Coronavirus: Implications for overseas migrants

It is difficult to predict how the world will shape in a post COVID-19 situation. While the uncertainty regarding migration and its practices lingers on, there can be no doubt that the implications of coronavirus will have vast adverse effects on the lives of migrant workers all across the world. All that we can actually be certain of is that we cannot expect good news for the migrants, for their home countries or the destination countries.

ILO predicts that almost 25 million jobs could be lost worldwide as a result of COVID-19. However, there is no specific information available regarding how many of these people are migrant workers. The current situation under the lockdown is alarming in most destination countries, with little or no work available for the short-term migrant workers. Short-term migrants, particularly working in Asian and African countries are also in a more vulnerable condition towards contracting COVID-19b because most of these workers live in dormitories, where generally more than 10-20 people live in one room. The question is, what responsibilities are being undertaken by the host countries to save these migrants’ lives?

There already exists the precedent that many employers at countries of destination do not pay regular wages to migrant workers, even in times of normality. So what is happening now? If the workers are currently under a no-work-situation, can we expect that they are being paid properly? If the answer is no, then it will certainly have negative impacts on their lives, which will also consequently affect their families back here, who depend on the remittances. Eventually, it will ultimately affect Bangladesh’s GDP as well.

As for the future, do we have any idea what may happen when lockdowns are withdrawn by the sending and receiving countries? Are we prepared? We can be certain that many migrants will return home, a huge number of whom will be jobless and/or forcefully deported. The question is whether they will be properly compensated by their employers or not. Past experiences do not reflect well in this context. This includes instances of workers' economic rights being violated by employers at the destination countries during times of duress, war and/or other such situations taking place at the country of destination. So, many of them are likely to return empty-handed. This will also depend on the categories of job of the migrants. Undocumented workers and freelancers will be the most vulnerable as they are not eligible for any kind of compensation due to the nature of their migration. These categories of workers will suffer the most.

This is the time for the Bangladesh government to prepare a strategy to negotiate with the countries of destination for proper compensation packages for the jobless and deported workers. The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment and Ministry of Foreign Affairs need to start planning for this contingency immediately. The government should start bilateral dialogue with the deporting countries, as well as raise this issue at the multilateral forums with the support of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Bilateral discussions may be more fruitful given the current situation where the post-pandemic economic condition of most countries and employers will not be good.

Another pressing matter for Bangladesh will be how the returning migrants are managed and how their families will be taken care of. Reintegration and repatriation of these returnee migrants will be a vital issue. Reintegration is not only about economic issues. It also involves the social and psychosocial disorder of the returnee migrants. Government funds are available to provide support to the returnees, including funds available under the Wage Earners Welfare Board Act – culminated from the contributions of migrant workers. However, this may not be sufficient. Hence, the government should allow special funding support, which has already been requested for allocation by the Bangladesh Civil Society for Migration (BCSM) to the honorable Prime Minister. The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment should pursue this with the prime minister, for the emergency and reintegration support for the migrants and members of their families.

We should not forget that migration is one of the most important pillars for our GDP growth, and we need to uphold and secure the process for future growth of remittances. The government should consider this appeal immediately for the sake of 10 million migrant workers and the members of their families.

Hassan Imam Shaon is a migration analyst and development worker. Earlier, he worked as head of the migration programme at BRAC