“URGENT CALL TO ACTION: Solidarity with Migrant Workers and Demands Amid Escalating Conflict in the Middle East”

…The Coalition on Labor Justice for Migrants in the Gulf and its allies stand in unwavering solidarity with the more than 31 million migrant workers across the current conflict zone including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Iran who face extreme risks due to the escalating war following the U.S. and Israel’s military campaigns in Iran and Israel’s bombing of Lebanon, and the spreading violence to neighboring countries…

It is well established that migrant workers face layered risks in conflict zones…Migrant workers are routinely excluded from emergency evacuation protocols and denied access to bomb shelters…

Under the deeply exploitative kafala (sponsorship) system in the GCC, many migrant workers do not hold their own passports and are legally tied to their employers…The armed conflict further exacerbates economic vulnerabilities with the risk that employers will use the conflict as a pretext to withhold earned wages, deny leave, or dismiss workers without compensation….

The Coalition on Labor Justice for Migrants in the Gulf and the undersigned organizations raise our voices to make this population visible and remind governments, international institutions, and employers of their immediate and ongoing obligations to migrant workers during armed conflict…