In most part of the world and particularly the Western Europe, the migrant workers are discriminated. This is due to the fact that they are usually hired in sectors such as the tourism, or the construction whereby they are likely to be hit first b y the employers. This discrimination is on the contrary to the human rights on workers that state that “All persons, regardless of their nationality, race, legal or other status, are entitled to fundamental human rights and basic labor protections, including migrant workers and their families. Migrants are also entitled to certain human rights and protections specifically linked to their vulnerable status” (Roger, 2000). In most parts of the world especially in the developed countries, immigrants are discriminated at a rate that is three times higher that than the national workers. The issue of discrimination in these countries is commonly among young adult workers, the discrimination is in form of the access to employment and while in employment.
The national workers are given the first priority then followed the migrants and the minorities. The employers claim that the lack of employment for these workers is usually as a result of poor qualifications but the real issue is marginalization among the employers. The migrants who are lucky enough to secure jobs face discrimination at their workplaces. These discriminations include such as in cases of financial insecurity whereby the migrant workers are the first to be put into the blame. A good instance of discrimination was in South Africa in the year 2008 when more than 60 foreign migrants were killed and over 10,000 were left without homes (Roger, 2000).
Since the end of the Second World War, the issue of people migrating on an international level has been on the rise. This is due to the growing internationalization of the world’s economy. The world population of the migrant workers defines them as people who are economically active in a nation which they are not its nationals. The migrant workers do not include the refuges and the asylum seekers. They are approximate to be over 40 million by the international migration Programme.
The pattern s of migration in Europe have been shaped by the by the demographic structure of Europe after the Second World War. On arrival to the Western Europe, the migrants were forced to work on less pays for long hours and harsh conditions than the national workers in contrast to their expectations. Most of the migrants expected Western Europe to be a better future for their children and their grand children too. Despite the high labor force input rates in most of the European countries, the migrant and their descendants are unreasonably represented among the people who haven’t had jobs for a long time. The migrants get the odd jobs that are underpaid, work for long hours and under harsh conditions.
The moral, social and the economic considerations are the main issue that makes migrant workers discrimination a problem (Frank, 1995). The moral consideration for discrimination of workers is based on the human rights. The migrant worker s and their families have the following human rights, the right to work and receive the wage they have worked for, the human right to freedom from any type of forced labor and most importantly the human right from discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, ethnic group or nationality in all the levels of work, hiring inclusive, heath care and the basic services that a common workers deservers. The above human rights are based on the primary fact that all human beings are equal and thus deserve equal treatment. The other challenges that are experienced by the migrant workers are social related problems.
The social injustice on migrant workers is on the basis that the society is supposed to treats all the people equally. It is therefore not ethical to be against a migrant worker over the national worker. The social injustice on work places on the migrants is commonly based in race. Race connected arson attacks, race riots and racially aggravated deaths and the creation of the neo-Nazi and the skin head group are some of the few example of the results of discrimination against the migrant workers on the basis of race. The above groups are evident that discrimination against migrant workers and the favoring of the national workers is an intense issue that needs to be looked at by the government and the relevant bodies such as the United Nations.
Discrimination is the mother of inequality in work places. The economic consideration is also a problem that is associated with discrimination of the migrant workers. In an economic position, both the society and the employer pay the cost of discrimination. Via discrimination, the employer is not fully utilizing the full resources of the worker but is instead making the worker uneasy and not comfortable in the working environment(ILO, 1999).
