Global labour shortages and poor treatment of migrant workers exacerbated by the pandemic should be a wake up call for governments to treat their foreign workforce fairly instead of viewing them as "occupiers", activists said on Thursday.

In a panel at the Reuters Next conference, Asian labour activists said the coronavirus pandemic has displayed how many economies could not function effectively without workers imported from countries like Philippines and the Mekong region.

Yet at the same time, these workers numbering in the millions are discriminated against in their host countries...