The Covid-19 Pandemic has caused unprecedented global crises for the migrant workers and their families. Various degrees of lockdown has affected the national and global economy, particularly the informal economy across countries and regions. As the economic activities slowed down, the demand for labour has decreased which has adversely affected the economic and social well-being of several million migrant workers. This situation has caused the exodus of a large number of migrant workers both nationally and internationally.
The condition of migrant workers has always been less than desirable, while the pandemic has only brought our attention to the precarity, insecurity and indignity associated with informal migrants workers. In India, most of the migrant workers were not paid their wages during the lockdown; they had no access to food and cash to pay for rental accommodation, or social welfare schemes because of lack of portability of welfare services. Many did not have bank accounts or identification documents which were valid only in their states of origin. Language barriers added to the discrimination they faced; this stigma worsened when urban locals began calling them “Corona Carriers”, thereby reducing their chances of becoming employable in the near future. The migrant workers who decided to go back to their villages faced hurdles as no public transportation or any alternative arrangements were made available in time and in organised manner. Millions of them set to walk back home thousand miles away. The experience of Indians who were brought back to the country from over 80 different countries have had a somewhat different experience. The Indian government was seen to be much more agile and organised through its “Vande Bharat Mission”. Nevertheless, the experience in the past six months calls for serious introspection and policy planning response.
Our recent interactions with several colleagues in Africa and Asia suggest that there are plenty of opportunities for mutual learning from good practices on the policies and programme to support the migrant workers. In this background, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) in association with Centre for Youth and Social Development, Martha Farrell Foundation, Sahbhaghi Shikshan Kendra, Samarthan, and Unnati is organising this webinar. The webinar will explore the following questions:
- What policies and programmes need to be reinforced and/or changed to enable dignified migration?
- What role the national and provincial governments and private employers must play to build the confidence of migrant workers and a conducive work environment?
- What role the inter-governmental agencies can play to hold the national governments accountable to international agreements?
- What role civil society, academia and media need to play to support the migrant workers as well as to hold the stakeholders accountable?
Moderator
- Dr Rajesh Tandon, Founder-President, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India
Guest Speaker
- Mr. Akhilesh Mishra, Additional Secretary, Development Partnership Administration, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
Speakers
- Mr. Sarat Dash, Chief of Mission for Sri Lanka and Maldives and Director General’s Special Envoy to Bhutan and India, International Migration Organisation
- Prof Mariama Awumbila, South-South Migration, Inequality and Development Hub, Ghana
- Mr William Gois, Regional Coordinator, Migrant Forum in Asia
- Mr Binoy Acharya, Executive Director, Unnati, Ahmedabad, India
Registration
Please register using the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cNjIqDkDR5S4_8US0WoBzA
Meeting ID: 833 4140 6336
Passcode: 601087
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