Statement on Workers' Movement Restrictions
3 June 2022
“I feel very sad about the difference in the lives between me and the rest of the people. COVID has a risk for everyone equally. Why [are] they treating us differently when we are all the same? We are still humans and we all need freedom.”
— Mohammed, a special pass dormitory resident
On 2 June 2020, Singapore’s “circuit-breaker” ended, relieving the past two months’ movement controls.
On the same day, the Employment of Foreign Manpower Regulations were amended to confine migrant workers in their accommodation*:
Outside work and essential appointments, migrant workers may only go out on “community visits” with an MOM-granted “exit pass” to pre-specified locations, or to the designated recreation centre.
Punishments for breaching these rules are as harsh as work pass revocation and employment bans.
Separately, they also may not commute by public transport.
The impact this has wreaked cannot be overstated. The prolonged confinement alone is damaging enough. Even worse is the stark discrimination. From June 2020, migrant workers saw the rest of Singapore returning to normal―but no light in the tunnel for dormitory residents. HOME repeatedly heard workers’ questions about the difference in treatment. The increasing lack of rational justification for the unequal rules compounded the sense of having no end in sight. As months turned into years, the workers’ desperation and distress wore down into rueful resignation.
CNA recently depicted low compliance with this regime, showing several workers outside their dormitories without exit passes, and suggests "lifting" it due to difficulty in enforcement.
This narrative reinforces that it is acceptable or even preferable to control migrant workers’ movements. It not only perpetuates negative stereotypes of migrant workers, it also glosses over these rules' inherent discrimination. Worse, by portraying the rules as easily circumvented, it undermines the distress and difficulties that hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have endured due to their confinement.
Further, as CNA found, migrant workers on special pass cannot obtain exit passes. Many special pass holders are not allowed to leave their dormitories. Even for medical appointments, some can go only upon HOME's assistance. Unscrupulous employers also threaten to report workers when they go out to seek help for injuries, unpaid wages, or lack of food.
Movement restrictions which discriminate against migrant workers are unjustified. The vast majority of them are fully vaccinated, yet their movements have been restricted for more than two years. The rest of Singapore, even if unvaccinated, is no longer under any movement restrictions. This glaring inequality reflects on our society’s values. Continuing to ignore it further disgraces us. Migrant workers in dormitories deserve to be treated with equality, and with the same rules as the rest of us.
*For our previous comments on these measures, see here.