Migrant workers

Plan says workers can leave country, change jobs without employer’s consent but leaves intact contentious sponsorship program.

Some stranded migrants have been confined in unclean quarters where social distancing was impossible, placing them at risk of disease. Others face abuse, exploitation and neglect, the report said.

Under the law until now, part of migrants' salaries were held in deposit by the state and given back to them if and when they left the country.

Indian authorities restricted communications to the region and arrested thousands of people in a bid to prevent unrest. Some have since been released.

Uri, aged 40, was an accountant who was not very satisfied with his salary and working conditions, but he couldn’t imagine how he could change it.

Approximately 100 children born in Israel to foreign workers face deportation from Israel.

Some 2,657 complaints and inquiries were received last year by the Center for Migrant Workers' dedicated call center for workers, representing a 43% increase over the previous year.

According to human rights groups, this gives a disproportionate amount of power to employers and lays the groundwork for abuses to occur.

The company named in the U.N. statement - India-based timber firm Accurate Industries - could not be reached for comment.

Most of the people caught at the frontier trying to enter the United States illegally come from three violent and impoverished countries: Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.