"The Middle East is the epicenter of migrants' rights violations. What is the GFMD doing to help them?"

This was asked today by Dolores Balladares, spokesperson of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body (AMCB) as they picketed the consulate of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to symbolize their protest with the gross violations of the human and labor rights of migrant workers in the Middle East especially those in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The protest action was part of the 10-day countdown against the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) to be held in Manila on October 29 and 30. Said countdown was called by the International Migrants' Alliance (IMA) that leads various protest actions in the Philippines and in other countries against the GFMD.

"While the GFMD professes to talk about rights of migrants, thousands of migrants are subjected to grave rights abuses. The beheading of Filipino worker Venancio Ladyon for killing his would-be rapist was the most recent of these cases. When will the Philippine government and the GFMD adherents stop their hypocrisy and act concretely to address our problems?" she added.

Aside from the KSA, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) belong to the GCC. Contract substitution is rampant in these GCC countries legalized both by its own labor laws and the sponsorship system.

The sponsorship system serves as the legal basis for temporary residency and employment in Gulf States. Expatriates cannot enter, work, change jobs or leave the country until they have permission from their sponsor, usually a GCC citizen, company or ministry. The system requires that the expatriate can work only for the sponsor and is entirely dependent on the contract in order to remain in the country.

It is also a common practice for the sponsors to take possession of their foreign workers passport. As earlier stated the latter cannot leave the country without the prior consent of the sponsor written on a so-called "release paper".

"Without an authenticated release paper, foreign migrant workers cannot leave the country or change sponsor and thus become stranded workers. There were stranded workers who even lived under the Al Khandara bridge in Jeddah, KSA during the winter time this year as they had nowhere else to stay," she reported.

As for domestic workers, they are treated more as slaves in the KSA and the rest of the GCC countries and there is rampant physical and sexual abuse on them. They are not also covered by the labor laws and receive very small salaries and have no or limited days off. Many are overworked and do lots of chores especially in big villas.

The rest of the migrant workers also receive relatively small pay especially for cleaners and construction workers even if the KSA and the rest of the GCC are awash with petrodollars. Many receive delayed salary and sometimes are not paid at all. Additionally, even if they perform the same jobs, different nationalities are given different wages.

Aside from these those who dare to complain might be counter charged by their sponsors for absconding, theft, adultery, and even witchcraft. And usually the original legitimate complaints of the migrant workers become irrelevant and they have to suffer the harsh penalties of the counter charges heaped on them by their sponsors.

"Middle East countries are participating in the coming GFMD that will discuss about rights. Sending countries that neglect the rights of their nationals abroad are also coming. With this, the GFMD will only be a mockery of the rights of migrants," Balladares concluded.#