On Migration, Sex Work and the Pandemic in the Caribbean - Stabroek News
#Covid-19#migrant#migration#Caraibe#sante#pauvrete
▻https://www.stabroeknews.com/2020/05/04/features/in-the-diaspora/on-migration-sex-work-and-the-pandemic-in-the-caribbean
Millions of people have lost their jobs and sources of income due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Perhaps the hardest hit around the world are migrant workers who generally are not covered by the national health schemes, often live in close quarters, earn low or subsistence wages, have little to no savings to fall back on or may be debt-bonded, and cannot easily return home or take up employment abroad due to the travel restrictions. Nevertheless, in many instances they are designated “essential workers,” providing the care and farm work necessary to keep the world’s population alive. Yet they are barely protected against the virus. And as the UN Secretary-General António Guterres reminds us at the launch of a UN policy brief on the impact of Covid-19 on women, “Nearly 60 per cent of women around the world work in the informal economy, earning less, saving less, and at greater risk of falling into poverty” and hence are more deeply impacted by the pandemic than men. The future for migrants, particularly migrant women, looks particularly grim.