Protecting the Most Vulnerable: Remittances and Worker Abuse

With $325.5 billion sent around the world by over 200 million migrants, it is easy to see why most discussions of remittances focus on the numbers. Often doubling or tripling official development assistance, remittance flows are an invaluable source of financing for many developing nations.

But in the enthusiasm over these quantitative measurements, one key measure is lost: an understanding of the migrants who work for each dollar those numbers represent. Far away from their homes, these workers often labor in poor conditions with little oversight or regulation. Moreover, as several articles published last month argue, poor economic conditions at home render migrant workers particularly vulnerable to predatory or even fraudulent practices.

A blog article last month by The Economist discusses the issue of migrant rights in the context of Indonesian immigrants who work as domestic servants in Saudi Arabia. Detailing the constant threat of abuse that workers may face, the article describes how the lack of workers’ rights have resulted in several prominent scandals, leading to tense relations between the two governments. In one instance, the Saudi Arabian government executed an Indonesian domestic servant without notifying the Indonesian embassy. The worker was accused of stabbing her employer to death after he allegedly abused her. Other workers have complained of long hours, unpaid work, and physical or psychological abuse.