WCC NEWS: Migrant workers bear brunt of COVID-19, observes webinar from Christian Conference of Asia

Bangladesh, 2019. Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC

Among the most vulnerable amid COVID-19 in Asia and the Arabian Gulf are migrant workers – especially those who are semi-skilled, those employed in domestic work, and those in labour camps. Internal migrant workers and overseas workers across Asia are among the many who are bearing the worst brunt of the pandemic’s consequences, agreed speakers in a virtual conference facilitated by the Christian Conference of Asia.

The webinar, entitled “Plight of Migrant Workers amidst the COVID-19 Crisis,” was part of a series of virtual conferences focusing on pertinent issues and challenges related to COVID-19.

The first of the series, held on 30 April, drew about 100 participants.

Presentations and discussions were led by eight panellists from diverse backgrounds in Asia. They addressed the pressing concerns of migrant workers including the internal labour migrant workers within a country, casual and unskilled workers who have migrated overseas, those offering their services on a temporary or seasonal basis, or those working as domestic workers or industrial workers in different Asian and Arabian Gulf countries.

The global socio-economic crisis that has followed in the wake of the spread of the pandemic has thrust the future of migrant workers into grave unpredictability as they have lost employment and means of livelihood practically overnight. Their condition is exacerbated by their exclusion from normative government assistance, their invisibility in the workforce, and deepening social inequality.

The next webinar in the series, “Churches in Asia Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis,” will be 7 May.

Christian Conference of Asia (CCA)

WCC landing page: Coping with the Coronavirus

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway.

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