Governance of migration process big challenge

Reinforcing governance in regulating Bangladesh's migration sector is a big challenge, observed the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission Sarat Dash at a programme yesterday.

"The irregular migration is an issue of concern for Bangladesh government. Lack of regular migration and insufficient scopes of legal channels sometimes prompt the people to take desperate journey to reach destination country," he told The Daily Star later.

The programme on "National Consultation for Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) 2015" was organised in the capital's Cirdap auditorium by the government's intern-ministerial committee on migration and development in association with IOM and UNDP.

Sarat Dash said the government must practically and effectively handle irregular migration like those over the Bay of Bengal.

While attending the 8th GFMD summit in Turkey next month, it should also focus on ensuring safe migration and protecting migrants' rights, he added.

Addressing as chief guest, Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam also highlighted the importance of legal migration channels and protection obligations for reducing migrants' vulnerabilities.

Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque highlighted the challenges of migration in the global context. "The challenge for us is how to keep the narrative associated with migration positive, how to keep migrants safer, and how to ensure that migrants do not lose their rights in geo political turmoil," he mentioned.

Highlighting migration's integration into the development discourse, including the new Global Agenda 2030, Shahidul said the GFMD was coming at a critical time in history to shape the future of migration.

The consultation was focused on six themes: promoting migrants' rights, reducing international migration's human and financial costs, promoting fair recruitment practices, mainstreaming migration into the economy, harnessing migration's benefits for the Sustainable Development Goals. Bangladesh is scheduled to take over GFMD's chairmanship till the next summit in Dhaka in 2016.