Reducing vulnerability and precarity of low-skilled women in short-term migration from the global south: Key policy recommendations for the G-20

Women migrant workers make significant contributions to the global economy, but face risks of being subject to forced labour and trafficking, heightened by COVID-19. As women migrate from low-income to G20 countries to undertake key service functions, the G20 should uphold women’s human rights and fair work conditions. G20 countries can support migrant women workers through technical and information exchange, giving voice, and partnership with source countries to certify migration agents, provide social assistance and establish reintegration programmes. G20 can also support migrants in their own countries by providing standard employment contracts, securing access to health services and ensuring accessible redress mechanisms

Reducing vulnerability to forced labour and trafficking of women migrant workers from South- to West-Asia

Millions of short-term, low-skilled women migrant workers from South-Asia to West-Asia experience exploitative and unsafe conditions. We review evidence from literature and interview 18 key informants to assess the exploitation migrant women face, and highlight the impacts of past interventions to determine their potential, and realised effectiveness, in reducing forced labour and trafficking. We find that women face varied precarious situations along the migration pathway, including interactions with recruiters in the home country, incurring debt, pre-departure formalities and training, withheld wages and mobility restrictions. We discuss varying degrees of success of mechanisms that aim to reduce vulnerability to forced labour

Reducing vulnerability to forced labor and trafficking of short-term, low-skilled women migrant workers in the South Asia to Middle East corridor

Millions of female migrants experience various forms of exploitative and unsafe conditions when migrating for employment and income generation, both in countries of origin and in destination countries. Vulnerabilities increased further due to the Covid-19 pandemic, causing income and job losses, entrapment in countries of destination without financial or social support and stigmatization upon return. One of the key migration routes travelled by millions of migrants is from South Asia to the Middle East. We examine this migration route for low-skilled female migrant workers highlighting the impacts of interventions along the migration pathway to determine the effectiveness of alternative mechanisms for reducing forced labour and trafficking. We draw lessons from the literature as well as from interviews with key informants in the field, including academics, development partners, NGO workers, and policymakers, to identify promising interventions that successfully reduce the vulnerability of women migrants. We find that, while Covid-19 has increased migrant vulnerability, it has also exposed the current system’s violations in facilitating trafficking and exacerbating poor working conditions