Forced labour: Peru, Amazon warehouses and the Persian Gulf

More than 50 contract workers from Nepal employed in Amazon.com, Inc. warehouses in Saudi Arabia claim to have been defrauded by recruitment agencies in their home country, as well as companies supplying labour in Saudi Arabia. According to one of the victims, the Nepalese had to work beyond their strength for low wages and live in miserable conditions. In May 2022, they were suddenly released, finding themselves over 3,8 thousand from home with no money and little food. Returning to Nepal meant paying a fine of $1,300 to a Saudi employment company for leaving before the expiration of the contract.

Doctors are reporting an “alarming” rate of fertility problems among Nepali migrant workers in the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asian countries. It may be related to high stress, heat at work, poor diet and difficult accommodation conditions. Dr. Binita Thapa, a gynaecologist at the infertility treatment unit in Kathmandu, claims that in around 45% of the cases she treats, the man previously worked in the Persian Gulf.

Peruvian police rescued over 40 Malaysians – victims of the Red Dragon human trafficking syndicate, which made money from telecommunications fraud. Malaysians were forced to take part in the so-called Macau fraud: they made calls to companies in Malaysia and Taiwan demanding money, e.g. posing as representatives of banks and the police. Malaysian citizens came to Peru through the Netherlands, lured by promises of work in the capital’s casinos via social networking sites.