...A new survey we conducted with 414 Nepali migrant workers adds to this picture. Using a worker voice platform called Laborlink, Amnesty collaborated with several migrants’ rights organizations, including the Pravasi Nepal Coordination Committee (PNCC), the North South Initiative and the SaMi Project/Helevatas Swiss Intercooperation Nepal, to engage groups of migrant workers to take surveys on their mobile phones. The data we collected, alongside other evidence from our investigations in Nepal, helps unpick the systemic problem of migrant worker debts and raises questions about who is really prepared to tackle the issue of indebtedness. If we hope to make progress on eliminating modern slavery in global supply chains, as many states now do with their new anti-slavery legislation, then tackling the extortionate fees that millions of labour migrants pay must be at the top of the priority list.

[F]our Nepali workers whose agents deceived them about their working conditions… were told they would work in a factory in Malaysia making labels for plastic bottles; but instead, they were sent to a steel manufacturer and asked to perform dangerous jobs without training. After witnessing several on-the-job injuries, the four men tried to leave but the company would not pay for their tickets home or return their passports. Heavily indebted after paying US $1,200 in recruitment fees, the men said they were trapped, scared, and unable to return home without money to buy plane tickets.