In a bid to strengthen labour migration governance, African trade unions and their counterparts in Asia have agreed to build strong solidarity to address rising cases of abuse of migrant workers’ rights in both continents.
Over the years, trade unions in both African and Asian countries have over the years lamented protracted abusive and exploitative practices perpetrated against migrant workers especially in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Migrant workers, especially domestic workers in Middle East countries experience forced and bonded labour, excessive working hours, delayed and denied wages as well as verbal and physical abuse.
However, Trade unionists and CSO experts from both continents during a virtual meeting on Friday shared practical experiences on what they are doing at national level to give voices to migrant workers.
Discussions centred on trade unions supporting migrant workers to get unpaid wages and other dues, or compensation for harm suffered, including the context of racism and discrimination and through a gender-based perspective.
Trade unions from Nigerian, Kenya, Bahrain, Zimbabwe, India and a host of others participated in virtual meeting.
The participants agreed that ensuring access to justice for migrant workers is one of the key objectives for CSOs and trade unions and one of the most challenging issues in the Arab States because of the poorly functioning and inaccessible dispute resolution systems.
According to Comrade Joel Odigie, Trade unions and civil society organizations (CSOs) in both African and Asian countries have been working to organize workers in the countries of destination, run advocacy campaigns focusing on governments in countries of origin and missions, facilitate access to justice, and yet there has been a limited opportunity for dialogue directly with one another, to share lessons learnt and build solidarity.
