JOURNALISTS | LABOUR | MIGRATION 

Journalists and communicators have been urged to broaden their knowledge to report positive stories and not only focus on the plight of migrant workers in the Middle East.

The call was made by Charles Autheman while conducting training on communicating and reporting on labour migration in the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region.

Autheman is an independent consultant who tracks migration labour issues across the world.  

"In the real world, there are bad and good stories. Similarly, there are negative and positive stories that can be reported about labour migration," he said during the training that attracted participants for the IGAD region.

The training jointly organized by International Labour Organisation (ILO), IGAD and European Union (EU) was attended by journalists, communicators, representatives of workers' unions and employers' associations.  

IGAD which is made up of 8 countries, Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eretria, Somalia and Djibouti is a major transit route, destination and origin of migrant workers.

"Migrant workers are not only the people seeking low-wage jobs in Middle East countries but everyone who works outside their country," Autheman explained. "Whether they are lowly or highly paid they are all migrant workers and have positive and negative stories that must be reported accurately."

He told the participants at the three-day training, which ended on Wednesday in Djibouti city, that reporting horrifying stories of abuse of migrant workers projects working outside one's country is risky, which may not be the case always.

Autheman argued that sometimes such negative stories are aimed at discouraging people from seeking employment in other countries.

"The negative stories can discourage people from looking for better opportunities, decent work and filling the employment gap in another country," he said. He, however, stressed that all migrant workers' rights must be respected and any form of abuse must be reported.

Autheman argued that sometimes such negative stories are aimed at discouraging people from seeking employment in other countries.

The abuse of Ugandan female workers during recruitment and work has dominated the media in Uganda. 

Recently a Vision Group undercover journalist travelled to Saudi Arabia disguised as a migrant worker where she suffered as she was tossed from one employer to another.

She was also detained at a centre where migrant workers awaiting deportation are held like prisoners. In 2019 another undercover journalist was trafficked out of Uganda and sold in Dubai to work as a domestic worker.

Autheman said whereas stories of torture exist many other migrant workers have gainful employment which they couldn't find in their home country and have different stories to tell, which should be reported.

He told the participants that the world is now more open to migrant workers but it is still only a small fraction of about 3% of the world population seeking work in foreign countries.

 "About 97% of the world population is not migrating today, with about 250 million migrant workers worldwide", he said pointing out that negative stories portray a higher percentage.

Contrary to reports that the number of Africans leaving the content is high, Autheman, said: "the main movement is within Africa. The first destination for an African is Africa."

He gave Uganda as an example whose citizens' first destination is Kenya while South Sudanese will consider moving to Uganda before anywhere else.

Autheman called for media collaboration in covering stories about migration as an emerging beat in journalism. He pointed out that while African media is covering the abuse of migrant workers in the Middle East, the media there carries stories accusing migrant workers of committing crimes.

"A study carried out in Jordan shows negative stories about migrant workers and they are not given a right to respond. They are one-sided stories without voices of the migrant workers," he said and urged the journalists and communicators to be accurate, balanced and objective when covering migrant workers' stories.

Autheman has for the last 10 years facilitated training workshops for journalists, trade unionists and communication professionals in more than 20 different countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

In 2020 he coordinated the production of the ILO media toolkit on forced labour and fair recruitment, which is available online for journalists and communicators.

During the opening of the training, Fathia Alwan, the IGAD director of health and social development, said the positive contribution of labour migration to the economic development of both sending and receiving countries is not adequately covered.

She also said abuse of migrant workers in countries of transit and destination is also not well reported.  

Alwan said "the general public and policymakers are not well informed about the labour migration and associated challenges," because of inadequate reporting.  

She, however, praised the role of the media in influencing policy decisions, investigating challenges, and preventing and promoting regular and safe labour movements.

"Media can also play a positive role in public education and informing potential migrants, migrant families and returnees about the challenges and opportunities across the migration cycle.

She said IGAD is committed to improving the level of reporting on migration issues.

Ephrem Egnet, of the ILO secretariat, said if migration is well-governed it can benefit both the country of origin and destination.

"For ILO, a desirable international order for labour migration would be one where people migrate by choice and not by necessity; and where those who migrate for work will enjoy full labour and human rights as well as decent working conditions," he said.