By IANS
New York : Dissatisfied with their meeting with the Indian ambassador in Washington late March, Indian dock workers from Mississippi plan to meet the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) later Tuesday to protest the role of the US and India in trafficking guest workers.
The nearly 100 workers, who claim to have broken a human trafficking chain by quitting work at the Pascagoula shipyard run by Signal International, will tell the high commissioner “about the role of the Indian and US governments in allowing companies and recruiters to use the H2B visa programme as a legally sanctioned vehicle for modern-day slavery”, a press release said Monday.
The workers also plan to issue a statement demanding action from the Indian government to bring safety and relief to the over 500 workers initially brought from India by Signal through US and Indian recruiters.
Their meeting with India’s Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen on March 27, they claimed, “yielded only symbols, not solutions”. They had walked on foot from New Orleans to Washington for the meeting.
Sen gave the workers a patient hearing, assuring them that the embassy and the Indian government would go the extra mile in taking care of their safety, security and dignity.
However, he reminded them that they could not breach established diplomatic protocol by directly interceding with agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Immigration and Customs Services or the Department of Justice.
While in Washington, the workers also held a rally near the White House and tore up copies of their H2B visas in a symbolic rejection of the guest worker programme.
Earlier in March, the workers mounted a federal class action lawsuit against Signal and the recruiters, alleging they were victims of human trafficking. They claimed they were made to pay money against promises of green cards but were brought on short-term work visas and suffered inhuman work and living conditions at Signal’s shipyard.
Signal has denied allegations that it mistreated workers. The company said it would stop hiring guest workers until more safeguards are in place to prevent recruitment abuses.