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    ISAS Working Papers

    Long-term studies on trends and issues in South Asia

    Return and Reintegration without Assimilation: South Asian Migrant Workers in the Gulf during COVID-19

    Bilesha Weeraratne

    18 June 2020

    10.48561/dc83-ctqs

    Temporary labour migration and related remittances are integral components of the South Asian economies. A significant portion of labour migrants from this region head to the Gulf countries. Nevertheless, migrant workers to the Gulf are barred from formally integrating into the socio-economic context in their country of destination. In this context, using the case of the Kuwait Amnesty and other examples during COVID-19 pademic, this paper reflects on the disproportionate division of responsibilities between the South Asian and Gulf countries in terms of the assimilation, return and reintegration of migrant workers, in an attempt to improve the well-being of migrant workers through the frameworks of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

     

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