It is ironical that migrant laborers, who comprise a whopping 85 percent of UAE workforce, face severe issues regarding discrimination, human rights violation, human trafficking, and racism. Newspaper and report headlines stating "conditions for Abu Dhabi's migrant workers shame the West", and UAE: A Move to Protect Migrant workers" duly expose the harsh conditions faced by migrants from surrounding nations.
There is a great deal of literature on the conditions these helpless workers face on the foreign soil; however, there is a dearth of studies linking the impacts of these circumstances to the psychological health of migrant laborers. This research aims to fill this gap. Having reviewed the published literature, the write-up establishes a correlation between poor working conditions and pitiable mental status of these workers. The brief and objective research is expected to galvanize the public opinion regarding the overall situation in UAE.
All scholars including social activists, journalists, and human rights honchos are unanimous that Emirates does a 'lot more' than mere harassing the migrant laborers. They are housed in labor camps, better-called shanty towns, with deadly living conditions. Dubai's permanent committee for labor affairs mentioned that more than 75 percent of these camps do not meet standards( safety and hygiene) set by the government.
A report commissioned by Human Rights Watch(HRW) has strikingly revealed that workers live in squalid conditions. They are exposed to long working hours( up to twelve hours a day) during scorching heat, and with few breaks to compensate. Additionally, they suffer from sexual abuse, wage exploitation, and debt bondage.
They are denied freedom of expression, movement, citizenship, employment choices, and any sort of union activity. Low wages coupled with increasing inflation and rise in food prices have led to many labor protests time to time. These protests have shown an ugly face in Dubai, Kuwait, and Bahrain between 2007-2008. However, the government has successfully infused a culture of fear by repression, forced deportations, and imprisonment.
The kafala system involves withholding laborers' passport to regulate their employment and residency. It imparts almost total control to employers over the worker's salary, nutrition, movement, and even their ability to return home. Breaking the contract means buying a ticket back to the home that is almost impossible for workers in the given conditions. Furthermore, labor laws discriminate against an employee- the foreigner and favor the citizen-the employee.
There is an unequal distribution of power and wealth between nationals and non-nationals. The aim of the guest worker model is to employ manpower without allowing them to integrate. It underscores temporary residence and denial of citizenship. While Emiratis hold superior positions in the public sector, migrant workers are consigned to work in private sector, that too under threatening condition. Scholars have called it deep-seated structural racism.
Furthermore, the worst face of working conditions raise its ugly head in the form of human trafficking; the nuisance is flourishing in UAE and scores of maids, taxi drivers, and other employees are getting victimized. Foreign women are recruited under the guise of secretaries and waitresses, but they are thrown into prostitution upon arrival. They are abused psychologically and sexually and instead of being treated as victims, they are even deported and jailed for prostitution.
It goes without saying that physical health and psychological well-being of hapless workers is at stake. They are so engrossed in this seamy underbelly that nothing less than death can satisfy them. Suicide rates are high( 113 suicides were reported in 2009), health discrepancies prevail, and there is a civil unrest over excessive 'Commodification' of labor.
A suicide note( mentioned below) by one of the Bangladeshi immigrants expose the mental pressures workers are facing with no let-up in their plight despite interventions by human rights agencies.
" As I was made to work with no money for months, I have been suffering from a persistent headache. I asked my camp boss for $14 as I wanted to get my health check-up done but he refused me the amount. Post-death I want the company to pay my due salary to my family and repay the debt my family has incurred because of them."
The study conducted exclusively on the psychological health of migrant workers reported a high prevalence rate of depression in the workers residing in labor camps than the population of UAE in general. Apparently, kafala system is no less than modern-day slavery and imbues 'structural' violence in the system. These situations degrade and dehumanize people. Consequently, workers feel abuse, decreased quality of relationships, loneliness, low productivity, separation, functional impairment, and weakening of mind. High suicides rates are also the outcome of weak minds as this system perpetuates.
Though there are less studies directly reporting on the psychological impacts, drawing a correlation between working conditions and mental health is not that difficult. The culture of fear prevails and there is the likelihood of sleep disturbances, anxiety, and other mental disorders. Sleep deprivation and exhaustion impair workers' abilities making them vulnerable to further abuse- psychologically and physically.
Two biggest concerns elevating mental pressures are passport confiscation and debt bondage. Employment agencies charge exorbitant recruitment fee from workers in their home nations with false promises of high wages. On arrival, workers feel indebted, indentured, forced. The mental trauma they may undergo does not need any explanation.
Taken together, discrimination, racism, sex trade, and appalling working conditions seem to have caused workers' burnout. Not only feelings to harm 'self' are simmering, but also the intention to harm others is gaining ground. The behavior of employers is so uncouth that workers are finding it hard to cope with it. In 2014, a Bangladeshi laborer stabbed his boss to death after he fired him. It was close on the heels of another horrific incident in which an African laborer killed his roommate for the sexual assault.
These types of incidents clearly reflect the reduced mental status of workers. Clinical psychologist Dr. Mary John, who works for Dubai Community Health Centre, avers that the acts of violence are due to undiagnosed depression and hallucinations. The doctor claims that unhealthy working conditions cast a negative impact on the psychological aspect of things.
Mental pressures are already severe and further fanned by dirty toilets, dud air conditions, and unhygienic rooms. Workers come from different communities and religions, and socialization takes place with other laborers in the camps. The coming together of different personalities can initiate a conundrum, as revealed by real-time examples also. A Bangladeshi worker reported that there are always arguments in the labor camps. Persistent clashes over miniature things not only cause frustration, but also shake up anger and hostility towards each other.
Workers are far away from their homes and the feeling of disconnection and isolation peeps in. Having faced further discrimination at work places, they feel looked down upon and anger piles up slowly leading to frustration and lack of work productivity. A personal development consultant has aptly mentioned that residents should mingle workers in their community to make them feel happy. Unfortunately, it is not the case there.
The plight of migrant workers even begins in their home nations; recruiters charge up to $4000 for a safe employment in UAE. Being unable to pay this amount, they often take loans from money lenders at a high rate of interest thereby jeopardizing the family left behind. With contracts usually last one to three years with pay scale of $ 100 per month, workers, in one sense, keep working to pay the debt they had taken for recruitment. It is an outright cheating that bogs down the morale and work spirit of employees. Consequently, they suffer physically and psychologically.
The Bangladesh embassy in Abu Dhabi estimates that around 8-10 bodies are repatriated every month of which 3-4 are work-related deaths. Employers downplay the hazards and provide no safety or medical care for the same. Occupational health risks of domestic labors include fractures, musculoskeletal injuries, and overexertion; psychological stress is no less. Considering that physical and mental illness have a positive correlation, it is natural to delineate that disturbed physical health can cause more mental pressures leading to hampered psychology.
Conditions are threatening, dehumanizing, and degrading. There is utter discrimination, racism, violence, trafficking, and sex trade. As a result, there are sleep deterioration, undue exertion, lack of quality of life, spar over trivial issues, and a feeling of sadness and isolation. A culture of fear prevails that snatches out the productivity and morale of migrant laborers.
In the nutshell, workers are treated as commodities, not human beings. Against the categorical imperative of a famous philosopher Immanuel Kant, workers are not being treated as an end, rather a means to achieve other ends. It is indeed shameful and disparaging.
Works Cited
Emirates Centre for Human Rights. Emirates. NA. 10 January 2016 <http://www.echr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ECHR-Report-on-Migrant-Workers-in-the-UAE.pdf>.
Human Rights Watch. UAE: A Move to Protect Migrant Workers. 1 November 2015. 14 January 2016 <https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/11/01/uae-move-protect-migrant-workers>.
Maskari, Fatima-Al, Syed Shah and John Schneider. "Prevalence of Depression and Suicidal Behaviors Among Male Migrant Workers in United Arab Emirates." Journal of Immigration and Minority Health (2011).
Royal College of Psychiatrists. Mental Health and Physcial Health. 2013. 15 January 2015 <http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/viewpoint/mentalphysicalhealth.aspx>.
Sonmez, Sevil, et al. "Human Rights and Health Disparities for Migrant Workers in UAE." Health and Human Rights (2011).
The Guardian. Conditions for Abu Dhabi's Migrant Workers Shame the West. 22 December 2013. 12 January 2016 <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/22/abu-dhabi-migrant-workers-conditions-shame-west>.
