Rights Of Migrant Workers Research Articles

Social Security Protection of Immigrants in Brazil

Objective: The objective of this study is to analyze the social security protection of immigrants in Brazil, focusing on international social security agreements and their effectiveness in ensuring rights comparable to those of Brazilian beneficiaries. Theoretical Framework: The research is based on concepts of social protection, social security rights, and international treaties, emphasizing the relevance of social security agreements as mechanisms to guarantee equitable rights for migrant workers. Method: The methodological approach adopted is exploratory and descriptive, comprising a literature review and documentary analysis of international social security agreements and relevant legislation. Results and Discussion: The results indicate that international agreements play an essential role in the social security protection of immigrants, allowing the totalization of contribution periods and facilitating access to benefits. However, challenges such as legislative harmonization and the simplification of administrative procedures remain, although some agreements satisfactorily address these issues. Research Implications: This research provides insights into the importance of international cooperation to ensure equitable social security protection, highlighting the need for effective practical implementation of agreements and coordination among signatory countries. Originality/Value: This study enriches the literature on social security protection by highlighting the effectiveness and challenges of international social security agreements, offering an analysis that can guide policies and practices for the protection of immigrants in Brazil.

3.O. Scientific session: Migrant labour exploitation and health: How can research foster protection of migrant workers?

Abstract Migrant workers sustain essential industries such as the food supply chain, construction, and domestic and care work. They tend to perform onerous and risk-laden tasks at low pay without employment or health protections, and often under exploitative terms (e.g., debt bonding, piecework). Current evidence on associations between migration, employment terms and conditions, and health indicates profound inequities in work-related health outcomes for migrant workers. Although the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted these disparities and their potential social and public health implications, migrant workers continue to be overlooked by public health scholars and policymakers. Supranational regulations (such as EU directives) and national policies rarely consider migrants in their role as workers, and little research is dedicated to questions at the intersection of migration, employment, and health. The invisibility of migrant workers is also a matter of disciplinary and sectoral silos, with different aspects of migrant labour regulated separately by Ministries of Immigration, Labour, Agriculture, Health, and others. These silos create incompatible, context-contingent definitions, terminologies, and administrative categorizations, leading to inconsistent data collection and data gaps which, in turn, translate into policy blind spots. Data that are comparable across contexts and that refer to migration, employment/work and health are generally scarce. For some sectors and contexts, virtually no data exist; e.g., for migrant workers in agriculture, construction, and domestic work, and for migrant workers in low- and middle-income countries. There is barely any evidence about interventions to improve the structures that dictate migrant workers’ employment conditions or obligations of employers. Given the limited participatory research with migrant workers, we have a very poor understanding of their views and viable intervention options, and migrant workers’ voices thus also remain absent from policymaking. This workshop aims to contribute to greater visibility of - and ultimately action on - migrant labour exploitation in research and policy. To this end, it will map current challenges and shortcomings in generating evidence on the links between migration, work/employment, and health; and it will suggest ways to improve research and interventions to address migrant workers’ health, based on the speakers’ experience in developing intervention-focused evidence in different contexts. The workshop will conclude with an open discussion to identify further relevant questions and elaborate steps towards better research and greater protections for mobile worker populations. Key messages • Harm from exploitative working conditions among migrant workers is substantial, yet data collection methods and intervention designs are limited. • For public health research to effectively help protect the health and rights of migrant workers, it is essential to share methods and insights across disciplines to drive research for action.

ISSUES OF PROVIDING GUARANTEES AND SOCIAL PROTECTION FOR EAEU LABOUR MIGRANTS

Background: Today, the Eurasian Economic Union (hereinafter the EAEU) has formed its own labour market; however, in the current international environment, issues related to ensuring the health protection of migrants and their access to employment persist. Despite ongoing efforts within the EAEU to develop and deepen Eurasian integration and improve the regulatory framework, there is a need in the age of digitalisation to develop better access for workers to social protection and medical support systems. The relevance of this scientific article lies in the presence of problematic issues related to the fact that many migrants are not registered and lack the documentation to protect them legally and financially; this situation contributes to the development of informal employment and low labour productivity. Although the EAEU countries have established working and socio- economic conditions, the issue of ensuring health protection, access to work, and social protection for labour migrants remains unsolved. Methods: This article employs various methods of scientific cognition, including historical and legal analysis, comparative legal study, induction and deduction, as well as analysis and synthesis. It also applies the acts and regulations of the ILO. What is the role of protecting the socio-economic and labour rights of migrant workers as the main task of receiving states? In law enforcement practice, to what extent do the provisions of international agreements on the organised hiring of workers between receiving countries and countries of origin of migrants ensure the adaptation of migrants to the legal regime of the host country, the participation of migrants in the functioning of civil society institutions, and the monitoring of migration processes? How does national regulation of labour migration in integration associations of states rationally organise their actions on the principles of national treatment for migrant workers? Labour migration strengthens integration unions, creating strong social ties and developing civil society institutions within the boundaries of integration associations. Since state sovereignty is inextricably linked to the protection of the interests of fellow citizens in regulating labour migration, all states participating in regional integration are called upon not only to protect the rights of migrant workers but also to provide all conditions for migrants to fulfil their obligations to civil society. The study examined the free movement and provision of labour and social guarantees for labour migrants in the EAEU and compared their situation in the EU. It also surveyed labour migrants in the EAEU by questioning workers in education, medical care, and various private sectors. This article is based on the results of this study. This article examined the challenges in providing guarantees and social protection for EAEU labour migrants. It proposed improvements to legal regulatory mechanisms and outlined recommendations for improving and expanding opportunities for free movement while better safeguarding the social and labour rights of migrants in the EAEU. The study’s primary objectives were as follows: - Examining the provisions of the ILO Convention on migrant workers. - Collecting and analysing data on labour movement across the EAEU - Analysing international EU treaties regarding the legal status of migrant workers - Interviewing migrant workers in the EAEU on issues related to their provision of rights and guarantees under the EAEU Treaty. Results and conclusions: This study highlights the need to organise safe labour migration, provide labour migrants with full access to digital services, improve the system of vocational and technical education in line with labour market demands, as well as develop and implement a unified system for ensuring the safety of workers and their families. Successful adaptation in the host country is identified as a critical factor for both labour migrants and their families. The authors recommend adding a dedicated chapter to the EAEU treaty that would comprehensively address labour and social rights, along with their guarantees.

Migrant workers’ perception and awareness of health insurance coverage in Brunei Darussalam

BackgroundMigrant workers are recognized as a vulnerable group of population in the context of accessibility to healthcare services as they are likely to experience multiple challenges and barriers. This study aimed to assess the awareness and perceived knowledge on health insurance coverage among documented migrant workers in Brunei Darussalam.MethodsThis cross-sectional, interviewer-administered study used a pre-designed questionnaire on migrant workers attending the Foreign Worker Health Screening Centre from June until September 2019. Data were analyzed for association between perceived insurance status on health-seeking behavior.ResultsThe study obtained responses from 469 documented migrant workers (93.8%). 75.1% reported being aware of and having health insurance coverage; and of these, 57.1% were aware of the type of health insurance cover they had. 45.5% and 50.6% had poor knowledge whether their health insurance covered for hospitalization or outpatient expenses, respectively. No significant association was found between the migrant workers’ perceived status of insurance and not seeking medical care due to financial barriers (p > 0.05).ConclusionsA high proportion of documented migrant workers in Brunei Darussalam reported knowledge of having health insurance; however, there was lack of awareness on its actual coverage. By including migrants’ health in a nation’s healthcare governance, the health rights of migrant workers can be addressed thus aiming to achieve universal health coverage for all individuals.

Migrant sexual precarity through the lens of workplace litigation

AbstractTheories of precarity have emphasized workplace isolation, worker vulnerability and a lack of control over key features of work. Migration status has been viewed as an attribute that can exacerbate worker precarity, and sexual violence and bodily injury are viewed by feminist scholars including Violence Against Women scholars as sources of such precarity as well. Nevertheless, how the interaction of workplace conditions, migration status, gender and sexual violence impact migrants needs more attention. A new evidence base, the Migrant Worker Rights Database, explores workplace violations against migrants in 907 tribunal and court cases brought by migrants in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States over a 20‐year period. The data collected for this project demonstrates that female migrants experience higher rates of sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual servitude, and sex trafficking when compared with men. Further, while such collectively termed “sexual violence” offenses comprise a small percentage of cases in the Database (1.3%), they are characterized qualitatively by key features that present a heightened form of sexual precarity when compared with citizens: misuse by employers of visa conditions, debt bondage, live‐in arrangements, entrapment and slavery, and the combination of sexual violence with economic infringements such as wage theft and physical assault. Sexual precarity, this paper argues, should be viewed as an overlapping and reinforcing form of workplace precarity that has distinctly sexual and bodily dimensions.

Providing Health Care but Receiving None in Return: An Expanded Right to Health Analysis of the Live-In Caregiver Program of Canada (1992-2014)

Canada’s robust universal, single-payer healthcare system has long made socio-economic rights (SER) advocates in the United States envious of our neighbors to the north. Fundamental human rights tenants echo in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including non-discrimination and individual freedom, yet the “right to health” has not been constitutionalized at the moment this essay was written.1 While Canada has a strong track record of signing international human rights conventions and guaranteeing the right to health for permanent citizens, there remains a gap in the health rights of migrant workers, even in regular situations or formalized citizenship pathways. Ever-changing legal qualifications for permanent residency and arbitrary three-month waiting periods for healthcare coverage to come into effect make securing the right to health for even the most highly desirable workers—namely, healthcare workers in private households—a thorny task. The motto for Canada’s paradoxical commitment to the socio-economic rights of migrant workers might be, as Toronto doctors Ritika Goel and Michaela Beder aptly articulate in the title of their medical journal op-ed, “Welcome to Canada...but don’t get sick.”

Living beyond borders: the international legal framework to protecting rights to health of Indonesian illegal migrant workers in Malaysia

PurposeThis study aims to analyse in the health access of Indonesian illegal migrant workers in Malaysia, during which time they were not covered by Indonesia’s national social health insurance.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a sociolegal approach, the research approach is conducted to understand the effect of a law, policy and regulation on access to health-care access among Indonesian migrant workers working illegally in Malaysia. This research involved 110 respondents who work illegally in Malaysia. The research explored the perceptions of respondents concerning to health access services of illegal migrant workers.FindingsThe study demonstrated the weakness of provisions intended to guarantee the health access to health care of migrant workers from Indonesia illegally working in Malaysia. A decline in health status was observed, but it was not significant. Bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Malaysia is necessary to provide a framework for Indonesia providing health care to its citizens working in Malaysia, regardless of their legal status.Originality/valueThis paper concerns on the Indonesia illegal migrant workers experiencing illness and the access to the health service in Malaysia, and also the implementation of international regulation to protect Indonesian illegal migrant workers in Malaysia under ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers.

Advancing the labour rights of migrant workers beyond Kafala: the impact of ‘established-outsider relations’ on reforming Qatar’s transnational labour management system

In the years following Qatar’s successful 2010 bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2022, there has been a significant shift in its engagement with the migrant labour rights discourse, and subsequent embarkment on significant reforms as the result of intense international scrutiny and advocacy action. The core feature of Qatar’s historically evolved transnational labour management system, Kafala, has become a key focal point of international advocacy efforts. The objective of this article is to assess the extent to which the reforms constitute a break in Qatar’s historical (that is, pre-FIFA 2022) labour management system, and thus a meaningful disruption to the social reproduction regime that allowed the Kafala system to persist. We do so by probing the institutionalisation of those reforms, with a particular focus on the agency of labour through collective worker empowerment. Drawing on interviews with key transnational actors involved in the reform process in situ, we employ the ‘established-outsider’ relations concept in our analysis of the reforms, while highlighting the remaining challenges. Our ultimate argument is that although the reforms in Qatar seek to provide more labour rights and protections, they fall short of loosening the absolute control of sponsors (kafeels) over their employees. This is due to two main reasons: the absence of strong and effective institutions to convert the legal reforms into rights in practice; and the fact that laws outside of the labour ministry, that fall under the jurisdiction of the interior ministry, are the foundation of the relationship between citizens and migrants and remain largely untouched. These double-edged limitations guarantee the social reproduction of the highly unequal labour mobility system by firmly keeping in place ‘established-outsider’ relations.

Recent Developments concerning the Rights of Migrant Workers and of Women: a Survey of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE

Abstract The survey of the Gulf Cooperation Council states reviews some key legislative and executive measures of particularly the governments of Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the year 2023 (largely between December 2022–2023). It focuses mainly on the rights of the migrant workers. Further, and in less detail, it also notes some of the developments pertinent to the rights of women. More generally, these rights are less relevant to women who are not national citizens. The GCC comprises six member countries in the Arab-Gulf region: Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, the UAE (it is a federal state comprising seven emirates namely, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah), Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. These oil-producing countries have a significant proportion of foreign workforce in the population. At 88.1 per cent, the UAE has the highest proportion of migrants in its population among the GCC members (UN DESA, 2020). Foreign workers work mostly in the private sector and are also residents in the host countries. Therefore, a broader spectrum of governments’ measures relating to the issues like labour, entry and residence, and ownership of property or business touch the lives of the foreign/migrant workers or expatriates in the Gulf country. Governments’ initiatives targeting domestic workers are relevant also for women because they comprise the majority in this group. Apparently, the most prolific among the GCC countries in governmental initiatives during the surveyed period is the UAE, both concerning migrant workers and women. The Gulf states appear to have showed more responsiveness to their public image as a few important global events have happened in the region in the past year or discussion was in progress. For instance, the FIFA World Cup 2022 was hosted in Doha, Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022. The 28th United Nations Climate Change conference or COP28 was hosted in Dubai, the UAE from 30 November to 12 December 2023. Announced at the conclusion of the competitive bidding process in November 2023, Saudi Arabia has won the bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Riyadh from October 2030 to March 2031.

Indonesia Diplomacy in Protecting the Rights of Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers in Malaysia (2017-2022)

This research aims to discuss the diplomatic efforts made by the Indonesian government to protect Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) in the domestic sector in Malaysia, where the majority of PMI are undocumented. In this case, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is the representative of the Republic of Indonesia in Malaysia, which provides services and protection for Indonesian Citizens (Indonesian citizens) who stay in Malaysia, including human rights and migrant worker rights that every worker must have. This research will use qualitative methods with data collection techniques from observation, interviews, participation, and literature study originating from books, journals, articles, official reports, and online news. This research implements the track one diplomacy, negotiations, and international migration concept. The findings of this study show that the Indonesian government is making diplomatic efforts with Malaysia to provide maximum protection for PMI in the domestic sector of Malaysia. One of the ways the government provides PMI protection is through lengthy negotiations with Malaysia, which eventually resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers in Malaysia in April 2022. Keywords: Track One Diplomacy, Indonesian Migrant Workers, Protection of Human Rights, Workers Rights

Economic Growth: The Fundamental Path to the Realization of Social Security Rights for Migrant Workers

Economic Growth: The Fundamental Path to the Realization of Social Security Rights for Migrant Workers

Creativity and digital strategies to support food cultural heritage in Mediterranean rural areas

Creativity and digital strategies to support food cultural heritage in Mediterranean rural areas

Pengembangan Kompetensi Pemasaran Digital bagi Wirausaha Kelompok Buruh Migran dan Keluarganya

The Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI) is an organization that represents the interests of Indonesian migrant workers. SBMI aims to advocate for the rights of migrant workers in Indonesia, protect them from exploitation, and improve their working conditions and welfare. Through the learning and development of accounting systems, promotion management, digital marketing, and innovative product development for digital-based economic groups, the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (SBMI) is expected to provide a good opportunity to enhance personal and family economics. The Community Service Team (PkM) from Fisipol UKI collaborated with lecturers from Pasundan University to initiate the socialization and training for migrant worker unions in Sukabumi, West Java. The PkM team focused on training participants in utilizing E-Commerce applications and the Tik-Tok social media application to market their products. Participants also engaged in direct practice of marketing products on E-Commerce and Tik-Tok applications. After undergoing direct training, participants then completed a post-test, showing significant progress with 97% of participants understanding the concept of marketing using E-Commerce and Tik-Tok. At the conclusion of the socialization and training, the UKI PkM Team provided social media accounts and phone numbers to participants for easier communication when they have questions or need assistance with product marketing.

Implementasi Reformasi Sistem Kafala terhadap Upaya Perlindungan Hak Asasi Manusia Buruh Migran di Qatar

During the construction of World Cup 2022 infrastructures in Qatar there assumed to be human rights violations against migrant workers. Around 1200 migrant workers died between the year of 2010-2014 because of forced labor, bad environment, withholding wages, limited access to proper health care, discriminatory and exploitative treatment. This paper aims to describe the failure Kafala system which argued to enable the exploitation or violation of human rights against migrant workers by using qualitative research methods. The results of this study show that Qatar as an actor who responsible to secure the human rights of migrant workers has not succeeded in making a proper policy as a solution to the human rights violations that have occurred and instead created new problems from its attempt to reform the policy. Second, the gulf countries do not want to abolish the Kafala system and require its implementation because migrant workers make a major contribution to the development of their countries. Third, FIFA failed to become a law enforcer for Qatar because in organizing mega sport events, FIFA and the host country should have respected applicable laws and international principles related to human rights, including the concept in the UNGPs namely protect, repair and respect.

Legal Protection of Migrant Workers in the Agricultural Sector in Light of Jordanian Legislation and International Labor Standards

This study aims to examine the adequate application of rights and protections granted to migrant workers under Jordanian labor law and social security law in agricultural Sector. The author analyzed the applicable laws, regulations, and relevant literature related to migrant workers in Jordan, including various relevant legislations, court decisions, and legal precedents. Through critical analysis and comparison of various data from these secondary data sources, this work will identify the problems associated with this legislation and consequently provide different recommendations and conclusions. Contradictions between labor law and social security law, as well as the feasibility of implementation and enforcement, lead to a significant gap in the protection of migrant workers in the agricultural sector. The author calls for a more cautious approach and argues for the necessity of respecting the principles that necessitate workers' rights. This study focused on the rights of migrant workers in the agricultural sector, deriving its authenticity and value from being the first and most recent work exploring this issue in light of recent amendments to labor law, social security law, and related legislations.

Precarity prevented or reinforced? Migrants' right to change employers in the recast of the EU Single Permit Directive.

Labor migration policies within the European Union and its Member States typically address two conflictive labor market policy goals. They aim to attract and retain foreign workers in a situation of labor shortage, while at the same time protecting the national workforce from additional labor market competition. The balancing of these two goals is commonly resolved in favor of nationals and with fewer rights for migrant workers. It is precisely this nexus between migrant rights and the protection of the national workforce that is central to the understudied question of whether and under what conditions migrant workers from third countries (i.e. non-EU countries) may change their employer to quit low-quality work or exploitative employment, or for career reasons. Building on scholarly discussions on employer dependency and bureaucratic complexity as general sources of migrant precarity, as well as on international and EU law on the rights of migrant workers, this article presents three policy variations of the right to change employers currently in place in the European context. Thereby we fill a gap in the literature on labor migration, labor market regulation, and migrant workers' rights. To illustrate the mixed ambitions of EU institutions to reduce migrant precarity the article then presents and critically discusses the high-level negotiations over the recast of the EU Single Permit Directive 2011/98 that were centered around the right to change employers.

Climbing the Peak: Understanding Contemporary Trends of Foreign Labor Migration in Nepal

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of labor migration trends in Nepal, focusing on the significant increase in the number of laborers migrating and the government's role in facilitating migration to new destinations. It also explores the long-term consequences of labor migration, particularly the brain drain resulting from the outflow of skilled and educated workers, and its negative impact on Nepal's holistic development, innovation, productivity, and economic growth. This study is based on existing secondary data and used published research articles, books, and report. The article emphasizes the urgent need for comprehensive actions to safeguard the rights of migrant workers, mitigate the negative effects of labor migration, and harness its potential for sustainable development. It is found that labor migration from Nepal is a complex issue with far-reaching impacts, and it is crucial for the government, civil society, and the international community to address the challenges and risks faced by Nepali migrant workers and ensure their rights and well-being.

Resistance and Reform as Responses to Human Rights Criticism: Relativism at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

AbstractThe language of human rights is a prominent tool of choice to push for moral principles such as justice, equity, and fairness in the social, economic, and political spheres. Simultaneously, the concept and practice of human rights have attracted critiques. Relativism is one such enduring critique. Relativists advocate due and reasonable consideration towards cultural diversity and specificity of diverse human communities, within the limits allowed by universality of human rights. The relativist critique featured prominently in the debates surrounding Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2022. Commentators have spoken about Qatar’s scrutiny often moving beyond legitimate human rights criticism, uninformed activism being counterproductive; and the appropriateness of, largely, Western and maximalist ideals of human rights being applied without accounting for local needs and peculiarities. In this Article, I bring together the literature on the relativist critique and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 as a case study, to examine the usefulness and limitation of human rights as a language of critique to achieve meaningful transformative change in sporting contexts. I focus on the debates surrounding the rights of migrant workers and the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community; and argue that while human rights advocacy had a notable impact in relation to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, it is a tale full of cautions and lessons.

Limitations on the rights of migrant workers: Is a compliant and consistent approach being followed?

Migration has become a global phenomenon and South Africa, like many other countries, is a recipient of migrant workers. Migrant workers can be classified under five categories: permanent residents, refugees, asylum seekers, temporary residents, and undocumented migrants. This article focuses on documented migrants and their right to engage in work. Integral to the right to work is the right to choose one's trade, occupation or profession freely. This is a constitutionally protected right, but is reserved exclusively for citizens, which implies that migrant workers can be lawfully excluded from working in certain occupations or professions. This ties in with South Africa's obligation to protect employment opportunities for citizens. However, South Africa has immigration laws in place that afford substantial rights to certain categories of migrants. Furthermore, as a member of the UN and International Labour Organisation (ILO), South Africa has certain international law obligations. Against this backdrop, this article engages with the recent Constitutional Court decision of Rafoneke v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services where temporary residents were denied the right to be admitted to practise and be authorised to be enrolled as legal practitioners. The article seeks to establish whether this decision, which has been viewed as disappointing, complies with international law and upholds the legal principles endorsed in preceding cases.

Analysis of the Implementation of Article 42 Of UUPMI No. 18/2017 on the Duties and Responsibilities of Village Governments Affecting the Vulnerability of Violence and Trafficking in Persons (TPPO) for Women Migrant Workers in Lampung Province

Most migrant workers in Lampung are women from the informal sector; they suffer issues such as non-procedural departure, unpaid salaries, fraud, harassment, and trafficking as a result of working in Lampung, Indonesia's sixth largest province, for placing migrant workers. UUPMI No. 18/2017 was passed to ensure the safety of migrant workers and their families. The purpose of this research is twofold: first, to learn more about how Article 42 of UUPMI No. 18/2017 on local government responsibilities is practiced, and second, to learn more about what obstacles hinder the implementation of the law. Secondary and primary data from literature research, field investigations, and qualitative analysis are utilized to inform both normative and empirical legal approaches. Partially implemented is Article 42 of UUPMI No. 18/2017, which discusses the government's duty to safeguard the rights of migrant workers and to stop violence and TPPO against women in Lampung Province. Article 42 of UUPMI No. 18/2017 is not being implemented by village administrations due to a lack of personnel. Migrant farm workers from rural areas lack access to social programs, education, and resources due to a lack of financial support. Provincial, district, and municipal governments do not coordinate or share statistics with one another.