migrant workers - The African Mirror

Oct

2023

Italy signs deal to take in migrant workers from Tunisia

ITALY signed a deal to take in some 4,000 workers from Tunisia, in line with pledges to help the northern African state stem the pressure from migrants at its borders. The deal was signed during a visit by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to Tunis, where he was scheduled to meet his counterpart Nabil Ammar and President Kais Saied, his office said. It envisages regular migration channels for "qualified workers" willing to come to Italy, an Italian briefing note said as Rome also promised to help Tunisia in its efforts to stop migrant smugglers and create job opportunities for the young.…

Apr

2023

By SONIA ROLLEY

Dozens raped as migrant workers expelled from Angola to Congo

NEWS

CONGOLESE women and children have been raped and subjected to other abuses during a mass expulsion of migrant workers from Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a doctor, officials and the United Nations said. Angola has deported thousands of workers in recent months, U.N. figures show, echoing previous purges over the past 12 years during which abuses also occurred, according to rights groups and the United Nations. The size of the latest expulsion is not yet known, but 12,000 workers have passed through one border crossing near the Congolese town of Kamako in the past six months, according to…

Dec

2022

By The African Mirror

Half a million Ethiopian migrants have been deported from Saudi Arabia in 5 years – what they go through

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

TENS of thousands of migrant Ethiopian workers have been forcibly repatriated from Saudi Arabia each year since the early 2010s. Although this is carried out as part of a crackdown on illegal migrant workers, legally documented workers have frequently been caught in the dragnet. Another 102,000 Ethiopian citizens will soon be repatriated in another round that began in April 2022. Girmachew Adugna, who has researched Ethiopian migration for years, explains the background to the deportations along with concerns about human rights violations and the challenges that returnees face. Author GIRMACHEW ADUGNA, Advisory Board Member, Research Center for Forced Displacement and…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Treated like slaves’, African and Asian migrant workers bear brunt of Lebanon crisis

HUMAN RIGHTS

ALAA KANAAN CHANTING their national anthem in the departure hall of Beirut airport, a group of migrant workers prepared to return home and close a chapter on their time in Lebanon which drove some to despair. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which supports many domestic workers in Lebanon, says as many as 10,000 migrants have asked to be repatriated because their wages collapsed after the country plunged into a deep financial crisis a year ago. Many employers stopped paying salaries in dollars and some foreign workers said they were leaving with their wages unpaid. The numbers of those asking…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Pandemic pushes world’s biggest jobs programme to brink in rural India

WORLD

ROLI SRIVASTAVA OMKAR Rathod was thankful for the company of hundreds of fellow migrant workers as they trudged home to far-flung villages once lockdown had shut Indian industry. But he didn't realise he would soon be competing with them for jobs. Back in his village in northern India since March, Rathod is vying for work under the world's largest jobs programmes: the only option for the millions of migrant workers who face mass job losses in a struggling economy and a raging pandemic. "If there were 15 people for a job earlier, now there are 200. Work for eight days…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

South Asian migrant workers seek justice as wage theft worsens under coronavirus

WORLD

ANURADHA NAGARAJ, NAIMUL KARIM and BAN BARKAWI NIZAR Kochery has been fighting for migrant workers' rights in the courts for decades, but he has never felt so overwhelmed. As the coronavirus pandemic forced tens of thousands of South Asian migrants to leave the Gulf countries where they worked, the Doha-based lawyer was flooded with calls about unpaid wages and job losses. "Non-payment of wages or benefits has always plagued migrant workers in Gulf countries," said Kochery, who specialises in labour law and advises many embassies in Qatar. "But during COVID, the impact is being felt 100 times more. People left…

Jul

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian maids ‘dumped’ in the streets in Lebanon as COVID hits

COVID-19

ETHIOPIAN mother Alemtsehay Nasir went to Lebanon dreaming that her maid's job would let her earn money to make a better life for her young son. But she was fired when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and her employers dumped her on the streets. The 32-year-old was left on the curb outside the Ethiopian consulate in a suburb of Beirut, one of hundreds of women abandoned by employers without the means to get home after the pandemic hit, on top of a financial crisis that has devastated the Lebanese economy. Lebanese labour laws offer little protection for migrant workers. The best…