Monthly average of migrants returning home increased by 4 times in last 3 months: report

The average monthly return of migrant workers increased by four times in the last three months than what was in previous five months, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit said today.

Between April 1 and August 27, some 85,790 migrant workers returned home from 26 countries, RMMRU said, citing government data.

Whereas, the number of returnees increased to a little over 3.26 lakh as of November 30, it said.

RMMRU shared the data while unveiling its report "Pattern and Trends of Labour Migration 2020: Achievements and Challenges" during a virtual press conference.

Alongside the coronavirus pandemic, fall in global oil price, and job loss in tourism, services, and construction sectors in the Gulf countries were the key reasons behind such high return of workers, it said.

It called upon the authorities concerned to put pressure on multilateral organisations for issuing an embargo on forcible deportation of workers by host countries in a crisis period.

Besides, demand should be raised in multilateral forums to implement a mandatory "migrant protection policy" during crisis time in both receiving and sending countries. Natural disaster, economic recession, and health crisis, among others, will be included in the policy, it said.

Presenting the report, RMMRU Founding Chair Prof Tasneem Siddiqui said migrant workers faced multi-dimensional challenges amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"From one year's review, we could see how rights violation that migrant workers have already been facing deepened further during a crisis period," she added.

Amid the pandemic, many workers got stranded after coming home on holiday, many despite completing all procedure could not fly abroad, while migrant workers suffered most due to the virus infection in the host countries, she said.

Moreover, migrant workers faced job loss and food crisis while they were detained and deported forcibly, she further said.