Vulnerable workforce- Migrant Workers in Maldives

Migrant is a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence whether within a country or cross an international border, temporarily or permanently for a variety of reasons.

On the last decade Maldives is highly reliant on foreign workers to overcome labour shortages in the construction, tourism, health care and education sectors ranking as the country with the largest proportion of international migrants in south Asia especially from Bangladesh, India, Srilanka, Nepal and Philippines. Currently there are 145,000 to 230,000 estimate number of migrant workers in the Maldives and more than 60,000 are undocumented according to 2020 united nations report.

Migrants workers in the Maldives faces a range of different kind of abuses from employers including wages theft, passport confiscation, misleading recruitment practice, overcrowded and unhygienic living conditions and forced labour that violate domestic and international standards and conventions.

Recruiter regularly use fraudulent practices on the process of recruitment, who promised secure and well-paying work. However, the reality becomes a nightmare when they arrive to Maldives, with no work at all or in many cases they sent to different jobs with much lower salaries and frequently required to work long hours in contravention of the maximum working hours defined in the Maldives employment act.

Apart from working for long hours construction workers often work in unsafe condition without proper safety equipment’s. According to human rights watch report, migrants’ workers are being subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by private sector.

During the corvid -19 pandemic moment of restriction these migrant workers are the most vulnerable social group in the society as most of the workers depend on daily wages and due to country lockdown, they were unable to work and support themselves. Living in congested shared accommodation with limited access to health care and hygiene, increased the risk of contracting to corona virus.

There were lot of protest over unpaid wages, lack of access to food and living in dangerous conditions, the authorities called migrants a threat to national security and detained migrant workers for joining protest and many have been deported.

Among the nine core international instruments, the Maldives has ratified seven treaties except “convention on the protection of the Rights of all migrant workers and members of their families and have joined eight”. However, there are other conventions that support migrant workers’ rights which Maldives that has ratified.
What are the Human Rights of Migrant Workers?
All persons, regardless of their nationality, race, legal or other status, are entitled to fundamental human rights and basic labor protections, including migrant workers and their families. Migrants are also entitled to certain human rights and protections specifically linked to their vulnerable status.
The human rights of migrant workers and their families include the following universal, indivisible, interconnected and interdependent human rights:
• The human right to work and receive wages that contribute to an adequate standard of living.
• The human right to freedom from discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, sex, religion or any other status, in all aspects of work, including in hiring, conditions of work, and promotion, and in access to housing, health care and basic services.
• The human right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law, particularly in regard to human rights and labor legislation, regardless of a migrant's legal status.
• The human right to equal pay for equal work.
• The human right to freedom from forced labor.
• The human right to protection against arbitrary expulsion from the State of employment.
• The human right to return home if the migrant wishes.
• The human right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of the migrant worker and his or her family.
• The human right to safe working conditions and a clean and safe working environment.
• The human right to reasonable limitation of working hours, rest and leisure.
• The human right to freedom of association and to join a trade union.
• The human right to freedom from sexual harassment in the workplace.
• The human right to protection during pregnancy from work proven to be harmful.
• The human right to protection for the child from economic exploitation and from any work that may be hazardous to his or her well-being and development.
• The human right of children of migrant workers to education.
• The human right of migrants and their families to reunification.
Governments' Obligations to Ensuring the Human Rights of Migrant Workers and What provisions of human rights law guarantee the Human Rights of Migrant Workers?
- International convention of the protection of the rights of all Migrant workers and members of their families, the Migration for Employment Convention (Revised) (No. 97), the Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention (No. 143)
- The Universal Declaration of human Rights
- The international Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- The international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women
- The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination
- The Convention on the Right of the Child
- The ILO forced labour Convention (no 29)
- ILO freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize convention (No 87)
- The ILO Equal Remuneration Convention (no 100)
- The ILO Discrimination (Employment and occupation) convention (No 111)
- The ILO Minimum Age Convention (No 38)