To date, the authorities have recorded more than 8,000 infections amongst migrant workers living in dormitories. Questioned about the government’s inability to limit the infection among migrant workers, Dr. Leong Hoe Nam, a contagious disease specialist in Singapore, confessed “for the foreign workers who work in a dormitory, we really have a big problem controlling them”.

SINGAPORE MIGRANT WORKERS CAUGHT BETWEEN EXPLOITATION AND EXPOSURE TO DISEASE

Singapore houses more than 200,000 migrant workers who have left their home countries searching for better prospects in life. Largely employed in the construction and cleaning industries, Singapore migrant workers earn around £300-£420 a month. Part of this is used to pay for dormitory rent while the remainder is sent home.  

Migrant workers are aware of their poor living conditions and of their exposure to the COVID-19 virus. “One small room with 12 people living together… how can we make social distance?” one asked. “We know the virus character, how this is spread – so if this living condition continues, I am very worried” expressed another. These are just two of the many complaints that migrant workers have addressed to the authorities.

However, migrant workers are not alone in their fight for better living conditions. Singapore’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Tommy Koh, is one of the most authoritative voices embracing their cause. He has said that “[t]he way Singapore treats its foreign workers is not First World but Third World. […] They stay in overcrowded dormitories and are packed like sardines […]. The dormitories are not clean or sanitary. […] Singapore should treat this (COVID-19 pandemic) as a wakeup call to treat our indispensable foreign workers like a First World Country should […]”. 

Due to the relevance of the human rights at stake, the issue of migrant workers has become subject of heated debates at national and international level. The Singapore government has repeatedly made assurances that it intends to take all necessary precautions to protect migrant workers since “(they have made) personal sacrifices to come to work here. […] we have a responsibility for them”.

In the past weeks, the authorities have thus relocated over 7,000 workers outside the dormitories while strengthening hygiene and preventative measures such as cleaning inspections and temperature monitoring. 

INTERNATIONAL TREATIES ENSHRINE THE RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE STANDARD OF LIVING 

Despite public authorities’ efforts to sanitize the facilities, the conditions of migrant workers living in dormitories remain critical. 

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore has exposed the precarious living conditions that migrant workers have had to bear over the past decades. The Singapore government has thus failed to protect one of their fundamental human rights - the right to an adequate standard of living. 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) art. 25.1 states that “[e]veryone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself […], including […] housing and medical care, […] and the right to security in the event of unemployment […]”. 

Likewise, art.11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – to which Singapore is not yet a State Party – codifies “[…] the right for everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate […] housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions”. 

It is evident that Singapore is falling short of these requirements in regard to its migrant workers. The COVID-19 pandemic could however force the authorities to act in full compliance UDHR rules. If this does not happen, the Singapore government will no doubt lose credibility in the eyes of the international community. 

Andrea has recently completed the ‘M.A.S. in Transitional Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law’ from Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, a MA of Global Affairs & Policy (PIC)’ from Yonsei University, South Korea, and a BA of Korean Language, Culture and Society from Ca’ Foscari University, Italy. She has worked at Seoul based NGO 'Human Asia' as a human rights intern. She is  passionate about social justice, public health, human rights and the rule of law.

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