens. During the time of pandemic, 174 countries, territories, or areas issued new or changed existing travel related restrictions.
In New-Zealand, 1,90,000 people are living on temporary visa, and many of the migrant workers were laid off due to lack of work. They tried hard to get another job in line with their visa conditions before being deported. The pandemic brought more trouble in their lives; many are facing severe economic hardships and are finding it impossible to meet their visa conditions. The restrictions were declared without any notice by the political leaders of every country resulting in political, social and financial emergencies. Whenever migrants found jobs in line with their skills; various governments like that of New Zealand and other countries encouraged people to hire their own citizens rather than migrant workers. It severely impacted migrant workers, their families and communities. Due to COVID-19, businesses are facing revenue losses due to lack of demand, thus lessening the requirement for migrant workers. Many economies are dependent on migrant workers; if the migrant induced demands are low, the economy will enter a vicious cycle of economic recession. Socio-economic cultural harmony is greatly affected due to the closure of international borders. The border closure can never be permanent; however policymaker need to re-think who are the major contributors to economic growth in any country.
Global Economy depends on foreign migrant workers.If migration is banned, how would the wheel of the economy run: Ananda Majumdar.
Therefore, banning borders and travelling restriction are giving rise to the campaign with nationalistic approaches.
Deepika has completed her post-graduation from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India. She is presently living in Kolkata, India. Her interest areas include academic research, writing articles and journalism. Twitter Id @Deepika56370612