The plight some migrant workers face here

Jun 24, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
A group of migrant dancers working in Guyana were ordered to return to their homeland, a week ago. The people issuing the order were the managerial staff of Princess Hotel, Providence.
The migrant dancers are now back in their homeland, Belarus. And as though things were not bad enough, they misplaced all their belongings because the management did not see it fit to order that their luggage travel with them.
Some of the luggage has reached the dancers.
This shocking development follows on the heels of complaints that these foreign workers were denied the right to interact with people whom they had met and befriended during their stay in Guyana. The dancers rejected this denial and were later subject to other demands which they found objectionable. They were then told that they had to leave. They did.
The departure of these dancers exposes the plight that some migrant workers face here. Migrant workers are far more vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination because the threat of expulsion hangs over their heads if they do not do as they are told. They are often forced into forms of servitude precisely because of these weaknesses.
It is objectionable for foreigners to come to Guyana and to have their freedom restricted. When it comes to personal freedoms, there should be no inhibitions on migrant workers. They should be as free as locals, free to enjoy our hospitality and free to make friends and free to walk the streets of Guyana without any restrictions.
The Ministry of Labour should see migrant workers as deserving special attention since their lack of ties to this country often means that they are often at the mercy of those who wish to exploit them.
In light of the negative ranking that Guyana received in the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report and in view of the commitment of the government to reduce servitude and exploitation in the labour force, it is necessary for the Ministry of Labour to examine this case and to decide what remedial action needs to be taken.
Guyana has to welcome migrant workers who have skills which are either scare or in demand in Guyana.
What we should not welcome are those who wish to use this openness as opportunity to place unreasonable demands on these workers, or to keep them in coops.
Troy Edmonson

Editor’s note:
Numerous efforts to secure a comment from the management of Princess Hotel, through Liz Rahaman, the public relations officer at the hotel, have not borne fruit.

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