Fiji’s Ministry of Em-ployment has investi-gated more than 250 reports of migrant worker exploitation in the past three to five years. Director of labour stand-ards, Daniel Tagivakatini, revealed that workers, par-ticularly from Bangladesh, India and the Philippines, often signed contracts that differed from those they had initially agreed to or could not read. “Some of them couldn’t un-derstand English, and that created a vulnerability when they came in and signed a contract without knowing what it was,” he said. To fill labour shortages, Fiji has welcomed foreign work-ers from countries such as Bangladesh and India, but many have faced exploita-tion at the hands of local em-ployers. Mr Tagivakatini said the ministry often intervened and repatriated workers to their home countries when their employers refused, in addition to other efforts to provide support. “That’s why we work close-ly with Immigration in terms of facilitating their repatria-tion and strengthening our coordination with them,” he said, adding that they hoped to reinforce that partnership in the future. “That’s all we can do for now, given our limited re-sources,” Mr Tagivakatini said. “Working together, piggy-backing on other agencies’ processes, makes our work easier and more efficient.” Feedback: jernese.macanawai@fijisun.com.fj