So we hear a lot about how countries liek Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia etc use slave labor because people from Africa, india, pakistan, bangladesh or whatever come over to work and then they live in horrible conditions and their employers steal their passports so they can’t leave. How does this stop anyone from leaving?
I know for a fact that if you lose a US passport while you are abroad you can go to the embasssy and report it lost and they print an emergency passport which can be used to leave the country. Yesterday i was at an airport in Poland and someone from Italy or something had his passport stolen and he used some document printed by the embassy allowing him to leave. Do countries like india or pakistan or whatever not have these? I get maybe its dificult for africans since many african countries only have a few embassies abroad in other countries or they might not offer many services but can these people who are “enslaved” not just go to their embassies and explain the situation so they can leave teh country? Do their countries just not give a shit that they’re being “enslaved?” I understnad that Gambia or Guinea Bisseau can’t stand up to the UAE but surely India or Pakistan can.
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In those cases the “employees” are recruited in their countries by agents who arrange the job and the travel. They buy the tickets and on arrival in the country collect the passport as they transport them to their accommodation.
Most of these people aren’t familiar with leisure or business travel and it only once they start work that they realize it’s not employment at will and they need to work to pay their agent’s fees as well as their travel and accommodation costs.
Oftentimes, compliance is ensured by physical or financial threats against relatives at home. Once the “debt” is repaid they are given their passports back. By this time they may be illegally in the country.
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