Into the Unknown: COVID-19 and the Global Mobility of Migrant Workers (original) (raw)
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Impact of COVID-19 on Migrant Workers: Issues and Challenges
https://www.ijrrjournal.com/IJRR\_Vol.7\_Issue.7\_July2020/Abstract\_IJRR0016.html, 2020
A democratic society is marked by constitutionalism, human rights and social justice. One of the key features of a democratic community is that it should be free from inequity, injustice and unfairness in treatment. However, a country like India is still struggling to avoid these unacceptable occurrences. Recently, we saw a great human tragedy during the lockdown period when the migrant workers were forced to abandon their places of work due to the loss of jobs and decided to walk out on foot under severe conditions. Previously, the abject poverty forced them to migrate to cities in search of green pasture but unfortunately, they could not find it. Moreover, whatever meager jobs they got, they lost that also during the period due to this ongoing adverse condition. The painful story that we heard from the media, NGOs and other activists was very sad and it moved all the sensible persons who believe in democracy and social justice so much so that they could not stop expressing regrets for the society we live in.
Challenges of Migrant Workers amid Covid-19 Pandemic: A Mapping
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN MULTIDISCIPLINARY FIELD , 2021
Migrant workers are backbone of the economic development for their native places as well as for the places where they have migrated for fetching better livelihood opportunities. It has been well theorized that when traditional or less developed sector is exhausted to provide productive employment opportunities to the workers, consequently their marginal productivity falls. Thus, this situation generates an unlimited supply of labour which can be utilised for more development if they migrate from less developed sector to the highly developed sector which may absorb them (Lewis, 1954). Further, it has been well discussed fact that majority of rural labour force move to the urban areas and generally engaged in informal sector and that too without any social security benefits. Moreover, India has already been facing a grave problem of unemployment and ongoing pandemic Covid-19 has further worsened the existing situation. The ongoing pandemic has attracted the scholarly views regarding the conditions of migrant workers in India. On the mentioned background, the current paper mainly focuses on the rural labour force migration and their challenges in the time of Covid-19 Pandemic in India. This article discusses some of the important challenges regarding the effects of Covid-19 on the migrant population. These impacts are most troubling for low-income households, because of their less earning. As they are already less well positioned to cope with earnings losses during a recession and also they have no alternative earnings as well as no social security benefits available to them. One could argue that a large section of the urban population includes migrants who for a desire for better livelihood leave their rural settlements and come to cities. However, with lack of requisite education, skills and training, they often end up in arduous employment accompanied with low wages, poor living conditions and lack of social protection. Hence to explain hardships faced by migrant workers is another main objective of the current article. A systematic analysis of available data has been made for the fulfilment of the same. One could see that the lockdown and the subsequent recession are likely to first hit contract workers across many of the industries. Consequently, Covid-19 affects both the demand and the supply sides of the labour market and has huge implications for employment and decent work, pushing many families into poverty, and increasing existing inequalities. Further, the current paper highlights that largest migrant population is engaged in informal sector without any social security measures consequently, ongoing pandemic Covid-19 has vastly affected migrant workers in India. Furthermore, the lacuna in the existing literature of the migrant workers and their hardships due to Covid-19 as affects on male migrant workers have been discussed but female migrant workers and their loss of employment has been ignored. Numerous families are female dominated families and due to ongoing pandemic loss of female migrant workers affected livelihood of many families also. Hence, the losses of female migrant workers have also been discussed in the existing paper. Generally, migrant workers have always been ignored in the policy initiatives of the government. Hence, one could suggest that more focus on the policies for the welfare of the migrant workers has been need of the hour in India. The present paper is divided into seven sections. After the introduction, the second section provides the summary of literature on the issue of migrant workers. While third section explains existing economic situation of Indian economy and fourth section highlights the economic challenges of migrant workers amid ongoing pandemic Covid-19.
COVID-19:- Challenges and Strategies of Migrant Labour
isara solutions, 2020
On 24th March 2020, the legislature of India under Prime pastor Narendra Modi reported a Nationwide lockdown through or request passed by National Disaster Management Authority to guarantee social separating and to forestall the spread of COVID-19 Pandemic in India and gave only four hours to the 1.3 billion residents to load up and get behind the entryways. The impromptu conclusion of the work environments and the absence of clear and positive confirmation from the political and legislative just exacerbated the transient laborer's nerves and constrained them to make the long stroll from the urban communities to the hinterland and Unfortunately drives a huge number of laborers and their families to starvation, craving, passing and extremely dreary future plan.
COVID-19 AND MIGRANT WORKERS CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS’ VIEWPOINT, 2020
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Migrant Precariousness in the Time of COVID-19: Migrant Workers, Risks and Rights
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, 2021
PART 2: THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY 2.1 About sectors and visa types 2.2 Differentiated risks: nationality, visa categories and vulnerabilities PART 3: MAJOR DISRUPTION IN THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR 3.1 A large and precarious sector, for both locals and migrants 3.2 COVID-19: pandemic effects and responses 3.3 Policy implications PART 4: INSTABILITY AND HEALTH RISKS IN THE CARE SECTOR 4.1 Residential care: feminised and undervalued 4.2 COVID-19: pandemic effects and responses 4.3 Policy implications
Journal of Applied Professional Studies, Volume 2, Issue 3, SPRING 2021, Marywood University (USA), 2021
The Covid-19 pandemic restructured the social order of the world. This paper a hitherto analyses the zoonotic origin of Covid-19 and the negative impact of the resurgence of labour inequalities for migrants and workers. Scientists always should search for the source of the virus. Thus, the new approach of One Health reflects the fundamental link or interdependence between human, animal and environmental health. The dark world scenario was characterised with the introduction of online work and education i.e., digital life. Over night people lost their jobs, schools closed, children and university students started to study online and hospitals were saturated. There is a dire need to change the scope of this unexpected event. Some countries are adopting adequate policies to curb the rapid mutation of the virus. The inefficiency of some policies paralysed the proper functioning of the entire world. The importance of reducing social inequalities, providing decent work and economic growth, eradicating the phenomenon of slow justice and ameliorating the performance of the main international and internal institutions is a post-Covid-19 mission. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century gave birth to the notion of Labour Rights. Shortly after, International Humanitarian Law was added as a separate branch of legal philosophy. Hence, the primacy or imprescriptibility of peculiar international principles such as the notion of gender parity, the prohibition of labour inequalities, the prohibition of child labour (exploitation), the principle of non-refoulement (collective expulsion) was extensively promoted. Keywords: Covid-19, Labour Inequalities, Migrants, Human Rights, Health ISSN 2694-2577 *Link of the website of the journal: https://journal-aps.net/issue-3 *Link of the article: https://uploads.documents.cimpress.io/v1/uploads/b4d960bd-2c17-4710-a363-267cff6e25ba\~110/original?tenant=vbu-digital
Locked up under lockdown: The COVID-19 pandemic and the migrant population
Social Sciences & Humanities Open , 2021
Almost all countries in the world have now enforced coronavirus-related travel restrictions and border shutdowns. Migrant populations in the world are now considered the worst victims of COVID-19, and the spreaders too. This article aims to investigate the impacts that COVID-19 has on population migration. Informal interviews were conducted with the respondents who were stranded in different parts of the world via Skype and WhatsApp between February and November 2020. COVID-19 poses a threat to the millions who were caught between home and their final destinations – and are now living in overcrowded refugee camps where the terms ‘stay home’ ‘stay safe’ and ‘social distancing’ carries very little meaning.
Migrant Farmworkers during the COVID-19 pandemic: The Paradox of being Essential and Vulnerable
2021
The status of migrant Farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida during the pandemic created a paradox: they are both essential and vulnerable as their work remained necessary, but they were provided no protection. Longstanding social and economic inequalities were intensified with the virus and more vulnerabilities were created for the farmworkers, while the country continued to rely on the fruits of their labor. This thesis provides background in the history of migrant farmworkers in Immokalee and the continuation and increased vulnerabilities seen during the pandemic despite being essential as they provide the nation's food. The thesis then interrogates this paradox by examining the roots of the state's exploitative situation, such as the racialization of Latinx and legality status, and how this exploitation leads to the accumulation of labor and wealth. The thesis then examines the idea social reproduction necessary to continue production and the idea of transnationalism that exp...
Underlying conditions: The Commodification of Migrant Workers Under COVID-19
Journal of Modern Slavery, 2021
The link is to the long abstract for our paper, concerning the impact of COVID-19 on noncitizen workers in Israel (Palestinian workers, temporary migrant workers, and asylum seekers). Full paper expected in 2021. We argue that the impact of COVID-19 restrictions has generally manifested not in the creation of new forms of exploitation and coercion, but rather in the exacerbation and intensification of existing structural vulnerabilities. Specifically, we consider 3 elements: increased control, surveillance, and severe restrictions of movement; deterioration of living conditions and violations of basic health and safety conditions at the workplace, and unemployment, loss of income, and exclusion from safety nets. https://slavefreetoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Underlying-conditions-The-Commodification-of-Migrant-Workers-Under-COVID19.pdf
COVID-19 Implications for migrant care workers
Quaderns IEE, 2022
The global pandemic COVID-19 has strained health care systems and social services and caused an overall negative economic and social impact throughout Europe. Migrants en route to or residing in Europe are especially disadvantaged, not only due to border closures, but also because many were already in precarious situations with limited access to social protection mechanisms or systems in the host country. Those migrants responsible for care work, who are largely women, are especially vulnerable, as these types of jobs during COVID-19 means even more exposure to the virus. This brief outlines the ways in which migrant care work is particularly precarious in COVID-19 conditions. It points to how now, more than ever, it is critical to address the crucial role migrant care workers play in European societies. Finally, it suggests measures to mitigate the risks and vulnerability they face, and how the proposed measures can be beneficial for the EU in terms of recovery from the crisis and ...