On the wake of the making of a declaration by United Nations to protect the rights and welfare of the Migrants, prominent Indian Social Activist in Kuwait, Thomas Mathew Kadavil visited and submitted a memorandum to the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking his urgent intervention with the Indian External Affairs Ministry to protect the rights and welfare of the Indian migrants.
In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030, U N is in the making of a declaration to protect the rights and welfare of the Migrants – a Global Compact on Migration in September 2018 at UN General Assembly.
The Global Compact will become a Magna Carta of the immigrants world over and it is imperative and obligatory that the Indian Government should rise to the occasion to protect the rights and welfare of the Indian migrants by bringing in the most needed elements into the global compact, Thomas Mathew Kadavil, who earlier attended the Global Forum for Migration and Development (GFMD) at Istanbul, said.
In his memorandum, Thomas Mathew urged the government to implement the items agreed upon the contracts made by the International organisations UN and ILO for the protection of migrant workers, especially the protection and safety of ladies, children and labour rights. According to the GFMD findings, recruitment fee must be paid by the recruiting companies and not to be charged from the job seeker. In his memorandum, Thomas Mathew urged the government to look into this and make sure that the recruitment charges are not to be charged from migrant job seeker. The current sponsorship system followed in some countries need to be reviewed to bring necessary changes. Another point raised is the right of migrant worker to organise and join with trade unions to protect his rights.
Thomas Mathew Kadavil lauded the Kerala government for the introduction of many welfare measures for the repatriation and reintegration of the migrant returnees but pointed out the need for ensuring the welfare of the immigrants at their countries of destinations.
As the Union Government of India is the rightful constitutional authority had been taking a cold-hearted attitude towards the global compact on migration till date which will be detrimental to protect the interest of Indian migrants at a time when many national governments and regional groupings are making serious consultations with various stake holders to make consensus position in the UN, Thomas Mathew Kadavil pointed out to Pinarai Vijayan.