Hagar ElDidi, Chloé van Biljon, Muzna Alvi, Claudia Ringler, Nazmun Ratna, Sawsan Abdulrahim, Patrick Kilby, Joyce Wu and Zahid ul Arefin Choudhury

1. Reducing vulnerability to forced labor and
trafficking of short-term, low-skilled women
migrant workers in the South Asia to Middle
East corridor
Hagar ElDidi, Chloé van Biljon, Muzna Alvi, Claudia Ringler, Nazmun Ratna,
Sawsan Abdulrahim, Patrick Kilby, Joyce Wu and Zahid ul Arefin Choudhury
July 1st, 2021
Development Studies Association conference

2. South Asia to Middle East migration corridor
• Approximately 10 million migrants a year, about half are women
• Arab States are key destination countries (including GCC)
• In 2017, 41% of all male workers and 40% of all female workers
were migrants (ILO, 2018); the demand in the Middle East remains
large
• Male migrants mostly employed in the construction sector; female
migrants mostly employed in the care sector
• In some countries (ex. Jordan), women also work in the garment sector

3. Why women migrate this corridor (key drivers)
•Push and pull factors
• High wages for low-skilled activities in the Middle East
• Remittances accounted for an estimated 26% of national GDP in
Nepal (World Bank 2020)
• Challenges in South Asian sending countries: lack of job
opportunities, natural disasters, poverty
• Some women migrants seek work abroad to change their lives:
escape a bad family situation, have more freedom, improve their
standing, etc.
•Migrants, especially women, face many vulnerabilities that
lead to trafficking, forced labor, and exploitation

4. Trafficking and forced labor
• Three dimensions to forced labour
1. Unfree recruitment
2. Work and life under duress
3. Impossibility to leave employer
• Trafficking: relates to migrants’ interactions with a network of individuals who
organize the migration process; recruitment brokers, employment agencies, and
employers
1. Elements of deception
2. Coercion
3. Debt bondage
4. Slavery like conditions
• Exploitation relates to
1. Restricting freedom of movement
2. Economic exploitation and violence
3. Threat of violence

5. Objective and methods
• Many programs aim to reduce risk of forced labor and trafficking, especially for
migrant women (ex. ILO’s Work in Freedom)
• Limited research that assesses what works and what does not to prevent forced
labor
• Limited rigorous and accessible M&Es of programs
• Limited lessons learned available for the entire migration route
• We gather lessons from the literature and key informants to
• highlight what are considered the most important/ least effective mechanisms for reducing
forced labour and trafficking of women migrants
• generate a more realistic portrait of migrant women’s experiences as they prepare for
migration, in the destination country, and following their return
• examine key best practices along the South Asia – Middle East migration route

6. Factors increasing
vulnerability to forced
labor and risk
reduction
mechanisms
COVID-19
Institutional
frameworks;
Kafala
Pre-departure
In destination
After return

7. Kafala – “sponsorship”
• A collection of normative practices that bind a migrant worker
with one employer in the destination country
• Sponsors (often the employer) are legally responsible for the
workers
• A worker cannot leave or change his/her employer once they arrive
without the employer’s permission
• Illegal to leave employer and remain in the country; subject to detention
and deportation
• Implemented differently in various countries
• Multiple sponsors
• Passport confiscation and other restrictions (norms)
• Recruitment agencies normalized
Source: Rositsa Raleva for Human Rights Watch, 2016

8. Pre-departure
• Frequent deception by recruitment agencies and brokers
• Lack of information on fees and non-transparency of charges
• Migrant women often charged substantial fees regardless of what the employer pays
• Should not bear the burden of recruitment or travel costs
• Paying fees normalized over the years; a cultural expectation by women migrants
• Indebtedness
• Borrow money (formally or informally) to pay for fees, often with exorbitant interest
• Debt bondage and forced labor, even through abuse and contract violation
• Vulnerability to coercion and inability to refuse a job, ask for higher salaries or
demand rights
• Financial extortion and sexual harassment in various documentation
collection sites, including visa offices, also at pre-departure training sites,
borders/ airports
Source: ilo.org

9. Pre-departure - mechanisms
• Migration bans are well-intentioned but ineffective
• Endangers women migrants who then seek undocumented migration
• Predeparture training and awareness of rights and expectations
• Mandatory in some countries but often difficult for women to attend
• Of 522 MDWs in Jordan and Lebanon, 38% completed a pre-departure training course; only 14%
of Nepalese respondents had (Frantz 2014)
• Orientation material should include perspectives from women migrant networks
• Establishing networks pre-departure among fellow migrant women
• Sharing information of employers, addresses, telephone numbers, etc.
• Improving intermediation regulations in home countries
• Regulation and inspection of recruitment agents to reduce malpractice and fraud

10. In destination
• Economic exploitation
• Non-payment, delayed payment or lower payment of
wages
• Racial and gender violence, abuse and
dehumanization
• Employer attitudes
• Many MDWs get no rest, no freedom of movement, no
access to networks
• Employment agencies a culprit in trafficking
• 500 licensed recruitment agencies in Lebanon work
outside the governmental office for recruitment (KI 9)
Source: Rositsa Raleva for Human Rights Watch, 2016

11. In destination – mechanisms
• Payment regulations and penalties for wage theft
• Raise migrants’ awareness of support and redress services
• 29% of MDWs in Lebanon knew how to access hotline;
• 1% knew how to access legal services (Frantz 2014)
• Strengthen embassy presence and support
• Virtual safe spaces
• Use of radio and mobile phones as strategies for reaching women with no freedom of movement
within their employers' homes
• Employer awareness campaigns – mixed results
• Humanizing mechanisms for workers in the eyes of employers – find some examples of videos here
• Unionization for increasing balance of power – previously illegal; currently restricted
• Many of the mechanisms’ success depend on mobility /ICT access
• Better access to mobile phones, rest days, and mobility to access networks can substantially improve
women’s wellbeing and their ability to access support
Source: ilo.org - © KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation/Matthew
Cassel 2010

12. After return
• Economic, social and cultural reintegration back into countries of origin is one of
the least researched phases of the migration pathway
• Migrants face several reintegration challenges
• Inadequate employment services / inability to find work
• Lack of skill certification / recognition for unskilled migrant workers
• Lack of social protection / pension coverage for returning migrants
• Stigmatization --especially of women migrants--by families and society
• Better return preparedness more likely for those who return out of free will
• Key mechanisms
• Develop inclusive and comprehensive reintegration programs and policies
• Indonesia and Philippines’ reintegration programs provide social services, counselling, information and
skill building
• Formal vs informal migrants

13. COVID-19
The pandemic has exacerbated vulnerabilities of
MWs, bringing more violations to light
• Migrants excluded from support programs and
information
• Lack of access to health services
• Loss of employment, shelter and networks
• Racism and discrimination
• Repatriation challenges
• Live-out MDW’s suffered more; some live-in MDWs
abandoned by employers
• In Lebanon, vulnerabilities compounded with the
economic crisis and the Beirut explosion
Source: Anti-Racism Movement

14. COVID-19
Important new mechanisms that are needed come
to light
• Social protection (ex. financial assistance for stranded
migrants)
• Health services (insurance and vaccinations)
• Improved temporary housing
• Repatriation and reintegration mechanisms
• Campaigns against stigma
Source: Anti-Racism Movement

15. Institutional and policy frameworks
•Policy vs practice
• In principle most laws and policies aim to make migration
experiences and work conditions safe, fair and free from
discrimination
• In practice many policies/ laws/ agreements are not
implemented
• Sending and receiving countries need institutional
structures to
• improve migrant women’s access to information and legal
assistance
• apply stricter prosecution and criminalization of traffickers
Source: Human Rights Watch - © 2019 Adib
Chowdhury / SOPA Images/Sipa via AP Images
Source: The Daily Star/Hasan Shaaban

16. Institutional and policy frameworks
•Systemic issues
• Regulatory frameworks often contribute to migrant workers’
vulnerability by giving employers/ agencies disproportionate
control over workers
• Migrant workers should be recognized under the labor law
to eliminate discrimination
• Is the answer abolishment of Kafala? – A debate
• Some countries already taking steps towards this (partially
due to international pressure); introducing standardized
contracts
• But employers’ limited awareness of the Kafala institutions
and possible weak enforcement of contracts may
contribute to a lack of dramatic change
Source: Human Rights Watch - © 2019 Adib
Chowdhury / SOPA Images/Sipa via AP Images
Source: The Daily Star/Hasan Shaaban

17. Conclusion
• Potential migrants will continue to seek
migration in this route despite deception
in salaries, working hours, and abuses
• Wages obtained in the Middle East / Arab Gulf
are still considerably higher than those in
home countries
• No single solution; all interventions need
to work in tandem
• Systemic change needed: Political will for
sending and receiving countries to cooperate,
reform institutions and policies, and provide a
safe and dignified work experience for
migrants
Source: KAFA.org.lb

18. Summary of evidence on risk reduction
mechanisms
Positive Neutral Negative
Limited/ no
evidence
Migration bans 🗸
Predeparture: blanket information
session
🗸
Predeparture: targeted sessions 🗸
Predeparture networks 🗸
Payment regulation 🗸
Virtual safe spaces 🗸
Embassy support 🗸
Employer awareness campaigns 🗸 (mixed)
Connecting with employers on a
human level
🗸
Unionization 🗸
Comprehensive reintegration program
🗸

19. Thank You!
Questions / Comments
Contact: h.eldidi@cgiar.org ; c.vanbiljon@cgiar.org