As a development and humanitarian worker, I have observed countless migrant workers working in the middle east whose stories remain unheard. Their luck and overseas life decisions are often determined by their Kafeel (single sponsor who decides the residency and employment status of migrant workers in Middle East countries). For them, laws and policies are just artificially created rules, which are not made for the ‘have-nots’ like her. On other occasions, I have seen how innocent workers shed tears when they become the victims of fraud and are cheated by both licensed and unlicensed agents, and how they become victims of human trafficking and smuggling. These victims, i.e., those who suffer due to the kafala system, and those who suffer as victims of human trafficking and smuggling, could be empowered through regional cooperation. This real incident at the beginning shows how people sacrifice their lives in different ways in a foreign country, and these sacrifices are rooted entirely in the fragile migration governance system. This article will analyse why the workers need a regional platform after presenting the ground reality.
Migration in South Asia: Economic backbone, Governance gaps
Migration is a significant contributing factor to South Asia’s socio-economic fabric. Millions from SAARC nations- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka- power global economies, particularly in the Middle East and the West. Of the 8 SAARC countries, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are among the 10 top recipients of remittances from expatriate workers (Rajan, 2022).
During my work with the UN Migration Agency in Jordan over the last two years, I engaged with migrant workers working in different sectors of research and consultation. Across all sectors, common issues faced by workers are excessive working hours, contract issues, poor living conditions, limited access to healthcare, document withholding, trafficking, harassment, and abuse, etc. While remittances sustain national economies, fragmented governance leaves migrant workers, especially female workers, vulnerable to exploitation and insecurity but these countries find it challenging to address fragmented governance on their own, whereas together they can address this issue efficiently, as European Union nations do. One example of this fractured governance system can be identified through two gaps: a data gap and the absence of stories that indicate gaps in the system. South Asian governments emphasise on remittance inflows but rarely mention workers’ sacrifices , nor they publicly disclose public expenditure on solving these issues(Rajan, 2022).
Irregular Migration, Trafficking, and Digital Exploitation
Illegal migration is another matter of concern, which includes human trafficking and smuggling (UNODC, 2018) due to lack of regular migration channels and networks between the countries, and weak border control. Traffickers use sophisticated methods e.g., fake passports, bribery, corruption etc. to exploit job seekers..
Another major trend is the failure to control illegal middlemen who sell dreams to young, unskilled workers and charge a lot of money, citing good pay and safe working conditions. . UN rights experts identified that many South Asian educated young people are trafficked into the cyber scam centers around the countries in Southeast Asia, where they are forced to work, and the experts have termed this trend inhuman and a grave example of human rights violation (UN News, 2025). A regional joint task force under SAARC could strengthen intelligence-sharing, create unified databases of licensed recruiters, and launch coordinated awareness campaigns. Acting collectively would make it harder for fraudulent networks to operate across porous borders.
Kafala and Other Systematic Vulnerabilities:
A central structural challenge in the Gulf region is ‘Kafala’, a sponsorship system in some Middle Eastern countries that ties the legal status of a migrant worker directly to a specific employer, known as a “kafil” or sponsor. Under this system, common abuses faced by migrant workers include passport confiscation, financial exploitation, withholding of salaries, and denial of job mobility. Domestic workers, particularly female workers, remain especially exposed to heightened risks of isolation, sexual harassment, and violence. These vulnerabilities are not confined to one destination country; they mirror the experiences of South Asian workers across the Gulf. The persistence of such systemic risks underscores the need for sending countries to coordinate regionally rather than negotiate individually from weaker positions. However, despite sharing migration routes and destinations, SAARC countries primarily operate through bilateral agreements and disjointed national policies. This disjointed approach limits the opportunities for a more standardized recruitment process and weakens dispute resolution mechanisms and other consular support services. Without regional coordination this is quite difficult to bargain with the destination countries over different issues that leave migrant workers exposed to recurring cycles of exploitation.
Why SAARC? Learning from Regional Models:
Regional integration has strengthened migration governance in other parts of the world. For example, the European Union provides its citizens with mutual consular protection and harmonized labor standards. ASEAN has adopted regional guidelines on ethical recruitment. Following their footprints, the SAARC can adopt the following mechanisms to improve the migration governance of the region –
- Regional Ethical Network Framework:
Experts recommended that SAARC Governments and stakeholders must strengthen bilateral labor agreements, enforce ethical recruitment standards, and ensure migrant workers retain the right to possess their own documents and access grievance mechanisms. Expand pre-departure and post-arrival training to include legal rights, healthcare, and financial literacy. Increase inspection visits, criminalize discrimination, and integrate behavioral approaches to close the intention-action gap. These measures are critical to safeguarding rights and improving protection outcomes.
- SAARC Migration Data Hub:
A centralized digital platform, distinct from the database mentioned earlier, for collecting and sharing real-time data on migration flows, recruitment practices, and reported abuses which can be efficient for . This hub is evidence-based policy making and identifying high-risk corridors used for human trafficking and smuggling. Currently, IOM is maintaining a Regional Data Hub for the East and Horn of Africa (IOM, 2025).
- Joint Consular Support Network and Regional Grievance Redressal Mechanism:
The next-best governance mechanism for SAARC countries would be a Joint Consular Support Network and a Regional Grievance Redressal Mechanism for expatriate workers. Right now, only EU citizens, whether workers or tourists, can benefit from consular support from the Embassy of any EU member state in a non-EU country if their own country does not have a diplomatic mission in that country (Council of the EU, 2025). UN-Women Asia and the Pacific in one of their action papers for ASEAN suggested that consular services are crucial for migrant workers, specially for women and victims of sexual abuse who are ashamed of their situation, whose vulnerability may be aggravated because of other factors, like lack of proper permission to stay, lack of travel document, corruption of local police, fear of harm etc (UN Women Asia and the Pacific, 2024). For example, if a Bangladeshi woman becomes a victim of sexual harassment in a country where they do not have a Bangladeshi diplomatic mission, then she cannot seek consular assistance from any other SAARC country due to the lack of a Joint Consular Support Network. For this reason, SAARC countries should come to an agreement to establish such a network.
Structural and Political Challenges:
Reviving SAARC would pose several structural challenges. First and foremost, SAARC was established particularly for economic and cultural cooperation; as a result, unlike the European Union, the matter of migration governance remains outside of SAARC’s core priority. Consequently, labour migration issues have been addressed through bilateral labour agreements through each country’s national policies. Second, the geo-political tensions, specifically the prolonged conflict between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir border, weaken the collective act and discourage the development of uniform regional approaches. Third, lack of trust among states can be considered as another important factor that decreases the chances of taking effective initiatives like the creation of a regional data hub discussed above. Fourth, South Asian nations follow bilateral agreements mostly with destination countries, where a coordinated approach can be difficult to achieve. In addition, all states have their own priorities based on their domestic and political considerations, which may not be aligned with uniform labour migration practices. Moreover, another important point is that, as a significant number of South Asian workers rely heavily on the Gulf states for remittances, there will always be a fear of retaliation and unequal diplomatic capacities among South Asian countries, with Gulf states further declining coalition for possible co-operative action.
From the perspective of destination countries, the Kefala system itself creates a great barrier to change. The system was introduced a long time ago in middle east to manage the rapid demand of migrant workers in the Gulf states. To reduce the cost, states hand over the worker’s responsibility to employers, and the visa arrangement is temporary, which ignores pathways to citizenship and long-term residence. These conditions border the possibilities and the opportunity for regional governance involvement by the sending states.
Conclusion:
Revitalizing SAARC is not merely a geopolitical aspiration; it is an economic and humanitarian necessity. By transforming migration from a source of vulnerability into a pillar of regional resilience, SAARC can safeguard millions who sustain the global economy. The collective measures by SAARC for labour migration can lessen the structural vulnerabilities and increase the protection of many migrant workers. The cooperation to ethical recruitment would not only improve overall conditions of workers but also play role to boost the bargaining power of South Asian countries with Gulf states. However, at the same time the above challenges should be considered and the question now is: which unified strategies should SAARC prioritize in negotiations with the Middle Eastern countries?
References:
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