More Than a Criminal Tool: The Hawala System’s Role As A Critical Remittance Channel for Low-Income Pakistani Migrants in Dubai

Froilan Tuccat Malit, Mouawiya Alawad and George Naufal
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Froilan Tuccat Malit: Gulf Labour Markets and Migration Programme (GLMM) Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA), Cornell University, United Arab Emirates
Mouawiya Alawad: Institute for Social and Economic Research, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Mouawiya Al Awad

Remittances Review, 2017, vol. 2, issue 2, 63-88

Abstract: This paper examines how and why migrants remit through unauthorized remittance channels (namely the hawala or hundi) and investigates the hawala's developmental roles and effects on migrants’ socioeconomic status. Applying a qualitative case study of 30 low-income Pakistani migrants in Dubai, we argue that the thriving yet unauthorized status of the hawala system is a unique product of global migration process. In contrast to the dominant literature on the nexus between the hawala and terrorist and criminal-related financing, we assert that the sustainability of the hawala is the result of an ongoing effort of low-income migrants to increase their remitting power, providing money that is crucial to their families’ socioeconomic status within the con-text of rapidly globalizing forces. This study provides both important empirical and theoretical insights into the hawala's complex relevance for low-income migrants, governments, and international organizations in global migration context.

Keywords: hawala; low-income migrants; Pakistan; Dubai; unregulated remittances (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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