My column last week on the plight of Ahmed evoked several responses from readers who expressed outrage at the way the poor Bangladeshi worker was cheated and exploited by his sponsor. They then posed the question: What next, Tariq? What had I done as a follow-up to this particular story?
For the record, I put Ahmed in touch with a Pakistani human rights activist who specializes in Bangladeshi affairs. Through his contacts, I am confident that Ahmed’s problems would be eventually sorted out. However, in retrospect I wonder if I could have done more. And not just for Ahmed, but for the thousands in a similar situation.
As I am not a lawyer, a government official or an investigative journalist, I find myself often lacking the tools to address such social injustices apart from highlighting them in my columns. But I do feel that the relevant authorities should investigate such cases and take appropriate actions.
There are approximately eight million guest workers in this country. We often read about brazen acts of abuse by their respective employers. These workers are not simply performing a service to our Kingdom but are an important source of foreign capital to their own countries. For some countries, monthly remittances from these workers to their loved ones back home amount to a sizable portion of their annual earnings.
These workers are often recruited promising high salaries and benefits that woefully fall short once they arrive in this country. And for the unskilled recruits who are by far the largest segment of the victimized, the only options are to put up with it or be immediately imprisoned and eventually deported.
The uneducated or the unskilled are hesitant or afraid to turn to authorities for relief. They have heavy financial obligations back home, and have to make do with the little that is offered. Unscrupulous employers are well aware that these are often the only options available to the lower stratum of migrant workers, and thus prey on their vulnerability.
But then, I ask the following: What have their respective embassies and consulates done to protect their rights? Have they responded to individual cases to ensure that justice is done? That the rights of these workers are preserved in accordance with established laws?
Should not the representatives in this country of the primarily affected workers such as those from Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Nepal be more actively involved in addressing each and every individual case of worker abuse with their respective Saudi counterparts?
Should not they report to their governments about unscrupulous recruiting agents back home who exploit these workers so they get the punishment they deserve, including imprisonment? And blacklist every company or individual here known to have maltreated workers from seeking fresh recruits?
Perhaps they should collectively call for a meeting with the Ministries of Labor, Interior, Foreign Affairs and the Saudi Human Rights Commission to address this issue and come up with corrective solutions. With such a sizable work force on whom the Kingdom depends heavily, don’t they feel they have some clout with the Saudi authorities? Although there have been a few reported instances of embassy or consulate involvement in employer/worker mediation, they are few and far between. And why should not the embassies/consulates seek and retain Saudi lawyers specialized in labor laws who would be available free of charge to represent the mistreated workers — lawyers who can defend the victims and put off any deportation orders until all rights have been settled and the bad guys punished? And all such workers advised of such facilities available to them? I suspect that some of these embassies and consulates have failed in their duty of protecting the interests of their workers even though that also falls under their purview. It’s not just about attending festivities or focusing on political affairs, Messers. Ambassadors. You have a moral obligation to do much more to your citizens here. After all, aren’t the workers through their collective remittances to your countries paying for your salaries?
