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Pratap Ravindran

Pune , Oct. 10

THERE are non-resident Indians... and then there are non-resident Indians.

Approximately 200 of them had recently celebrated Navaratri with the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, who perhaps in a fit of alliterative frenzy, described the event as a confluence of "commerce and culture" and "tradition and trade."

But what of the lakhs of Indians who have migrated abroad in search of a better future or even a basic livelihood and who account for most of the staggering $10 billion remitted every year to the country?

The sad truth is that neither Mr Modi nor his political cronies in New Delhi have shown the slightest interest in safeguarding the interests and rights of these migrants.

Predictably, it has fallen upon a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Human Rights Watch, to take up the cause of migrants' rights.

In a recent letter addressed to the World Bank President, Mr James Wolfensohn, on the eve of its annual meetings in Dubai, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Mr Kenneth Roth, has exhorted the bank to "highlight the importance of protecting migrant workers, both in the Gulf region and the global economy as a whole."

As the World Bank has recognised in its April 2003, report on Global Development Finance, remittances sent home by migrant workers has increased from $60 billion in 1998 to $80 billion in 2002. These payments, according to Mr Roth, "have become more important and stable sources of finance for developing countries than private lending or official development assistance."

India leads the countries receiving large remittances at $10 billion followed by the Philippines ($6.4 billion), Morocco ($3.3 billion), Egypt ($2.9 billion), Lebanon ($2.3 billion), Jordan ($2 billion), Yemen and Pakistan ($1.5 billion each), Sri Lanka ($1.1 billion) and Indonesia ($1billion).

However, their economic significance to both their home countries and the societies in which they work notwithstanding, many migrant workers "suffer from discrimination, exploitation and abuse."

Significantly, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families came into force this year - but India has not ratified it. The States that have ratified it are Azerbaijan, Belize, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Senegal, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Uganda and Uruguay.

Not surprisingly, not very many industrialised countries, which depend heavily on migrant labour, have shown any enthusiasm for adopting the Migrant Workers Convention which guarantees the full range of internationally recognised human rights to all migrant workers and their families, including the right to life, the right to not be subjected to torture or other forms of ill-treatment, the right to due-process of law, and the right to freedom of movement, association, expression, and religion. It further guarantees to migrants and their families "effective protection by the State against violence, physical injury, threats and intimidation, whether by public officials or by private individuals, groups or institutions."

According to Mr Roth, "many states seem reluctant to adopt the Migrant Workers Convention for fear that it will somehow privilege migrants, particularly those with `irregular' status."

"But the Migrant Workers Convention only reinforces human rights standards to which the same states are usually committed under other treaties. It recognises the serious worldwide problem of migrants without legal status and, while seeking to protect them from exploitation, calls for cooperation among states parties to prevent and eliminate such `illegal or clandestine movements and employment.' The Convention also grants broad latitude to states to maintain their own policies with respect to immigration, and requires migrant workers `to comply with the laws and regulations of any State of transit and the State of employment' and `to respect the cultural identity of the inhabitants of such States'."

As the World Bank has recognised that increasing labour mobility is a priority for poverty reduction and economic development in many countries and as these important reforms need to be accompanied by effective measures for the protection of migrant workers from exploitation and abuse, Mr Roth has urged the bank to encourage countries to adopt and implement the protections contained in the Migrant Workers Convention.

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