Nepalese slave labour and Internet workers in Africa and Asia

About 1,500 young Nepalese leave the country daily to work abroad, mainly in the Persian Gulf, Malaysia and India. Over time, men in their thirties return to their homeland and need dialysis because of chronic kidney disease. This results from working in intense heat with limited access to drinking water. Nearly a third of Nepali patients say they experienced extreme workloads, and two-thirds suffered from exhaustion.

The Philippine police in Manila freed more than 2,700 employees from the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and a dozen other countries who were allegedly deceived into recruiting for fake online gaming sites and cybercrime groups. Internet fraud is a severe problem in Asia, and people in the region are also urged to work in this industry in Myanmar and Cambodia. Many of them are trapped in a system of virtual slavery and forced to participate in cheating Internet users.

In Kenya, nearly 200 content moderators working for Facebook sued the company and its local subcontractor over working conditions. Employees complain about having to watch drastic movies, which has terribly impacted their mental health. Moderators from several African countries demand a $1.6 billion compensation fund due to allegedly poor working conditions, including insufficient mental health support and low wages.