Protection of Migrant Workers' Rights : The Case of Ethiopians in Middle East and Gulf Countries

Ethiopian migrant workers, a great majority of whom being women, travel through regular and irregular channels to get to some of their major destination countries in the Middle East and the Gulf. These migrant workers primarily engage in low skilled areas of domestic and care services which are often left out of a right based discourse. Domestic and care works, often occupied by migrant domestic workers, are not regarded as work proper and therefore they are not regulated by the domestic labor laws of destination countries. However, the major problems faced by migrant domestic workers are violations of those basic rights, which are suppose to be protected under International Human Rights instruments and the international law on migration. This book analyzes the body of international human rights instruments and international law on migration and their applicability to migrant workers in general and migrant domestic workers in particular including those in irregular situation. Furthermore, it expounds on the history, trajectory, push and pull factors of Ethiopians' labor migration as well as the abuses and violations that this group suffers in all stages of the migration process.