International Trade Union Confederation – Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP) workers’ rights division director P Haridasan said the problem of "forced labour" was a huge concern in the region.
He revealed 2.6 million people worldwide were categorised as forced labourers, adding he hoped to use his visit to Bahrain as a fact-finding mission to help tackle the problem.
"This is a huge number and our main priority is to address the issue," he said.
"The definition of a forced labourer is one who is doing work upon threat, whether physically, sexually or verbally.
"Hundreds of labourers, especially from the South Asian region, are forced to come and work in the Gulf.
"We are here to find out why is this happening in the region and how can it be resolved.
"We want to promote their rights and protect them."
Mr Haridasan said some labourers did not even realise they were being forced into work they never signed up to until they arrived in the country.
"They leave their homeland thinking they will fill a certain job, like a nurse, only to find out later that they will work as a domestic worker – with less than half of the salary promised," he explained on the sidelines of the labour trafficking workshop yesterday.
Meanwhile, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour senior specialist Caroline O’Reilly said it was time South Asian countries clamped down on rogue recruitment agencies within their own borders.
Such agencies often cash in on the exploitation of their own countrymen by promising them work or visas that don’t exist.
"These labourers come from unregistered recruitment agencies in their countries and arrive without proper contracts," she said. "The governments of these countries need to be supported to tighten up on these agencies."
