Mr. Ryszard Cholewinski is a senior migration specialist at the International Labour Organisation regional office for Arab States, Beruit. He was one of the speakers at a webinar jointly organized by the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism, Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) andCross Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants (CCRM) which took place on 21st July 2020. Issues of wage theft and social justice were the main points of focus. The moderator, Mr. William Gois (Regional Coordinator of the MFA), put across some salient questions to Mr Ryszard in which he wanted to know the actions taken by the International labour Organisation (ILO) to deal with wage theft. Further, what reforms or changes have been put in place to address the injustices suffered by migrant workers and how effective are these reforms to alleviate their plight.
ILO works to fight for social injustice
Mr. Ryszard in his opening remarks explained that wage theft is a critical issue in which ILO has been working to curb and address injustices faced by migrant workers. “There has been increasing evidence in the wage theft especially when we are talking about migrant workers”, Mr. Ryszard said. He said the ILO is a constitutional institution that is committed to labour related responsibilities and it has been working in this context to ensure especially during this pandemic, that migrant workers are getting paid before leaving or returning to their countries.
COVID-19 exposed the flaws in existing mechanisms
Mr. Ryszard further highlighted some of the mechanisms being facilitated by International Labour Organisation to curb the issue of wage theft and to address social justice. He spoke about measures like setting up mobile court in Abu Dhabi and others measures in Kuwait and Qatar. He emphasized the need to further strengthen those mechanisms nationally so as to ensure that they are working perfectly. He said that the ongoing COVID-19 has weakened the existing structure especially in the Arab countries.
Report by: Oluwaseyi Olawuyi, he is an independent migration and environmental consultant, CEO at World Ecological Concepts Ltd. Nigeria. Twitter @Omoobalans