Migrant workers' recruitment and return
Degrading treatment must end
THE turmoil in the Middle East, apart from the regular difficulties faced by our workers in the region in normal times, has brought home to us the realisation that measures are needed to ensure the safety of those we send abroad for employment as migrant workers. Such a need has been highlighted yet once again, this time through a round table on the theme of responsible recruitment and responsible return of migrant workers. Given the trauma Bangladeshi workers have faced owing to the crisis in Libya, the time is here for measures that will ensure the security of not just our migrant workers but also those of other nations.
In a world increasingly sensitised to human rights, internationally accepted norms of behaviour must come into how employers as well as employing countries treat migrant workers. All too often recruiting agencies in the home country and employing firms abroad wash their hands of the workers once the latter have been put on flights to their destinations. What happens to these workers in most instances is horrific. Often they are dumped with jobs they did not want, with wages and management behaviour being of an appallingly low standard. Employers in many cases seize the passports of the foreign workers, thus compelling them into a hostage-like situation. The climax of such reprehensible behaviour is reached when during moments of crisis, such as the Libyan situation, there is no institution migrant workers can turn to in order to ensure their safety and eventual return home. Ethics goes missing where employers' behaviour is concerned.
There is a responsibility here for the state as well as brand groups and recruiting agencies. Unless workers are guaranteed rights to decent wages and good management behaviour abroad and safe return home, they must not be pushed into going overseas. Necessary pressure must be put on employing firms abroad and their governments, especially in the Middle East, on a guarantee of civilised behaviour toward migrant workers. The wide gap between recruitment of migrant workers and accepted global norms will have to be bridged if our workers are not to continue being subjected to degrading treatment abroad.
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