Hanoi, Vietnam – He has only met his 6-year-old son once. A few days together in a life spent apart.
For 15 years, Muhammad Abdullah Al-Mamun worked in Saudi Arabia, sending money to his family in one of the poorest areas of Bangladesh. This year, he was planning to go back and build a bigger house with his savings and spend time with the child he barely knew.
Then on March 8th Missile hit Labor camp. He suffered severe burns and later died. He was among more than two dozen foreign workers killed across the Middle East after the United States and Israel went to war with Iran in February.
Tens of millions of foreign workers have helped build the economies of the modern, oil-dependent Gulf Arab states — with many not fully participating in their prosperity. Now they face an even more acute dilemma: continue working in the Middle East, where wages are much higher, they hope The fragile ceasefire continues; Or return to already poor countries Where prices rose Because of the conflict.
Mamoun was chosen for him. He arrived home in a coffin earlier this month.
His widow, Sadia Islam Sarmin, said: “We don’t know what we will do next.”
Migrant workers constitute the majority of the population in many Gulf Arab countries. Business and finance are dominated by Westerners, Arabs and Indians, while workers from poor countries in Asia and Africa toil for long hours in sweltering temperatures at oil facilities and construction sites – often with little protection.
Few have been able to reach shelters and many have been stranded by the conflict, says the Gulf Migrant Labor Justice Coalition, an advocacy group. It says the attacks killed at least 24 foreign workers in the Gulf and four in Israel, as Iran and allied armed groups launched waves of missile and drone attacks. Their number includes eight sailors killed at sea.
“It’s a very precarious situation for migrant workers,” said Udaya Wagle, who studies labor and migration at Northern Arizona University.
A ceasefire was announced in early April, but negotiations took place to end the war I stopped again and again. Iran has been effectively blocked Strait of HormuzIt is a major waterway for global oil and gas, and it says it will not reopen it unless the war ends and the United States lifts its blockade.
The result is higher gas prices Fertilizers And other goods have Asian countries were hit particularly hard.
Remittances from the Gulf constitute about 1% of India’s GDP, and 3% to 5% of GDP in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. And nearly 10% in Nepal. It is more important now than ever, with household incomes under pressure and governments searching for foreign currencies to buy oil and gas.
Gulf economies also face a bleak outlook, with exports halted and major energy facilities needing repair after missile strikes. It is possible that the fighting will resume with Iran’s rejection of the American president Donald Trump Demands.
Mamoun’s family woke up on March 9 to phone calls saying the 35-year-old had been infected. Video footage taken by another worker showed him sitting outdoors, severely burned and bleeding, screaming for help.
Marouf Hussein, his younger brother, said: “He never imagined that he would be injured. And that a missile would fall on him.”
Sharif Islam Hassan, of the Bangladesh Development Corporation (BRAC), said workers like Mamun are most at risk because they do the “dirtest, most dangerous and difficult” work.
In Qatar, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi factory worker was working 12-hour shifts as missiles flew overhead. Shrapnel from one of the strikes fell near his residence. He said that when the sirens sounded, the workers went to a designated room.
He earns less than $400 a month and sends two-thirds of the money home. “We have no choice but to continue working,” he said, on condition of anonymity for fear of angering the authorities.
Qatar He issued many reforms In the run-up to hosting the 2022 World Cup, including the partial dismantling of the system linking workers to their employers. But activists say abuses remain widespread, and workers have few recourses to seek justice.
Ahmed Al-Alili, a taxi driver in Qatar, has not sent money to his family in Egypt for two months. He once earned up to $3,000 a month, but his income has fallen to a third of that The war has disrupted travel. “We are the collateral damage of this war,” he said.
BRAC’s Hassan said the slowdown in key sectors such as real estate and construction will affect migrant workers directly. He said workers from Bangladesh and Pakistan are particularly vulnerable, as they often work informally and without fixed contracts.
Despite reforms in some countries, work permits are often tied to a single employer, and in some cases, workers are stranded, according to the Workers’ Alliance. She warned that some employers may exploit the conflict to withhold wages, refuse vacations, or carry out unfair dismissals.
When the war began, Mamoon’s mother, Shahida Khatun, urged him to return home.
He has been saving money since November. In his last call home, he promised his younger brother and sisters that he would pay for their studies, that he would build a bigger house for his parents and come back for good this spring.
Now, his family is struggling to get his wages back and make a life without him.
“The pain of losing a child,” Khatun said. “There are no words to describe the pain.”
For many workers, going home means giving up a stable income and much higher wages.
Marlene Flores, a Filipino worker in Qatar, said she felt shivers every time a missile was intercepted. But tax-free wages and health insurance made it feel safer – in some ways – than the Philippines, which declared “ A national energy emergency.”
“It’s not easy for me to say this, but I’m really going to stay here,” she admitted.
Israel has it too A large number of foreign workers. Filipino caregiver Jeremiah Subban continued to care for two elderly people despite the near-daily missile alerts, sometimes rushing to get food or medicine despite the danger. He wonders if his family can survive if he returns to the Philippines.
“I know that in the blink of an eye one can die,” he said. “But what kind of life will we go back to?”
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Shahida Khatun’s last name in the second reference.
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Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. Associated Press writers Al Imron Garjun in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sam Magdy in Cairo, and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.
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