Migrant workers in Malaysia are being exploited by both employers and state authorities, according to a new report of Amnesty International. Nepalese Section of Amnesty International by organizing a press conference in Kathmandu on 24 March 2010 launch the report ‘Trapped: The Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Malaysia’.
Amnesty International’s Asia Campaign Coordinator Robert Godden prescribed the Nepal government to take precautionary measures to ensure safety and protection of Nepali migrant workers. The report says “migrants are often forced into labour or exploited in other ways, such as having their passports confiscated by employers”.
A four-member research team had interviewed 200 migrant workers working in Malaysia in mid 2009 to prepare the report.
“There has to be proper cooperation between Nepal and host countries in line with Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) that guarantee minimum wage rate, maximum working hours, safety provisions, insurance and monitoring of recruitment agencies,” Godden stated.
“Most recruiting agencies are found to have lured workers with false promises of high salaries, better working hours and finer provisions. So, the government should ensure that the prospective workers are given the correct information regarding salary, working hours and job responsibility,” he added.
The report shows poor condition of migrants from countries like Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam and so on.
The report recommended that Malaysian authorities must initiate action to end the widespread workplace and police abuses on the migrants workers.
In addition, the report has also urged the respective governments to be cautious and take serious initiatives to save their citizens from being abused and exploited.
The report has strongly objected to the existing system in which employers confiscate the workers’ passports exposing the workers to the potential threat of being arrested by police.
“Migrant workers are critical to Malaysia’s economy, but they systematically receive less legal protection than other workers,” said Michael Bochenek, author of the report and AI policy director. “They are easy prey for unscrupulous recruitment agents, employers and corrupt police.”
The undocumented workers in Malaysia is worst than of documented. According to its Malaysian government sources, Malaysia has 2.2 million documented foreign workers, almost 20 percent of Malaysia’s workforce. Approximately the same number of migrant workers working in Malaysia are undocumented.
The report launched in Kathmandu by the Chairperson of AI Nepal Hem Kumar Khadka and Director of AI Nepal Rameshwar Nepal Informed to the Journalists about the highlights of the report.