Migration & Human Rights

In a two-part series, MRRORS.org visits the environment from which domestic workers migrate in Sri Lanka. In the first part we explore how the women are caught in the cross-hairs of aggressive recruitment agencies and stifling government policies.

In the second of a two-part series, MRRORS.org speaks to women at different stages of the migration cycle. Serial migration seems to the be the only way they can get out of and stay out of poverty.

Bal Krishna Gautam endured two years of humiliation and avoidable illness in Qatar, with no access to a bathroom and spoilt food for lunch. His agonizing tale is an indictment of Gulf labour practices.

The all-pervasive kafala, or sponsorship system, allows Gulf citizens and employers to exercise complete and absolute power over migrant workers. Moving from Saudi to Qatar to Kuwait, Mobeen Ahmed’s story is but one amongst a few million migrant experiences across the GCC region.

In the concluding part of the series on migrant fishermen, we look at the systemic failures in countries of origin and employment, that leaves them vulnerable to vagaries of more than just the sea.