Many illegally working foreign nationals living in inhumane conditions

The humanitarian plight of an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 foreign nationals who are working illegally in the TRNC has been highlighted by Labour and Social Security Minister Faiz Sucuoğlu.

Many of these people have to stay in different places every day and live in inhumane conditions,  Dr Sucuoğlu told TAK news agency after last week’s Parliamentary approval of an amnesty for illegal workers who are thought to form some 20 per cent of the country’s total labour force.

Their daily wages are very low and they are deprived of health and other services. They are presently living here but at the same time they are not here because they are not recorded…

When we came to office, we encountered a record number of illegal workers, said Dr Sucuoğlu.

In the last eight years, there has been an increase in the number of those arriving here from counties such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and India, with only a slight increase in those coming from Turkey.