Tricked and Trapped: Human Trafficking in the Middle East, ‎pdf 4.1 MB

Most migrant workers, however, find a sponsor through PEAs in the country
of origin or destination. “The recruiter will show the villagers a photo to
convince them to leave,” explained a senior workers’ representative who wished
to remain anonymous, adding: “There is even a popular catchphrase saying
“Go Dubai” for those wishing to go to the Gulf countries.” 211 A Nepalese
worker interviewed in the UAE said he had relied on an agent, who was “my
neighbour in our village and a friend of my younger brother. He told me about
the job in the UAE, promising me to have a better life.” In a group discussion
in a labour camp with 14 Afghan construction workers in the UAE, all spoke
of securing work through agents in their home country. Migrant workers from
Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka interviewed at garment
factories in Jordan had found work through agencies in major cities, like
Colombo and Dhaka. An employer at a health spa in Jordan confirmed that
he had relied on employment agencies to find staff. In his particular case, “the
agency I work with brings the workers to Jordan, and then allow us to try them
out for a period of one or two months. If you are not satisfied, you can switch
worker.” 212
Some migrant workers resorted to smugglers to get them into the destination
country irregularly, hoping to find work on arrival. Egyptian construction
workers interviewed in Lebanon had travelled first to Jordan, then on to
Syria and finally through to Lebanon, and had paid the smugglers for entry
into all three countries. One worker had calculated that “in total, it cost
me US$4,000 to reach Lebanon, and will take me two years to reimburse
my friends and relatives who lent me the money”. Once in Lebanon, they
searched for sponsors and sought to regularize their situation. This is possible,
they explained, as “every year, the GDGS has a regularization period for illegal
migrants. It’s the opportunity to have legal papers with a sponsor.” However,
relying on smugglers can leave migrant workers in an irregular and highly
precarious situation. A Sudanese man working on an ad hoc basis in Lebanon
told the researchers: “I had to leave Sudan because I was being persecuted. A
friend arranged for me to travel to Syria, as we do not need visas to go there,
and then I paid US$250 to the smugglers to take me to Lebanon. I came
illegally into the country and I am still working illegally.”
The cost of voluntary migration
Those who took the decision to migrate abroad in search of work often had
to raise considerable funds to pay for both the journey and the necessary
permits. Owing to the lack of adequate regulation and monitoring of PEAs
in countries of both origin and destination, and constraints on the issue of
visas by some countries, the agencies are able to impose illegal fees on migrant
211
Interview with an anonymous source, 18 Jan. 2012.
212
Interview with an employer of a spa company, Jordan, 15 Nov. 2011.
103