OBSTACLES TO REPATRIATION
While plane tickets back home cost between $350USD - $700USD,
We need your support to help MDW's back home, but it isn't so simple. MDWs are impeded from going home in a number of ways:
1
Firstly, MDWs must be in possession of their passports. Often, their employers keep their passports as the Kafala system dictates that sponsors are responsible for the MDWs and not the state. Therefore, if a MDW escapes or flees their employee’s house, they become illegal. Many of the employees refuse to return passports, even when throwing them onto the street. Acquiring emergency travel documents is therefore dependent upon the MDW’s consulate or embassy to organise and can take weeks with some consulates completely unwilling
Successful advocacy has effectively made the Gambian & Kenyan consulates willing to act after they were initially unwilling
2
If an MDW’s work permit (Iqama) has been expired for over a year then she either has to pay GS extortions or will not be allowed to board the plane.
3
Next, we ensure the worker is not detained when boarding at the airport. There is no official way to do this, so we have to collect all the information about the employer, call the employer, and ensure that the employer has not made a false accusation against the worker, and if they have, to revoke it.
4
If there is money available for a ticket, we can purchase the ticket and send them home. However, this is dependent on whether the sending country has arranged quarantine measures, and so we coordinate with sending countries or local NGO's to ensure that they have livable conditions in quarantine until they get back to their families.
5
All the while, they need food, shelter, hygiene products, and potentially medical care etc.
Help us return Migrant Workers back home, safely and with dignity.
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