Up to 10,000 Asian migrant workers die in the Gulf every year, claims report | Workers’ rights

As many as 10,000 migrant staff from south and south-east Asia die yearly within the Gulf nations, in accordance with a report by a gaggle of human rights organisations.

Greater than half of the deaths are unexplained, mentioned the report, and are generally recorded as because of “pure causes” or “cardiac arrest”. However Gulf states are failing correctly to analyze why so many migrant staff are dying.

The report, Important Indicators: The deaths of migrants within the Gulf, has been compiled by NGOs from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and the Philippines, and FairSquare Tasks, a London-based migrant rights organisation.

Low-paid migrant staff within the Gulf are uncovered to a collection of dangers to their well being, together with warmth and humidity, air air pollution, overwork and abusive working circumstances, poor occupational well being and security practices, psychosocial stress and hypertension. Lengthy hours of guide labour in searing temperatures can lead to warmth stress, which may result in organ injury, the report mentioned.

Julhas Uddin, a 37-year-old man from Bangladesh, died in Saudi Arabia in October 2017 when a supervisor instructed him to enter a sewerage line with out an oxygen cylinder. No investigation was performed, and his loss of life certificates states the trigger as “coronary heart and respiratory stopped”.

There are about 30 million migrants working within the Arab Gulf states – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. About 80% of those are employed in low-paid sectors similar to development, hospitality and home work, and are available from poorer nations in Asia and Africa.

“Regardless of the Gulf states’ sensible dependence on their migrant workforces and the bolstering affect migrant employee remittances have on the economies of their homelands, each origin and Gulf states have for too lengthy paid insufficient consideration to making sure they return dwelling in good well being,” mentioned Anurag Devkota, a lawyer from Nepal’s Legislation and Coverage Discussion board for Social Justice. “Consequently far too many don’t return dwelling in any respect, or achieve this in coffins or physique luggage.”

Regardless of widespread criticism of employee exploitation – notably in relation to Qatar’s preparations to host this 12 months’s World Cup – the Gulf states have largely averted structural labour reforms, and origin states have been unable to make sure correct safety for his or her nationals overseas.

The governments of the six Gulf nations didn’t reply to requests for remark.