LAST week, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a calling for increased global solidarity and international cooperation against the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is the first such document on the global pandemic to be adopted by the UN.

The resolution titled, Global solidarity to fight the coronavirus disease 2019, is sponsored by 188 countries calling for intensified international cooperation to defeat the pandemic as it poses threat to the livelihood of the people.

The resolution also emphasised the need to respect human rights and oppose any form of discrimination in the response to the pandemic.

The UN resolution is timely, as across the world, we seen how countries have moved to shut borders and impose travel lockdowns.

On a more controversial move, some restrict foreigners from accessing local public health infrastructure or calling them to return home.

Many countries continue to adopt its own set of public health policies that might not be inclusive. 

The pandemic has brought difficult situations for everyone. For some however, the impacts are more severe than the others.

In this article, I refer to the migrant workers in Malaysia in response to the recent statement by the senior minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on migrant workers in the Selangor Mansion and Malayan Mansion buildings in Jalan Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur.

They have been placed under enhanced movement control order after 15 Covid-19 positive cases were detected in the premises. As reported, both premises involve some 6,000 residents.

Foreign embassies have been told to provide meals for the residents in the Selangor Mansion and Malayan Mansion who are not Malaysian citizens.

“About 97% of those living there are foreigners, and therefore, the respective embassies should be responsible for their welfare, which includes obtaining essential items,” Ismail Sabri said.

He was also quoted as saying, “We give an alternative to buy food through the counter of the operation centre but they’ll need to pay for it themselves.”

His statement shows how we push away the responsibility of migrant workers’ welfare onto the shoulder of their respective embassies.

That itself has gone against the spirit of the UN resolution calling for shared responsibility and global solidarity that we are also part of.

The fear of vulnerable migrant workers is fully justified and a global pandemic in the context of unequal welfare treatment is devastating.

They are not only losing their income or face mass layoffs, they are also fear of being arrested especially if they are undocumented.

Moreover, it is likely that they might also be under equipped with information on the severity of the pandemic.

Although the government said that they can go to government facilities to test for Covid-19 without fear, but for years, Malaysia has treated these workers as separate from its citizens.

How can we expect the workers to fully trust us?

In Malaysia, migrant workers take on various important roles in sectors such as construction, cleaning, manufacturing and others.

They help to build our roads and homes yet they are disproportionately vulnerable to exclusion, stigma and discrimination, more so when they are undocumented.

This is an inhumane approach during the global pandemic, and it should prompt all of us to rethink our attitude towards migrant workers.

Take a moment and think, can we live one day without the migrant workers building our homes, roads, schools and even hospitals?

What happen to our eateries and restaurants if we lose these workers?

As public health becomes more globally connected, we should see healthcare and welfare not in terms of borders, but as an interconnected and interdependent chain.

We should all never forget that our lives and economies are mainly reliant on migrant workers.

When there is no salary, there is no money and there will be no food; so let’s be humane. – April 9, 2020.

* Khoo Ying Hooi is deputy head and senior lecturer at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.