Sensational Cases Expose Conditions Faced by Overseas Workers Throughout Asia

Last week, a Filipino woman working in Qatar as a maid gave birth on a flight from Bahrain to the Philippines, and then abandoned the child in the lavatory trash. She told officials she had become pregnant after being raped by her employer. Only a few weeks before, Sri Lankan physicians removed 24 nails and needles from a woman who had been working in Saudi Arabia. Saudi employers had hammered the nails into her body as punishment for complaining about her workload. She did not report the assault to Saudi officials for fear that her employers would prevent her from leaving.

Each year, inhabitants of the least-developed Asian countries pursue the economic benefits of overseas employment despite the high social cost at home and possibility of injury at the hands of employers abroad. Workers experience abuse along a spectrum, from being denied legal status and labor protections to enduring legally condoned and even legally abetted forms of physical and psychological abuse. Read more

U.S. money transfer firms explore new routes in Asia

Asia, with its large migrant population, promises a huge growth market for U.S. payment service firms, but for pure-play companies like Western Union and MoneyGram International, that's not the end.

They are busy looking for newer avenues ranging from domestic services to mobile transfers as they try and win more customer confidence, even though informal channels rampant in the region pose a big challenge.

That Asian countries are major recipients of remittances is no secret, but apart from inter-continental transfers, the domestic market within Asia, especially in the southeast, is also opening up as more people cross borders within the region for education and in search of jobs. Read more

Asia's Multibillion dollar remittance flows start to dry up

Bangkok - Over the past three to four years, one of Asia's fastest growing industries has been exporting workers, especially to the oil-driven, construction-crazed economies of the Middle East.

Remittances have become a major contributor to foreign exchange earnings and gross domestic products (GDPs), peaking at an estimated 116 billion dollars in 2008.

This year, the money flows were expected to slow as construction projects are shelved and other jobs dry up in Gulf nations, such Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have employed up to 13 million foreign workers, 11 million of whom hailed from Asia. Read more

Asia Gets Lion Share Of Remittance Jackpot

Paul Icamina - AHN News Writer
New York, NY (AHN) -

Remittances from migrant workers to their families in rural areas is among the highest in Asia, which receives the world's largest share with $114 billion annually, a new United Nations study says.

"The impact of remittances among Asian developing countries is greater than in other parts of the world: in Asian countries that are 65 per cent or more rural, the ratio of remittances per capita to per capita GDP is 23 percent and the highest in the world," says the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

IFAD co-authored the study with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The study was released ahead of the International Forum on Remittances 2007 co-hosted by IFAD and IDB that starts on Saturday in Washington. [Read more]

Remittances help foil Asia Crisis repeat, World Bank study says

Thursday, May 10, 2007
By Isagani de la Paz
ACROSS the East Asia region sweeps the wind of prosperity and cash remittances as well as knowledge capital by migrant workers has helped economies become more robust a decade after a devastating crisis.

Aside from the Philippines, the World Bank (WB) cited remittances from workers overseas also helped other countries like Vietnam and Mongolia to beef up cash reserves. Hence, remittances could soften and may even foil a repeat of the 1997 Asian crisis -if ever there would be one in the near future. [Read more]