COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation, on March 11 disrupting life as we know it. But as many articles have exposed, among the most aggrieved are migrant workers and factory workers in the global south.
On April 2, 2020 The Guardian reported that over a million Bangladeshi garment workers lost their jobs and were sent home without pay after several western conglomerates like Primark cancelled their existing orders in the wake of the epidemic. Many migrant workers in the Middle East have also been feeling the effects of the pandemic on their health and livelihood. In recent years, organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have published damning reports on the abuses and exploitation faced by migrant workers who have been hired to build infrastructure for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The kafala system that gives employers excessive control over migrant workers, including preventing them from changing jobs or leaving abusive labor situations have only exacerbated the precarity of many amid COVID-19.
Workers who secured these precarious jobs, in addition to paying thousands of dollars to recruiters, have also been forced to live in squalid conditions and are unable to practice social distancing with a complete shutdown of all public spaces in the country. Migrant workers are also unable to access healthcare and sanitation which puts them at a great deal of risk. Not enough is currently being done to generate greater international solidarity and mitigate the concerns of workers globally.
