The General Federation of Jordanian Trade Unions participated in the International Forum on Migrants and Refugees in the Middle East and North Africa. The Forum is organized by Public Services International (PSI) in collaboration with Jordanian member unions and is entitled 'What have they done about the pandemic? Several international trade union organizations and civil society components took part in this Forum which was organized on the occasion of International Migrants Day.
The President of the General Federation of Jordanian Trade Unions, Mazen Maaitah, made a presentation entitled 'The Challenges of the Pandemic and Different Working Strategies'. During this presentation, Mr. Maaitah discussed the efforts of the Jordanian trade union movement to preserve the right to work for Syrian refugees.
The Forum aims to exchange experiences on the issues of protecting the rights of migrants and refugees in this period of pandemic and to define the strategies and measures needed to ensure that migrants and refugees can integrate into the labour market and benefit from the necessary health services.
In this context, the PSI National Coordinator in Jordan and President of the General Union of Electrical Workers, Ali Hadid, said that border closures and travel restrictions have greatly impacted the Middle East and North Africa where the pandemic has had a major impact on public health and economies. Ali Hadid added that these impacts threaten food security and the incomes of millions of workers in the region. The union leader also said that several migrant workers have been laid off and still cannot return to their home countries.
Ali Hadid said that the majority of these workers were in the informal sector and therefore do not have social security coverage. At the same time, many migrants and refugees had limited or no medical care. He added that the poor working and living conditions expose them to the virus, while many of them cannot return to their countries that are experiencing wars and armed conflicts.
For her part, the PSI national coordinator in Jordan, Randa Khaldi, explained that the pandemic has presented governments, trade unions and civil society components with important challenges regarding the implementation of migration policies. Randa Khaldi added that PSI seeks, through its program of action, to bring about better management of global migration and asylum requests by ensuring that countries respect their human rights commitments.
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