Remittances, migration and economic abuse: ‘invisible in plain sight’

Remittances are seen as a moral good and a currency of care. It is money sent by a ‘good son’ (most often) fulfilling his filial duty. Remittances have been feted in the migration literature as one of the largest and most resilient international flows, contributing to welfare and development at the household, community, and national levels. However, remittances can become the medium of economic abuse when they are sent without consultation. They can deny the wife and children necessities in the country of destination, appropriate the wife’s money, sequester money in another jurisdiction to build assets that exclude the wife. Often, the husband prevents his wife from sending money to her natal family from her earnings. The danger of remittances being used as a medium of economic abuse increased during COVID-19 as financial need increased in both the source and destination countries.