Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen correspondent: The US vetoed a UNSC resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, arguing it does not condemn Hamas nor grant "Israel" the right to “self-defense.”
Israeli occupation forces issue a new bombing threat against civilian buildings in the Southern Lebanese towns of Borj Qalaouiye and Chehabiyeh.
Sources to Al Mayadeen: Extending the snapback mechanism deadline will test how independent Europeans truly are from the US.
Sources to Al Mayadeen: Activating the snapback mechanism will nullify the Cairo Agreement, shut the door on cooperation between the IAEA and Tehran, and bar inspections.
Sources to Al Mayadeen: The diplomatic window remains open, but signs of activating the snapback sanctions mechanism on Iran are increasing.
Sources to Al Mayadeen: Although the Cairo Agreement meets an important part of European demands, they have begun speaking of new conditions in recent communications.
Sources to Al Mayadeen: European countries show no independence in their stance toward Iran during the talks.
Israeli occupation forces issued bombing threats to bomb civilian buildings in Southern Lebanon.
Israeli media: Person behind shooting operation at Allenby Crossing is a Jordanian Army soldier.
Israeli media citing Emergency Services: Both wounded in Allenby shooting operation now dead.

Unpaid and Overworked: How African Migrants in the UAE are Being Deported

  • By Al Mayadeen
  • Source: Reuters
  • 22 Oct 2021 16:33
  • 1 Shares
3 Min Read

According to a feature by Reuters, African migrants are being deported from the UAE without earning their owed wages.

  • x
  • Unpaid and Overworked: How African Migrants in the UAE are Being Deported
    89% of workers in the UAE are migrants (Joblio.co)

Deported without crucial documents and detained before they are paid is how hundreds of migrant workers would describe their experience in the UAE.

According to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the UAE acknowledged in early September that it had detained and deported over 400 people for alleged human trafficking, assault, and extortion. 

After being arrested in mass raids on migrant workers in June, Emmanuela Nsobe says she "lost everything." Two months later Nsobe was deported.

Group deportations are frequent in the UAE, and they are commonly paired with migrants being sent home without paychecks they are owed.

Many migrant workers such as Nsobe, who has contacted her former boss for her $245 backpay, cannot start over without their money.

Requests for comment were denied by Nsobe's boss as well as other firms where deportees were employed.

Like the other workers held in June, Nsobe was deported and denied the opportunity to recover her personal belongings, including her ATM card, her degrees, and professional certificates.

Related News

After protests, Netanyahu orders deportation of Eritrean migrants

Hundreds of African migrants protest new legislation in Paris

A Nigerian 31-year old, Daniel Ojo, claims he was owed $1,225 by his employer before he was deported and his employer stopped responding.

Victorine Edem, a Cameroonian certified nurse, claims her Abu Dhabi employer owes her $1,633.63.

Edem is 7 months pregnant and hopes to leave the UAE after she delivers, hoping she will find her human rights respected elsewhere.

The working class

According to the UN, out of the 10 million inhabitants of the UAE, more than 80% are made up of migrants who send their wages back home. 

Wage theft allegations from migrants are not uncommon. The Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC) disclosed that 67% of its cases from the UAE involve workers being deprived of their wages.  

According to Saeed Alhebsi, director of the human rights section at the UAE Foreign Affairs Ministry, any company in the UAE is required by law to pay employees regardless of criminal convictions or deportation.

Workers, he added, could file a complaint using a government website, mobile app, or toll-free line – or at the UAE's Labour Dispute Center, where they could also talk with a legal counsel.

Not being able to afford a lawyer, or speak the language of the country also pose a challenge that stops migrants from receiving significant help.

Usually, migrants who do not have financial and legal support from international advocates are usually unsuccessful according to Parvathy Devi, a researcher who has worked on wage theft in the UAE.

  • African migrants
  • Africa
  • UAE
  • immigrants

Most Read

Why is Choose Love using a firm with British and US intelligence connections to run a pro-Palestine musical event? (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Together for Palestine: Troubling questions about the organisers of this huge event

  • Opinion
  • 17 Sep 2025
Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza.

Uprising against Volker Turk at the Human Rights Council over Gaza

  • Politics
  • 12 Sep 2025
A screengrab from the ad played on Fox News. (X Screengrab)

Fox airs ad warning Trump not to let Netanyahu 'play' him on Gaza

  • US & Canada
  • 11 Sep 2025
Lapid: Egypt’s Arab Force plan a 'severe blow' to normalization

Lapid: Egypt’s Arab Force plan a 'severe blow' to normalization

  • Palestine
  • 14 Sep 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
A Hezbollah supporter who lost his sight in a pager attack carried out by "Israel" on Sept. 17, 2024, covers his eyes with a red headband inscribed with the name "Hussein" during Ashoura, July 6, 2025 (AP)
Politics

'We Have Recovered': Lebanon marks 1st anniversary of Pager Attack

The Arab neighborhood of El Za'im, on the outskirts of east Occupied Al-Quds in the West Bank, near where Israeli government says housing units will be built as part of the E1 settlement project, Thursday, August 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Palestine

'Israel’s' deliberate policies drive West Bank economy toward collapse

Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Politics

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder resigns over parent company curbing activism

Trump’s approval rating falls to new low in second term: Poll
US & Canada

Trump’s approval rating falls to new low in second term: Poll

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS