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The COVID-19 pandemic has replaced the lives of millions of employees worldwide, but has been especially harmful to migrant staff. Thousands of others have had to return to their home countries, receiving hostile receptions for creating more tensions in the country. arousing fears about COVID-19 infection.
The International Labour Organization largely monitors migrant staff around the world. BRINK spoke to Michelle Leighton, who directs the ILO’s paintings on migration and labour mobility, and began the verbal exchange by asking how COVID-19 had impacted global migration patterns.
LEIGHTON: Before the pandemic, there were 164 million migrant workers in the world, almost part of whom were women, and even before that, they had high degrees of discrimination, painted in top-transition jobs and casual sectors, rarely domestic paintings. Migrant staff are infrequently faced with discrimination and unequal treatment, receive low wages, rarely below the minimum wage set for nationals and in many cases do not have access to social protection. problems, I think it is fair to say, that they have plagued the migration governance formula for several decades.
LEIGHTON: When the crisis hit and the pandemic resulted in lockouts, it exposed the flaws in those governance structures and exacerbated the effects on migrant staff. Many migrant employees in overcrowded paint sites in the first position and cannot make up for any social remoteness. or exposure coverage.
There has been a highlight of forced repatriation in many countries, as well as those that voluntarily retreated before border closures. Nepal, which has 2. 5 million employees in India, has noticed that 500,000 employees return from India, as the Indian government makes one of the greatest repatriation efforts in history, bringing back more than 100,000 Indian employees from other regions through flights, while many more have gone backwards. His. In Ethiopia, many have retreated, thousands more are waiting in detention centres and 200,000 or more people are expected to be forced by force until the end of the year.
BRINK: What demanding situations does this create for countries that have to reabsorb their nationality?
LEIGHTON: Well, it creates significant effects for states that already had fairly fragile labor markets and are now experiencing high levels of unemployment. These countries will face really demanding situations in creating employment opportunities for all nationals.
Several countries, such as Nepal and Bangladesh, are concerned that by the end of autumn, thousands of returnees will lose their jobs in the Gulf or Asian countries as borders loosen.
BRINK: Will the pandemic and recession fundamentally replace migration patterns?
LEIGHTON: In recent years, migration corridors have noticed significant and immediate increases in the volume of migrant workers, from Asia to the Gulf States. We have also noticed that a lot of African countries move to the Gulf to work.
At the end of May, the ILO reported that approximately 305 million full-time equivalent jobs would be lost this quarter of the year. Will these jobs pass on to migrant staff who have returned home?Will they be able to leave? This is doubtful because the question is whether corporations and the call will return and how temporarily they will return.
I have no doubt that migration will continue at peak levels in the future, as it has increased, but it would possibly not occur as temporarily as many think, and we will see a steady decrease in remittances sent home.
BRINK: Do you see any benefit to this turmoil that can only help migrants?Is there any benefit that can come from all this?
LEIGHTON: Well, we hope, of course, that there will be an advantage, and that when recovery begins, and it’s already starting in some countries, countries will take the opportunity to rebuild better, that’s the style United uses. Nations hopes to promote.
This is a genuine time to take a look at the types of systems that countries can rebuild in countries of origin, and countries that are starting the ILO are exploring how to create environments conducive to decent work.
The time has come to take a look at failed establishments and gaps in governance frameworks and review to seriously readjust such systems. An example is the kafala system, in which migrant staff are connected to their employers, are prevented from converting jobs and require employers to certify exit visas, as well as other restrictions on the rights of migrant staff. Countries recover, but migrant staff can also be documented and not deported or sent home.
There is an opportunity for much more systematic cooperation between countries for an orderly and safe return and to provide for reintegration. This is a genuine time to read about the types of systems that can help countries rebuild in countries of origin, and the ILO is helping countries explore how to create environments conducive to decent work.
LEIGHTON: Those who return, for example, bring skills, skill and business knowledge, but their home countries do not have the systems and establishments in a position to recognize skills and skills, which also requires active commitment from the personal sector.
There is a desire to actually improve labour market data systems for all staff and businesses in order to contribute to the adequacy of skills and jobs. For the ILO, this is an essential issue: effective and inclusive labour markets, and the search for tactics to expand and the capabilities of the national workforce, with a specific focus on the long working period.
BRINK: Is this an area where generation can be useful for countries to better perceive what skills are needed and what gaps are?
LEIGHTON: Yes, generation assistance establishments can manage labour market information, collect knowledge about migrant workers, etc. Agriculture is one of the areas in which nationals do not need to fill these jobs, so having a safe place of fact and an equitable e-procurement system, based on ILO criteria and guidelines, can be a vital tool.
The ILO and the World Bank monitor exploitation in the procurement process. Fair recruitment processes can evade hard-working agents who mimic migrant workers, forcing them to pay tens of thousands of dollars or up to a year’s wage for their work.
If the festival gets sharp after the crisis, the threat of human trafficking and forced hard work will be high. This is a billion-dollar business and can become a billion-dollar business if we can’t help it. It may be useful to establish systems to disseminate more data on market position and implement technologies for systems such as electronic recruitment or electronic visas. If we do, working with companies, we may start attacking this challenge on a larger scale.
BRINK: What can corporations do to alleviate these problems?Can you give recommendations to companies?
LEIGHTON: Many companies have migrant workers, so engaging in political debate is a vital area in which businesses can help. Of course, companies can afford fair wages to migrant workers. The pandemic has greater practice and a threat of non-payment or underpayment of the wages of migrant workers, and some are the crisis as a means of renegotiating workers’ contracts.
Effectively ensuring smart business practices, adding fair recruitment, extending social coverage to migrant staff, and working with the government to ensure that the status quo of much more systematic, measured and protective labour migration frameworks will ensure the rights of migrant staff.
Companies have been involved in migration, but they have not become active in the political process and I think we will have to be part of the discussion to be part of the solution.
Michelle Leighton is Head of the Labour Migration Service at the International Labour Organization, where she directs paintings from the Office of Migration and Labour Mobility and supports policies and programs for migrants and refugees She has experience in the fields of law, labour migration, human rights rights and economic development.