Concept Note
Migrant support mechanisms are fundamental to protecting and promoting the rights of migrant workers in countries of origin, transit and destination. Diplomatic missions from origin countries are the most important resource for migrant populations abroad. Missions/Consulates are often the first point of contact for migrant workers when they are in a foreign land and need assistance or guidance. The responsibilities include document authentication, shelter, legal assistance and facilitating the repatriation of citizens in distress. An important measure hence for the protection of migrant workers is the appointment of consular officials in major countries of destination whose responsibilities are laid down in the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
In the case of India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is the nodal ministry that is responsible for ensuring government support to Indian migrant workers abroad. This support structure is two fold i.e. in the origin country and in the destination country. It comprises of the MEA administered MADAD Portal, which is an online Consular Grievances Monitoring System as well as the Pravasi Bhartiya Sahayata Kendras (PBSKs), which are (24*7) Helplines operational in regional languages and Kshetriya Pravasi Bhartiya Sahayata Kendras (KPBSKs) that provide counseling and assistance to distressed Indians abroad. These help lines can be accessed by migrant workers from anywhere in the world. Further, another aspect of migrant support mechanism is through the imparting of the Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDOT) for building awareness among emigrant workers going for overseas employment, mainly to the Gulf region and Malaysia. The programme aims to sensitize migrants about benefits of safe and legal migration and about various official programmes and schemes for their welfare and protection.
In the destination countries, the Indian Embassies and Consulates, have dedicated Consular/ Labour section responsible for providing consular services and assistance to Indian workers. This includes assisting Indian migrants through the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) in times of distress and emergency in the ‘most deserving cases’ on a ‘means tested basis’, and in safeguarding the interests of the Indian migrant workers falling under the Emigration Check Required (ECR) category. Apart from the above-mentioned assistance, ‘Open House- Meetings’ set up by Indian Embassies also help in providing counseling and assistance for distressed Indians. There are also innovative elements such as establishing international centres of PBSKs in countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE and Malaysia for walk-in counseling and for grievance redressal of migrant workers.
However, with the increasing international migration and human mobility there are some impediments in ensuring the efficacy of migrant support mechanisms notwithstanding various initiatives of the government. The underlying challenges that have continued to plague the system in place range from lack of awareness amongst migrant workers who may not use official channels for seeking support, contacting the Recruiting Agents (RA) for support, high costs of providing migrant welfare support, especially in maintaining shelters in destination countries where distress cases are common, issues in the proper allocation of welfare funds and insurance, barriers in accessing healthcare services and challenges in engaging with government agencies of destination, and civil society organisations.
Against this backdrop, India Centre for Migration (ICM) is organizing a virtual panel discussion on the ‘Migrant Support in Destination Countries: An Analysis of Grievance Redressal Mechanisms’ on 15 October 2020 from 3 to 4:30 pm. The discussion aims to deliberate (but will not be limited to) the following issues-