MRRORS

A year after Qatar rolled out significant labour reforms, changing jobs remains a difficult process — and an expensive one, with employers demanding huge kickbacks from workers. The messaging on paper contradicts what workers are told on-site at the labour ministry. Women migrants, particularly domestic workers, are the worst affected by these ambiguities.

UAE tramples on the hopes, dignity, and rights of African migrant workers

With Covid-19-related restrictions on formal recruitment, more and more Nepali migrant workers are going to the UAE on visit visas. Though technically legal under UAE law, Nepal’s government bans workers from travelling on visit visas for the purposes of employment. These migrants often end up paying extortionately high fees for non-existent jobs, with none of the legal protections formally recruited workers are entitled to.

Malcolm Bidali reflects on the last 12 weeks of detention, intimidation, and being charged for a ‘crime’ of highlighting the plight of lower-income migrant workers like himself