Global Migrant Workers Network

On this International Labour Day, the Global Migrant Workers Network honors the strength, courage, and contributions of all migrant workers. Together, we urge governments, employers, international agencies, and civil society organizations to take bold and urgent action to:

1. Eliminate all recruitment fees and implement free, fair, ethical, and gender-responsive recruitment processes.
2. Establish and enforce non-discriminatory minimum wages for all migrant workers, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, language, or nationality.
3. Ensure safe, decent, and dignified working and living conditions for all migrants.
4. Provide full access to social protection and healthcare for all migrant workers.
5. Guarantee the freedom of association, expression, and movement.
6. Abolish tied visa systems, such as the Kafala system, in all their forms and uphold the full human and labor rights of migrant workers.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) have been prominent major labor destinations for millions of migrant workers from South and East Asia—including Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines—and African countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Ghana, and Nigeria. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Arab States alone hosted over 24.1 million migrant workers in 2019.

Fueled by poverty, unemployment, conflict, and political instability at home, many migrants are pulled into the Gulf region by promises of job security, modern infrastructure, and economic opportunity. Migrant workers are the pillars of socio-economic development in sending and receiving countries, yet their contributions remain largely unrecognized and ignored in policy and development discourse. Instead, they are too often defined by their vulnerabilities and treated as services and commodities.

In the GCC, most migrant workers are employed in low-income, high-risk sectors such as construction, care and domestic work, hospitality, retail, and security. They endure long working hours, appalling housing, and abusive practices such as wage theft, passport confiscation, contract substitution, and denial of legal rights. Care and domestic workers, predominantly women, face double vulnerabilities due to their isolation in private homes and lack of formal labor protections, further exacerbating gendered exploitation.

Migrant workers enter the GCC through the Kafala system, a sponsorship-based system that grants significant control over migrant workers to employers. This power imbalance restricts workers’ rights and limits their freedom of movement, association, assembly, expression, and speech. Employers often abuse their power with impunity: confiscating passports, preventing workers from changing jobs, and filing false criminal complaints against workers to avoid legal obligations owed to workers, such as buying them a plane ticket home. Excessive fees for legal documentation, the inability for workers to change employers without written permission from their sponsor, and some countries requiring exit permits before allowing departure are some of the many barriers preventing workers from leaving abusive employers. These issues are prevalent throughout the GCC, where migrant workers often encounter racism, racial and systemic discrimination, marginalization, and social alienation.

Exploitation begins even before migrants reach their destinations. In their home countries, many are deceived by false promises of prosperity and burdened with exorbitant recruitment fees charged by recruitment agencies, agents, and sub-agents. To afford these costs, workers often take out high-interest loans, pushing them into debt bondage and increasing their vulnerability to forced labor in destination countries.

Migrant workers and survivors of forced labor and human trafficking who make up the leadership at the Global Migrant Workers Network understand the problem at hand and recognize the resilience and potential of migrant workers better than anyone else.

In solidarity, we reject migrant workers being seen as voiceless victims. Instead, we speak, rise, resist, and thrive for our shared dignity.

Signatories

The Global Migrant Workers Network

With members of the Network, including:

Pst. George Muturi, Bahrain Kenyan Society
On this Labour Day, we raise our voices—not in protest, but in dignity. As migrant workers, we leave our homes, our families, and our familiar lands to contribute to the growth and success of other nations. Our hands build, serve, and sustain economies far from home. Yet, in the midst of our sacrifice, we humbly ask that our rights be respected. Fair treatment, safe working conditions, just wages, and human dignity are not privileges, but basic rights for every worker. Labour without justice is exploitation. Work without respect is oppression. Today, we don’t just celebrate our labour call for recognition, protection, and equality. May this day awaken compassion, justice, and reform for all who toil in silence.

Indrani Mendis, Migrant Worker-Survivor Leader
Through our GMWN leadership, we will raise our voices to the world to find lasting solutions for fundamental problems for all migrant workers and join together to provide protection.

Sherrynorth L. Attakora, Migrant Worker-Survivor Leader
A single day of action holds more power than endless dreams of tomorrow.
Mandla Masuku, President Migrant Workers Union of South Africa (MIWUSA)
On this Workers’ Day, we call on the Southern African governments, particularly the South African government, to protect migrant workers, refugees, and vulnerable groups like farm and domestic workers from xenophobia and exploitation. Every worker, regardless of status, deserves dignity, justice, and equal protection under the law.

Manfred Mosaka, Migrant Worker-Survivor Leader
Remembering where I come from and those who will benefit from my efforts gives me even more reason to persevere—to keep fighting for the rights and dignity of migrant workers.

Ndagire Jonita, Mwagale Foundation
Migrant workers and returnees/survivors contribute so much to the economies of sending countries. It is therefore JUST that sending countries consider protecting their people while working and on their return. While signing the Bilateral agreements, sending countries should consider the security, rights and lives of their citizens other than just signing with the excuse of expanding employment.

Abubakar Umar Faruq, African Diaspora Association
Migrant workers are the silent architects of progress, building bridges between cultures and economies with their resilience and hard work.

Bhim Shrestha, Shramik Sanjal
Together we rise to resist injustice and exploitation, standing strong for the dignity and rights of all migrant workers.

Domestic workers in the Middle East face widespread human rights abuses that demand immediate attention, as documented in this New York Times March 16 investigative report: Why Maids Keep Dying in Saudi Arabia. These workers, often women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, endure long hours, low wages, and abusive conditions while contributing significantly to households across the region. Despite their vital roles, they remain marginalized and vulnerable to exploitation under systems that fail to protect their rights.

Key Issues

The Global Migrant Workers Network highlights several critical challenges faced by domestic workers in the Middle East:

• Restricted Freedom of Movement: Many domestic workers are denied access to their personal documents, leaving them trapped in exploitative situations.
• Lack of Legal Protections: Domestic workers often lack the same rights and protections afforded to other workers, exposing them to abuse and exploitation.
• Forced Labor and Human Trafficking: Weak enforcement of laws against forced labor and trafficking exacerbates their vulnerability.
• Financial Exploitation: Recruitment agencies and employers frequently engage in unethical practices, including withholding wages or charging exorbitant fees.
• Barriers to Justice: Limited access to legal representation, translation services, and support systems prevents workers from seeking redress for abuses.

Urgent Recommendations

To address these issues, we call on governments in the region, particularly Saudi Arabia, to implement the following comprehensive reforms:

• Lift Movement Restrictions: Ensure domestic workers have access to their personal documents and freedom of movement.
• Equal Legal Protections: Enact laws granting domestic workers the same rights as other laborers, including fair wages and social security benefits.
• Combat Exploitation: Strengthen efforts to prevent forced labor, trafficking, and abuse while holding perpetrators accountable.
• Regulate Recruitment Practices: Establish ethical standards for recruitment agencies to prevent financial exploitation.
• Access to Justice: Provide legal representation, translation services, and support hotlines for domestic workers seeking help.
• Unionization Rights: Recognize domestic workers’ right to collective bargaining and union formation.
• Education Programs: Empower workers through training programs that inform them of their rights.

International Cooperation

The Network emphasizes the need for governments in the Middle East to ratify international conventions such as the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention (No. 189) of 2011. This treaty ensures domestic workers receive basic rights like minimum wage guarantees, social security benefits, and protection against discrimination.

A Call for Action

The plight of domestic workers is a pressing human rights issue that requires urgent reform. Governments must act decisively to ensure these individuals are treated with dignity and fairness. By implementing these recommendations, countries can not only improve the lives of domestic workers but also strengthen their global human rights record.

Domestic worker struggles can no longer go unnoticed or unaddressed. It is time for governments, organizations, and individuals worldwide to stand in solidarity with these workers and demand justice.

Governments must take immediate and decisive feminist action to reform oppressive labour laws and enforce existing policies to safeguard the rights of women migrant workers, who, despite their vital contributions to global economies, continue to face gender-specific barriers. This was the central message of our inaugural public webinar held on March 19th, led by an all-woman panel of survivor leaders from our network.

Women on the Move: Gender, Rights, and Migration explores the challenges faced by migrant women and outlines the urgent steps needed governments must take to ensure their rights are upheld and protected.

Speakers

• Lucy Turay – Founder, Domestic Worker Advocacy Network (DoWAN), Sierra Leone
• Suzanne Baldago – Migrant Workers Association, Bharain
• Ndagire Joanita Joshirah – Mwagale Foundation, Uganda
• Eseosa Eguamwense – Lived experience consultant & advocate, Nigeria

Key Takeaways

• Despite their essential contributions and increasing demand in the global labor market, migrant women face persistent gender-based barriers and exploitation, with real-world consequences for millions.
• Migrant domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, with violations often going unaddressed due to a lack of oversight in “hidden industries” and exploitative policies like the Kafala system.
• To ensure labour justice, governments must urgently prioritize migrant women’s voices in the development of migration policies and agreements.
• By investing in local resources and strengthening regional partnerships, leaders can create opportunities at home, turning migration into a choice rather than a necessity, and shifting the power balance in global labor markets.

Introduction

Migrant workers are a driving force behind the global economy, contributing significantly in different roles, across various sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, construction, medicine, and hospitality. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers, 167.7 million migrants were part of the labor force in their destination countries in 2022. Of these, 64.9 million were women.

“A significant proportion of migrants – 68.4 per cent – were employed in the services sector, compared to 51.5 per cent of non-migrants. This trend was largely driven by the global demand for care and domestic work, particularly among women. 28.8 per cent of migrant women and 12.4 per cent of migrant men were employed in [the] care economy, compared to 19.2 per cent of non-migrant women and 6.2 per cent of non-migrant men.” – International Labour Organization (ILO) December 16, 2024

The majority of migrants in the labor force are concentrated in Northern, Southern, and Western Europe, North America, and the Middle East. As populations in these regions age, more women from low-income countries are migrating to fill labor gaps.

Migration is not a gender-neutral experience

“Migration is not a gender neutral experience. It is a global phenomenon; thousands of people migrate every day, moving from their home countries to other countries. However, particularly for women, the rules are a lot more different. Women face unique, gender-specific challenges that leave them vulnerable to exploitation,” Eseosa Eguamwense pointed out, emphasizing that understanding these differences is crucial for policymakers.

The lived experience of women migrant workers is intersectional—they often navigate the challenges of working abroad, while simultaneously dealing with deeply-ingrained gender biases and cultural constraints, in both their home and host countries. As Lucy Turay, the Founder of Domestic Worker Advocacy Network (DoWAN), pointed out, these biases and beliefs have real-life consequences for migrant women.

“Sometimes, it is really difficult when it comes to migration for women [in comparison to] men…particularly in the labor markets. Because most times, the good opportunities are given to men while women are given lesser opportunities. And when it comes to the salary rate, a woman doing the same job as a man may, at the end of the day, not receive the same salary, which is gender discrimination. And it’s really, really affecting us.”

Lucy, whose organization supports repatriated domestic workers in Sierra Leone, explains that for mothers, the decision to travel abroad for work is particularly difficult, as it often means leaving their children in the care of extended family or guardians.

“Over 18 million women, according to UN reports, are going for domestic work not only in the Gulf, but around the globe. And out of these women, most will end up being mothers. That is not something that men will experience. When they become mothers, their children do not have the same rights as other children, particularly domestic workers. Their children end up being abused, and are denied opportunities to have a loving family.”

Women are not commodities

Speaking from Uganda, where she runs the Mwagale Foundation, Ndagire Joanita Joshirah highlighted that high unemployment rates push many young people to seek opportunities abroad, often taking jobs beneath their skill levels and qualifications. The lack of viable employment options at home makes job seekers vulnerable to exploitation by middlemen and agents who capitalize on their limited knowledge, policy loopholes, and weak local laws.

“The Kafala law system is really, really affecting us. It has led women to become more of commodities, not workers, which really hurts me so much because we need to address this. Women are not commodities! Women are workers like everyone else, but we are mostly targeted by the Kafala law system, which makes our employers have significant control over us. At the end of the day, we don’t have freedom for anything as women. And yet we migrated from our countries to come and seek greener pastures. At times, greener pastures become fire for us, which is sad.”

Governments must do more

As recently reported in this New York Times special feature, the Kafala system is rife with abuses, often with serious consequences for survivors. Since domestic labour often takes place in environments where governments and labour organisations can offer little oversight or protection, violations and abuses often go unreported and undressed in host countries. Local laws and systems are slanted in the favour of citizens, employers, or recruitment agents.

While state agencies in migrants’ home countries are taking steps to improve safe labor migration, our speakers emphasized that more must be done to protect worker rights, by centering migrant concerns and lived experiences.

“For the government, as you sign bilateral agreements, please involve people who have been migrant workers and migrant workers themselves because the terms and conditions, and the things you talk about in the agreements, in most cases do not favor migrant workers. And secondly, stop hiding the agreements because these agreements are signed for us and we don’t know what is in the agreement,” Joanita adds.

Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has established a special department to handle migrant labour and human trafficking concerns, but, as Joanita explained, the impact of these efforts is limited by resource constraints. While local civil society organizations step in to provide support, the demand for services currently outpaces their capacity.

Speakers also urged policymakers to invest in local resources and strengthen regional partnerships, so that migration becomes a choice rather than a necessity. By creating opportunities at home, leaders can shift the power balance between job-seekers and employers, reducing the risk of migrant worker exploitation.

“Let migration be an option because migration is not an option when it comes to most countries. That is the only solution to the problem. So if you can identify your resources and empower your people in a way that they can be sustainable, migration can be an option,” says Lucy.

Migrant Women Leading Change

In the face of these challenges, migrant women are leading the fight for labor justice, demonstrating feminist leadership through their resilience, collective action, and consistent commitment to human rights.

“A feminist approach for me as a migrant leader is fundamentally about advocating for the rights and dignity of migrant women. That involves listening to their voices, addressing the unique challenges they face, and challenging unfair systems. A feminist approach must be both bold and inclusive, positioning us at critical crossroads where the rights of women are often at stake,” explained Network leader, Suzanne Baldago.

In her capacity as the Founding Chairperson of the Migrant Workers Association in Bahrain Suzanne recently presented a report on key concerns of Bahraini migrant workers, providing policy recommendations for states and partners.

“This [work we do] is very important because, historically, survivors have not been given the space to lead. We have not been given the space to influence decisions to include our voices, nor have we been engaged with the dignity that we deserve…to determine the cause of our own story and the cause of our lives,”Eseosa said in conclusion, adding that this webinar is the first of a series of survivor-led discussions the Global Migrant Workers Network will host this year.

You can watch the full video here http://youtube.com/watch?v=ej4H9eMKZbE

On this International Women’s Day, the Global Migrant Workers Network stands in solidarity with women across the world, especially migrant women workers, who continue to lead the fight for dignity, justice, and equality. As frontline workers, caregivers, and essential contributors to global economies, migrant women embody feminist leadership through their resilience, collective organizing, and unwavering commitment to human rights.

Yet, despite their vital role, migrant women face systemic inequalities, including wage theft, gender-based violence, lack of social protection, and exclusion from decision-making spaces. Their leadership and contributions remain undervalued and unprotected by policies that fail to recognize their rights and agency.

Feminist Leadership in Action

Feminist leadership is about breaking barriers, challenging oppressive systems, and centering the voices of marginalized women. Migrant women have led grassroots movements, labor unions, and community networks, demanding policies that uphold their dignity, secure fair wages, protect against abuse, and ensure access to justice.

Governments must recognize and support this leadership by:

1. Ensuring Legal Protections for Migrant Women Workers
   • Ratify and enforce ILO Convention 189 on domestic workers’ rights and ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work.
   • Implement strong labor laws that prevent wage theft, exploitation, and unsafe working conditions.
2. Providing Social Protection and Equal Rights
   • Ensure migrant women have access to healthcare, maternity leave, and social security, regardless of migration status.
   • End policies that tie work visas to employers, which increase vulnerability to abuse.
3. Ending Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination
   • Strengthen reporting mechanisms and provide legal aid for women facing workplace harassment and abuse.
   • Ensure all migrant women have safe housing and protection services.
4. Investing in Economic Empowerment
   • Fund livelihood programs such as skills training, entrepreneurship support, and education for migrant women.
   • Remove discriminatory wage gaps and ensure equal pay for equal work.
5. Including Migrant Women in Decision-Making
   • Recognize and engage migrant women leaders in policy-making processes, labor negotiations, and governance.
   • Support and fund migrant-led organizations and unions advocating for workers’ rights.

Governments Must Act—Now!

Migrant women are not victims—they are leaders, workers, and changemakers. Their demands for justice, safety, and fair treatment are non-negotiable. Governments must move beyond rhetoric and take bold, feminist action to uphold the rights and dignity of all migrant workers.

This International Women’s Day, we demand real commitments, real policies, and real protections. The fight for gender justice and migrant rights is one fight—and we will not stop until every woman is free, empowered, and protected.