As I read this news of construction workers from Dubai visiting home for Eid being sacked over SMSes, I was reminded of this Ted Talk by Cameron Sinclair that shed some light on the pathetic conditions of immigrant workers in Dubai. The talk is fairly short and I recommend it :

On a general note, it is strange that we learn to look past human rights’ violation when something is right under our nose, but are vocal when observing a distant occurrence. The laws in India against child labour and labour exploitation are a joke at best, and violators are laughing at it every single moment. I’ve witnessed countless cases of child labour and exploitation (as I’m sure every Indian has in his life), but somehow I haven’t been as protesting. I knew of a family that took the little girl of their maid who lives with them as a domestic help. She is treated alright, but that’s still blatant exploitation of a child. Back then, I don’t even remember feeling that it was wrong.

So I shouldn’t expect anyone else to do the right thing till I rid myself of the dichotomy.

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