Pope Francis has called for fair wages for migrant workers. The pope's words came during his visit to Singapore, which was the last stop on the head of the Catholic Church's Asia-Pacific tour, AFP reported.
"These workers contribute a lot to society and must be guaranteed a fair wage," Francis said.
According to the International Labor Organization, there are about 170 million migrant workers in the world - about 5% of the global workforce.
Most of them live in North and South America, Europe and Central Asia.
Cheap labor has contributed to the rapid development of glittering metropolises such as Dubai, Doha and Singapore.
About 300,000 low-wage migrant workers work in Singapore.
Human rights activists claim that migrants do not have adequate protection against exploitation and sometimes live in poor living conditions, but the government denies this.
The issue came to the fore during the Covid-19 pandemic, when tens of thousands of migrant workers were forced into dormitories.
Many of Singapore's migrants come from South Asia and the Philippines, which has a large and particularly devout Catholic majority. | BGNES
