Press Release
18 September 2008

For reference: Eni Lestari
Chairperson
Tel. No.: (852) 96081475

"Deceitful and a mockery of rights"
Int'l migrant's group hits arrest of amnesty-seekers in Kuwait

"The crackdown on undocumented migrants conducted by the Kuwaiti government shows that the amnesty program it announced was but a deceptive ploy to lure undocumented workers out of hiding. It made a mockery of justice and human rights."

This was declared by Eni Lestari, chairperson of the International Migrants' Alliance (IMA), as newspaper reports in Kuwait last week relayed the arrests made by Kuwaiti authorities of amnesty seekers within the vicinity of the Indian Embassy who were seeking out passes to leave the country. Similar arrests were reported in other embassies of labor-sending countries.

These crackdown operations were conducted during the 45-day amnesty period that the government itself declared from September 1 to October 15.

"Undocumented migrants and the world are being fooled by Kuwaiti government through these antics. While projecting benevolent treatment of undocumented migrants, its actual agenda is to arrest migrants like common criminals and forcibly expel them from the country," she added.

Lestari reported that on September 11, Kuwait's Ministry of Interior or MOI swooped down on undocumented migrants in 26 locations in areas in Kuwait. The Ministry announced later the arrest of 300 migrants and boasted a target of 75,000 more.

"This action of the government only showed to the migrants that the amnesty program is only a big but very dangerous joke. With such results, undocumented migrants will surely be exposed to more vulnerabilities just so they can evade arrest and deportation," believed Lestari.

Additionally, MOI stated that one of its focus during its crackdown operations would be on some of its citizens involved in visa trading. This was the same reason given by them when they deported 1000 Bangladeshi migrants who were part of the 7000 workers who staged a strike for receiving for as low as KD8 (US$30) a month because of various deductions from their meager pay.

The said strike later turned into riots that hit national dailies and even overseas news.

"Why make the migrants suffer for other people's crimes? What the Kuwaiti government should instead do is to look deeper into the causes, especially their standing policies on foreign workers, why migrants are forced to be undocumented," she remarked.

According to the group, the crackdown in Kuwait and similar operations against undocumented migrants in Malaysia is a serious concern that must be immediately addressed by the international community. She expressed her disappointment of intergovernmental gatherings that do not take up the issues of undocumented migrants and instead just allow the practice of criminalizing undocumented migrants.

"While receiving countries like Kuwait, Malaysia, Korea and Japan and sending countries like Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh benefit a lot from the labor of undocumented migrants, our fellow migrants are easily brushed off and their rights violated in regular crackdown operations. These governments hypocritically attend gatherings to discuss migrants and migration like the coming Second Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) but are also the first one to lead actions that violate our rights and put us in a worse condition," Lestari said.

Lestari called on to the Kuwaiti government to stop the crackdown operations and abide by its own declared amnesty program. She said that undocumented migrants wishing to avail of amnesty must be allowed to do so without fear of arrest and prosecution.

"The international community must also stand up against these actions. If the GFMD is really gearing for the improvement of the migrant's lot, these are the concrete issues that it should address," she concluded.