Labor Rights and Migrant Workers: Comparative Protective Frameworks in South Asia

Abstract

Migrant workers constitute one of the most economically productive yet legally under-protected populations in South Asia. India alone hosts an estimated 139 million internal migrants, with cross-border corridors to Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka generating further regulatory complexity. This paper offers a doctrinal and comparative analysis of the statutory and constitutional frameworks governing migrant labor rights across these jurisdictions. Drawing on the Indian Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act 1979, the consolidated labor codes of 2019–2020, Bangladesh's Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013, Nepal's Foreign Employment Act 2007, and Sri Lanka's Bureau of Foreign Employment Act 1985, the study identifies convergences, divergences, and enforcement gaps that were exposed dramatically by the COVID-19 lockdowns. The paper argues that formal statutory protection remains undermined by weak registration systems, informal subcontracting chains, and the absence of portable social security. It proposes a rights-based regional framework anchored in ILO Conventions 97 and 143, bilateral labor agreements, and digital portability of entitlements. The findings contribute to ongoing debates on labor justice, informal-sector regulation, and the constitutionalization of socio-economic rights in developing jurisdictions.