KARACHI, Nov 3: While developing countries like India and the Philippines make all-out efforts towards securing the rights of their nationals employed abroad, Pakistani migrant workers who contribute billions of rupees to the exchequer in foreign remittances every year literally live live slaves especially in the Gulf countries.

These workers, many of whom live in subhuman conditions, have no forum to raise their voice as the Pakistani embassies concerned play no role in protecting their rights.

These were some of the observations made by speakers at a two-day national conference on promoting safe migration practices to prevent human trafficking in Pakistan.

The conference, organised by the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid (LHRLA), is the last in a series of consultative meetings and workshops held in all four provinces this year in collaboration with the Islamabad-based Solidarity Centre.

Dr Sabur Ghayur, chairman of the policy planning cell (ministry of labour and manpower), Zahoor Awan of the Pakistan Workers Federation (PWF), Abdul Razzak Cheema, additional director of the immigration department, and Julian Padilla were among the speakers.

According to some speakers, most Pakistani workers abroad are subjected to exploitation in those countries where the government has allowed dubious agents to operate and has, so far, failed to evolve a system that can protect such workers from being abused and discriminated against in and outside the country.

Throwing light on the present status of Pakistani migrant workers, the speakers said that a majority of those employed in some Gulf counties worked as forced labourers living in labour camps in subhuman conditions.

“The workers are abused, forced to work for long hours and paid far less as compared to the Indians and Filipinos engaged for the same jobs.

“They include both regular and undocumented workers. It’s a common practice that employers back out on their promises regarding salaries and benefits on the grounds that their contract agreement is not attested,” they said, adding that workers could be sacked and deported immediately on any excuse and without calling any explanation.

“These poor workers risk their lives, sell their belongings and work in poor conditions far away from their homeland so that their families can enjoy a better life. They are the ones who send foreign exchange and strengthen the country’s economy. Only last year, they contributed about $6 billion in remittances. But, what are they getting in return?” they asked.

Criticising the “dumb” role of Pakistani embassies, the speakers said that the lack of interest on the part of the government towards the plight of migrant workers could be gauged from the fact that embassies were not even accessible to most migrant workers.

“The embassies are inaccessible for a majority of workers as they shut at 5pm. An aggrieved worker cannot afford to take a day off which would mean a cut in his wages.

“The government should, at least, arrange for an evening desk at the embassies so that people can make queries and register their complaints at that time,” they said.

Several developing countries, like India and Philippines, had bilateral agreements with the labour-receiving countries and their embassies played an active role in resolving the issues concerning the wellbeing of their citizens.

Top officials of these developing countries accord priority to meetings with their migrant workers during their visits abroad. “The officials take keen interest in their issues and take up the migrant workers’ complaints with the officials of the countries concerned,” they said.

Recently, the Philippines became the first country that blacklisted certain states where abuse of foreign workforce was rampant, LHRLA head Zia Awan recalled, adding: “No example exists in the past where a labour-sending country has blacklisted a labour-receiving country.”

Recommendations

The speakers demanded that all labour-receiving countries, along with Pakistan, should ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and should ensure proper implementation of the law so that minimum standards for protection of migrant workers could be achieved.

Among the many recommendations put forward with the aim of minimising migrant workers’ sufferings, was a suggestion that the government should simplify the basic process of relevant documentation so that excessive delay in attestation by the embassy and dual medical tests could be avoided.

Another suggestion was elimination of the role of middlemen, who would subject emigrant workers to threats of sacking and deportation.

The conference also recommended that the foreign employer or the relevant embassy should make arrangements for the dispatch of the body of a worker in the event of his death and payment of compensation in case a worker became disabled.

“Also, there is a strong need for effective pre-departure, post-arrival and follow-up programmes. A deported worker should not be arrested upon his return to his home country. Rather, he should be treated as a victim of exploitation,” the participants stressed.

The conference also called for strict checks on promoters, agents and employers found indulging in illegal practices.

It was suggested that the workers coming to Pakistan should be handled by the labour ministry instead of the interior ministry.

HIV/Aids factor

The speakers expressed their concern over the cases concerning sacking and deportation on the grounds of a worker having been contracted HIV/Aids infection but keeping the employee concerned unaware of it.

“There is no current record on HIV/Aids prevalence among Pakistani workers being deported. There was, however, an accidental discovery of the infection, though in 1989, when 67 out of 258 workers deported from the Gulf countries were found to be HIV-positive,” said Mohammad Arif Bashir of the National Aids Programme.

He stressed the need for having an individual data of each deportee so that the person could be examined for the infection.