Oct. 14, 2020 Bangladesh approval Bangladesh will introduce the death penalty for rape cases, after several high-profile sexual assaults prompted a wave of protests across the country 9 in recent weeks, the Guardian reported. Society How migrants are aiding COVID-19 prompts ‘enormous rise’ in demand for cheap child labor in India the global fight against coronavirus Over 70 children were crammed into a bus, heading from Bi- har to a sweatshop in the Indian city of Rajasthan, when the authorities pulled it over. Among the faces half hidden behind By Emina Osmandzikovic and Saudi Arabia, according to the UN/IOM report. refugees from war-torn countries greater access to local colorful masks was 12-year-old Deepak Kumar. Among the major beneficiaries of migrants’ contribution labor and economic markets. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Kumar had been enrolled From cooking free meals and serving as frontline are the revenues and pension systems of Western countries. Little has substantially changed since, especially in in grade four at the school in his small district of Gaya in the medical staff to sewing face masks and producing soap, Even nations with younger populations are reaping the large refugee-hosting countries such as Jordan and Leba- impoverished Indian state of Bihar. But when COVID-19 hit migrants and refugees have become significant contribu- rewards of hosting migrants who establish start-ups and non, where local populations continue to suffer from and the country went into lockdown, the school gates shut tors to the global fight against the coronavirus disease small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). chronic unemployment. across India and have not opened since. With his parents, both (COVID-19) pandemic. The need for the skills, talents, and hard work associated Meanwhile, the World Bank has predicted a 20 percent daily wage laborers, unable to make money and put food on However, current data has not fully captured the scale with migrants and migrant workers can hardly be overstat- drop in migrant remittances by the end of this year, signi- the table, last month Kumar was sent out to find work, the of their sacrifices or the challenges they face. ed, especially at a time of pandemic-induced recessions. fying the broader economic impacts of the pandemic on Guardian reported. Contrary to populist xenophobic beliefs, migrants have “During lockdown, my parents had no jobs, and after lock- little or no connection to COVID-19’s emergence as a pan- down, my parents had no money to arrange food for us,” said demic. Rather, intense population movements, in particular Kumar, the eldest of seven. “My entire family somehow sur- of tourists, business workers, and possibly political activ- vived on one meagre meal. Most of the time, I either slept ists, have been a key vehicle of transmission of the virus. with a half or completely empty stomach. So, I joined a group That said, the presence and movement of migrants going out for work. I thought, ‘If I work, I will get money and does have a bearing on the demographic, social, cultural, at least eat good food.’” His home district of Gaya is now and economic factors influencing in a positive way the thought to have around 80,000 children working as laborers. local contexts of the global health crisis. Deepak’s father, Ramashraya Manjhi, 50, a daily wage farm Despite demanding circumstances, migrants have laborer, said he allowed his 12-year-old son to go out to work made significant sociocultural, civic-political, and eco- to save the whole family from starvation. nomic contributions to both origin and destination coun- “I would get two kilogerams of grains a day for working in tries and communities, including by being agents of the field, but after lockdown, all food ran out at home,” said change in a range of sectors. Manjhi. “I had nothing to serve my seven children to eat, so Migrants also tend to have higher entrepreneurial ac- I asked my eldest child to go out for work. My son too said if tivity compared with natives, according to the UN/IOM he worked he would get food and would also provide the same World Migration Report 2020, a trait that could prove to us.” helpful to post-pandemic recovery efforts. While large swathes of the population now work from home, many of the essential services that keep people safe from COVID-19 and help maintain lifestyles are being performed by migrant workers or undocumented immigrants. According to some estimates, migrants account for more than 10 percent of the occupations in such key sec- AFP tors as medical services, transport and storage, personal This picture taken in Dubai, UAE, shows construction workers at the site of the Expo 2020. care, and food processing. These occupations are regarded as belonging to the “Refugees are rarely seen as an opportunity and con- migrants and diaspora. Ideally, the socio-economic well- low-skill category and hence the migrants who hold tributors to local societies,” Rula Amin, the UN High being of migrants and refugees should be safeguarded them tend to get overlooked by authorities in Europe and Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) senior commu- because it is essential to post-pandemic recovery. the US when it comes to processing asylum or residence nications spokesperson for the Middle East and North The Persian Gulf region is home to two of the three applications, to say nothing of welfare benefits. Africa region, told Arab News. top remittance-sending countries in the world — Saudi MANOJ CHAURASIA Long before the pandemic forced at least a grudging “We need to go beyond symbolic stories and see the Arabia and the UAE — accounting for a total of $80.5 Indian children aboard a train leave for industrial cities for work. recognition of the key role played by foreign migrant potential of displaced populations. Otherwise we will billion in outflows in 2019, according to the World Bank. workers in different countries, international migration end up with a lot of wasted potential, a lot of doctors and Both countries have invested heavily in ensuring the While the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked devastation had occupied center-stage in the great debates of the 21st educators excluded from the local labor markets and an- safety of their migrant communities. on India, no one has suffered worse than its children. In the century. ti-pandemic efforts.” Health care professionals from the Persian Gulf region space of seven months, the country has been set back decades The close links between economic, political, and so- Since 2017, there has been historic change at an inter- have also been serving on the medical frontlines in the in the fight against child labor, child trafficking and child cial issues, on the one hand, and mobility on the other, national level with UN member states coming together US and Europe. For example, nine Emirati doctors have marriage, with the lockdown and the economic collapse that have added to the complexity of migration. Another rea- to finalize two global compacts on the manifestations of chosen to stay in France and help their local colleagues followed creating a perfect storm of poverty and exploita- son is the availability of more information on migration migration and displacement: The Global Compact for in the fight against COVID-19. tion. Schools, which are not only vital for education but act and migrants. Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, and the Global as an essential surveillance mechanism to ensure that children Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the largest migration Compact on Refugees. This article was first published on arabnews.com. Read the are kept out of the hands of child traffickers and not pushed corridors tended to be from developing countries to larg- In the Middle East, as early as 2017, there were trans- full article on: into arranged underage marriages, have been closed since er economies such as the US, France, Russia, the UAE, national and unified calls to provide all migrants and Irandailyonline.ir/News/275466.html March. Dhananjay Tingal, executive director of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan movement which rescues trafficked children, said that between April and September, it had rescued over 1,200 children who were being trafficked illegally to work in Living with aftermath of genocide factories or farms, a spike unlike anything he had seen before. The children were usually aged between eight and 18, though some were as young as six. Their average salary was usually while pursuing peace 1,000 rupees (£10.50) per month, around 40p per day. In India all child labor is illegal for children under the age How does a country or culture move on conflict to document the aftermath. her home and kneeled before her. Europe’s worst war since World War II of 14, with a few minor exceptions, and between 14 and 18 after war crimes have been committed? That led to the 150-photo exhibi- “We are friends ... we live in peace erupted. children are banned from any work that is “hazardous” or will An exhibition and book by former war tion and book published in English and now,” the Rwandan mother said. She told journalist Anthony Loyd she affect their development. correspondents sketch out a roadmap based French along with two video documents. “I forgave because I wanted to save my has tried to teach her children to renounce Tingal recounted a recent rescue operation on October 6 on work in Bosnia, Cambodia, Rwanda One witness is Alice, who could not life,” she told Gourevitch. “If I did not resentment but her sister Atija said it was where raids were carried out on several roadside restaurants, and other conflict zones, and underscores speak for three years after the genocide forgive him I would have passed the ha- hard to heal old wounds and reach out to known as dhabas, and automobile workshops in north Delhi.