Discrimination Between United Arab Emirates Nationals and Indians - Term Paper Example

 Discrimination between UAE Nationals and Indians within the UAE Abstract Lots of Indians are moving to the United Arab Emirates(UAE) in search of better prospects and financial position at UAE as well as in India. UAE is also largely dependent on these migrant workers. But despite this dependency the country shows a large range of discrimination between UAE nationals and Indians in many areas of social, economical and political livelihood. The employers and also the government are not willing to decline such discrimination. In recent times, the international agencies, like the United Nations take initiatives against this phenomenal discrimination. But till now not much have been done. This study attempts to explore the areas, causes and recent improvements in the extent of discrimination between UAE nationals and Indian migrants in UAE. Introduction The Gulf countries are recently experiencing large-scale immigration from India. Since the flourishing of the oil companies in 1962, the economic growth rising high and the countries felt acute labour shortages. This resulted in a phenomenal increase in the number of Indians workers in the Gulf countries. Presently there are about 3 million Indians in the Gulf countries, of which 700,000 working in the UAE. In 2008, a study conducted by Agency for Developing Human Resources and Recruiting UAE Nationals (Tanmia) finds that 75 per cent of the expatriate labour force in the UAE is from Asian countries and a majority of them is from India. Figure 1 shows the labour outflows from India to UAE during 2000-2005. The figure shows a steep hike in number of migrant workers in recent times. (Khagria 2005) Indian immigrants in UAE suffer from a number of discriminations – political, socio-economic and cultural. The social structure follows patriarchy and the economy is of rentier (an economy where individuals mainly derive their earning by virtue of possessing natural resources or some fixed investments) nature in the UAE. These have effectively truncated freedoms of political expression, occupational choice and recreational and formal religious activities of the Indian immigrants, particularly the non-Muslim immigrants. There is an unusual difference between the huge wealth of the UAE nationals and the conditions of the migrated Indians who constitute an awesome mass of the population. A sample survey conducted in 2004 finds that the average salary of Indian workers in UAE is between Dh 1000-1500 per month (approx. US$270-478) or between US$3240-4896 per year. This is far below the average annual per capita income of the country, which is US$55200. (Zachariah and Rakash 2004) Unlike many issues, which challenge civil society and human rights, the inequality and injustice of the situation of Indians in the UAE is one, which can be resolved by amendment of laws and rules, because there are more than sufficient resources in the UAE to provide a basic standard of living for Indian immigrants. Areas of Discrimination for Indian Nationals Socio-cultural: The citizenship in the UAE is entirely based on the concepts of cultural and religious measures. The UAE citizens enjoy a large number of social rights. As most of the countries in the Gulf region are dependent on returns from oil, it allows for citizens to enjoy a very rich and advanced welfare state. In return, however, the nationals have to abide the Muslim perception of citizenship. Their Arab rulers direct this. If these rules are not followed, the rulers take appropriate steps, including stripping them off their political rights. The naturalization and citizenship laws in UAE are extremely prohibitive for the immigrants. It requires about 15 to 30 years of continuous residency in addition to other personal qualifications to be considered for naturalization. Moreover, naturalized citizens continue to suffer variously from a number of political disabilities that prevent them from full integration with the life of the host countries. For example, in the UAE, naturalized citizens do not enjoy any political rights, such as political participation or even voting rights. (Luciani 1990; Khalaf and Alkobaisi 1999) Socio-economical: Trade unionism and strikes are illegal for the Indians in the UAE. The system of work permits legally ties the Indians to their employers. A worker dismissed by his employer for whatever cause is legally required to leave the country. Exploitation of the immigrated workers ranges from non-payment of wages to physical abuse. These are not only common and widespread, but also organized. The labour laws in the country are totally declined in favour of the employers. Also the methods used to impose these laws are fruitless. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is the government agency in charge of such execution of laws. But it has neither the ability nor it is interested to execute these laws. Also there is evidence that the government not only remains inactive in case of maltreatment of migrant workers, but also becomes actively involved in this abuse. This is because the government is a direct participant in the industry and makes profit directly from the system of debt-bondage conditions of the migrant workers. Among all categories of workers the plight of housemaids is perhaps the worst. “Lured to the UAE by dreams of prosperity, some so-called governesses from India find themselves trapped in a vicious net of degradation. In UAE, there is no law providing protection to these hapless victims of the recruiting agents as well as the employers”( Manseau 2005; Parekh et al. 2003). In many cases, overwork, low wages, sexual exploitation, rape and torture are the broad parameters of their working and living conditions. Most of the poor and illiterate workers from India become entrapped into debt bondage, which is nothing but another form of slavery. This form of slavery means that migrant workers spend several years working to pay back debts over which they have no control. This is a significant violation of the 1926 and 1956 conventions on slavery. Yet, no steps are taken to prevent such a practice, which is widespread. This system of mistreatment of the migrant workers is going on by the denunciation of the most crucial labour rights. Most important of them is the right to freely associate and to bargain collectively. Though the UAE is an ILO (International Labor Organization) member country, it has not signed core ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining. The labour laws in UAE are very strong and there is evidence that does not protect migrant workers from exploitative labour practices - “The only reliable way of keeping track of labour disputes is through the national press, since the Ministry of Labour has never released any figures on the matter. According to one official, they did not even keep records until September 2005”( Keane and McGreehan 2008). Again, “Workers wishing to file a complaint frequently encounter difficulties. Aggrieved employees have to submit a written complaint in either Arabic or English, which are the two official languages of the UAE, to the Ministry of Labour and to their employer. But most of the migrant workers from India are illiterate and could not speak either Arabic or English”(Keane and McGreehan 2008). Language represents a serious barrier at all levels of interaction, including complaints. Truncated Transnationalism for Indians at UAE Transnationalism (see Glick-Schiller et al 1992. ; Portes et al. 1999) between UAE nationals and the Indian immigrants are at the bottom level (Sassen 1993). Most of the immigrants are lower and middle class people from India. They only focus on increasing their financial condition in their home countries. The middle class educated workers also treat the country as a waiting place and gateway to European and North American countries. There is no evidence that the migrant workers are being integrated in the UAE. Also the UAE nationals and their Arab rulers show any interest in such integration (Perry et al 2003). Causes of Discrimination There is no country in the world that legalizes exploitation of workers and debt bondage. Also it is would be naïve to presume that any country could eliminate labour laws and their practice. There is Human Rights Organization and other international institutions that always monitor the implementation of law, and oversee how effective legal provisions are in achieving their formal aims. The UAE government always tries to cover the disruption of legal regulations in respect of the migrant workers that are taking place in its territory. Section II has given an outline of that abuse of laws, and pointed out with examples regarding how they fail the majority of the migrant people, who constitute 95 per cent of the labour population. On a range of issues, such as health and safety and complaints procedures, egregious violations of rights are occurring. The draft labour law proposed in February 2007 again fails to provide proper remedies. On the account of the maltreatment that is taking place in UAE, the government has to accept that there is a need for legal organizations as far as the migrant workers are concerned. If the myriad of problems and obstacles facing them are to be tackled, they must have the ability to form unions. There is no evidence that the UAE will allow this. The international communities, following the long-term activities of UAE government towards the migrants, could suppose that the government has no intention to treat these poor migrant workers fairly and humanitarianly. Though it is difficult to give exact statistics, it is true that there is a large proportion of the enslaved immigrants workers among the 2.78 million immigrant workers of UAE (Human Rights Watch 2004). The country, by violating its international commitments, is continuously diverging from its responsibilities towards the immigrants. The agents and the sponsors of the workers and also the employers often indulge the workers in the commitment of the debt bondage, which is very much supported by the government. As the government itself is involved in the procedure, the labour laws are never seen to be effective. The government is deeply involved in the industry. The private and public enterprises have high interrelations with each other. Also somewhere the difference between these two sectors seems to be very indistinct such that it is considered to be non-existent. The UAE government is making profits to a great deal from the services of the migrant labour, and therefore has no motivation to improve the condition of the workers. This is very hard to rationalize. It is disgraceful that a wealthy country like UAE is debarring itself from offering any human rights to the migrant workers. Recent Improvements for Indian Immigrants in UAE This is a case, which requires international intervention. United Nations has already taken some actions. The sections of the United Nations who seek the international treaty and charters have, to some extent, asked the UAE about its maltreatment of migrant workers. So far, the approach has been uncoordinated. The UN bodies have taken steps to provide robust protections for migrant workers. In 2003, the United Nations International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families came into force. It includes declarations about the migrant workers in UAE. These are: “freedom to leave any State; the right not to be held in slavery, servitude or forced or compulsory labour; effective protection against violence and intimidation by both public and private actors; protection from arbitrary detention; the prohibition of imprisonment on the grounds of failure to fulfill a contractual obligation; the illegality of anyone other than an authorised public official from confiscating identity and other documents; the prohibition of unfavourable remuneration and conditions of work in comparison with nationals and the right to equality with nationals of the State before courts and tribunals. It also provides for a monitoring committee to oversee progress towards the implementation of Convention” (Keane and McGreehan 2008) The United Nations has made a Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, which would take an initiative to visit the UAE. The UAE government may contradict the body of evidence presented in this reports of the UN. But in this case two Human Rights Watch reports and in the daily litany of cases reported in local and national newspapers would be followed by the United Nations. That would be vulnerable for the country in international perspectives. If it does not do so then it is apparent that it is acknowledging the violations taking place. From the point of view of the international treaties, violations of the UAE obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women have been described. Finally, the ILO has a significant role in engaging the UAE, and moving the state towards accepting the need for unions (see Shah 2005; Keane and McGreehan 2008). Concluding Remarks The UAE could gain international repute, which it desperately seeks, by abiding laws and lowering discrimination towards the migrant workers. Its tourist industry would not be tainted by newspaper accounts of filthy prison-like camps, suicides and enormous hardship. This problem, unlike many problems facing the world, can be solved. It is simple greed preventing the UAE from doing so. Sustained international criticism is required if meaningful change is to result. In the interests of common justice, improvements should be immediately made to the conditions of accommodation, working environment during summer, safety regulations, holidays and complaints procedures. It would gain stability by granting the right to form unions. Moreover, equal status must be granted to domestic workers, almost exclusively women, who have no protection. References “Bad Dreams: Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia”, (2004). Human Rights Watch. July 2004 Vol. 16, No. 5(E). www.hrw.org/reports/2004/saudi0704/saudi0704.pdf Glick Sciller, N., Basch L. and C. Blanc Szanton. (1992). “Towards a Transnationalization of Migration: Race, Class, Ethnicity, and Nationalism Reconsidered”, The Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 645. Keane D. and N. McGreehan (2008). “Enforcing Migrant Workers Rights in the United Arab Emirates”. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, volume 15, pp. 81–115. lib.ohchr.org/.../Mafiwasta_ARE_UPR_S3_2008anx_EnforcingMigrantWorkersRightsin TheUnitedArabEmirates.pdf. Khagria B. (2006). ”Migration in South and South-West Asia”. A paper prepared for the Policy Analysis and Research Programme of the Global Commission on International Migration. Khalaf, S. and S. Alkobaisi (1999). “Migrants’ Strategies of Coping and Patterns of Accommodation in the Oil-Rich Gulf Societies: Evidence from the UAE”, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 271-298. Luciani G. (1990). The Arab State. Routledge, London EC4P, 4EE. Manseau G.S. (2005). ”Contractual Solutions for the Migrant Labourers: The case of Domestic Labourers in Middle-East”. J.D., University of Virginia School of Law. Parekh B., G. Singh, S. Vertovec (2003). Culture and Economy in the Indian Diaspora. Routledge. Perry R. W. and B Maurer eds.(2003). Globalization under Construction: Governmentality, Law and Identity. University of Minnesota Press. pp. 129-135. Portes A., L.E.Guarnizo and P.Landolt.(1999). “The study of transnationalism: Pitfalls and promise of an emergent research filed”. Ethnic and Racial Studies. Volume 22, Number 2. Shah, N. (2005). “Restrictive Labour Immigration Policies in the Oil-Rich Gulf: Implications for Sending Asian Countries”, paper presented in United Nations Expert Group Meeting on International Migration and Development in the Arab Region, Beirut 2006. Zachariah, K and B Rakash (2004).”Indian Workers in the UAE: Employment, Wages, and Working Conditions”. Economic and Political Weekly. May, 2004. Appendix: Figures and Tables Figure 1 : Emigration from India to UAE during 2000-2005 Source : Ministry of Labour Welfare, Government of India Read More