The Middle East’s migrant workers: Forget about rights - Attempts to improve the lot of migrants working in the Middle East are unlikely to make much difference | The Economist

The Middle East’s migrant workers: Forget about rights | The Economist:

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“OUR workers are treated worst in the Gulf,” says Walden Bello, a Filipino parliamentarian, referring to those of his countrymen who seek their fortune abroad. Millions of migrants, mainly from Asia and Africa, work in the Gulf and in the wider Middle East. Many pay up to $3,000 to recruitment agencies, only to find themselves working long hours for a pittance and with no time off in jobs that often differ vastly from the ones they signed up for back home. Mistreatment, including the sexual sort, is relatively common. The International Labour Organisation (ILO), a UN body, reckons that 600,000 workers in the region can be classed as victims of trafficking."

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