‘Indian migrant workers living in squalid conditions in UAE susceptible to coronavirus infection’

The chief minister of India’s Kerala State has voiced alarm at the risks facing migrant workers from the region in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid the coronavirus pandemic, citing reports of “inadequate” quarantine facilities and “ineffective” preventative measures in the Persian Gulf country.

In a letter sent to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 9, Pinarayi Vijayan revealed that numerous complaints were being received over “inadequate isolation and quarantine facilities” in the UAE, which is currently hosting nearly three million migrant workers from India, Al Jazeera reported, citing the United Nations.

“Most of these requests convey that preventive measures and quarantine methods implemented in Dubai are neither effective nor adequate,” Vijayan said in the letter seen by Al Jazeera.

The Indian minister said that “the majority of Keralites [nearly one million in the UAE] are blue collar workers and living in crowded facilities in Dubai and therefore the probability of spreading of the disease is very high.”

He called on the prime minister to take up the issue with the Emirati officials to “ensure adequate food, medicines, quarantine and emergency service facilities to India diaspora in Dubai.”

A second letter, which Vijayan shared on his Twitter page on Monday, demanded a “favorable consideration” and confirmed that the state government would undertake “testing and quarantining needs of the migrants” who are returning.

“At the earliest opportune time, government of India may consider arranging special flights to bring these people back,” it read.

On Thursday, the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre, a Dubai welfare group, filed a petition with an Indian high court, urging the government to “permit chartered flights to evacuate thousands of its citizens in the UAE,” Abu Dhabi-based The National reported.

The petition said many Indians were running out of money and facing food shortages.

Haris Beeran, a lawyer representing the petitioners, told the newspaper that some 10,000 Keralites wanted to come back home.

“Many workers no longer have jobs [and] some people are on visit visas that have expired. They don’t have any means to live in the UAE and would rather return to their family at this time,” he said.

Last week, the UK-based Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) issued a report, heavily critical of construction companies in the UAE and Qatar for failing to protect migrant workers against the coronavirus pandemic. 

"We are deeply concerned that many global construction companies are not acting decisively to protect their migrant workforce in the (Persian) Gulf, from both the disease and economic hardship if they become infected," BHRRC said. 

Denouncing the cramped worker accommodation sites, BHRRC noted that construction workers in Qatar and the UAE were continuing to live in "tightly packed, often unsanitary, labor camps…perfect for the spread of COVID-19".

Meanwhile, the UAE threatened on Sunday to review labor ties with countries that refuse to allow workers who have lost their jobs to be repatriated. The UAE said it would limit quotas for work visas issued to the citizens of those countries.

India’s ambassador to the UAE suggested on Saturday that nationals willing to return home might have to wait for the loosening of the lockdown.

“Once the lockdown in India is lifted, we will certainly help them get back to their hometowns and their families,” Pavan Kapoor said.

The UAE has recorded more than 4,120 cases of the coronavirus and 25 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

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