Migrant workers
A couple of news reports and writings on labour migration has drawn my attention. I am referring to the following two. First, a Dhaka daily published a report with a photograph on 02 March issue on the return of 34 Bangladeshi workers from Malaysia. They reportedly spent five months in a detention camp following their protest against abuses by the Malaysian employers. The returnees are part of the 800 workers who worked in four textile factories in Batu Pahat district in Johor state of Malaysia, but thronged Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur to protest low pay, longer work hours and other kinds of abuses. Secondly: different newspapers on the same day (02 March) published a report quoting a release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dhaka, that the number of workers who went for overseas employment in 2007 is almost double the previous year's number. In 2007, a total of 832,000 individuals got clearances from the government departments concerned. However, the actual number of the workers who left the country was nearly 600,000. The number of individuals having clearance in 2006 was 381,000. A total of 159,000 individuals have already left for work abroad in the first two months of the current year (2008), compared to 78,000 in the same period last year. In recent times, there is an upheaval in the overseas labour market. It goes from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia. The reason behind this is still unknown to the public. Some interesting information has come out through the media about Saudi Arabia. The Bangladeshi migrant workers were considered as cheap, hard working and dedicated to work until recent times in Saudi Arabia. However, the situation is now a bit different. There are 'syndicated stories' in local newspapers in that country against Bangladeshi migrant workers. Law enforcement agencies are also active against the Bangladeshis reportedly involved in 'criminal activities.' The labour exporting sector is the prime foreign currency earning sector of Bangladesh. In 2007, this sector earned US$ 7 billion for our exchequer. So, I don't see any arguable reason why successive governments in Bangladesh are still not paying due attention to the sector. There should be some short-term crash programmes and some long-term initiatives. Short-term actions should be like expanding the scope for overseas employment and regular flow of labour migration, minimal service cost for migration, negotiations and signing bilateral agreements with destination countries for ensuring the rights of the individuals as migrant workers, ensuring better salary packages, pre-departure orientation for the workers on the general law and social norms of the destination countries, awareness for female migrant workers on potential abuses and complaint mechanism etc. The government should be tough on the unscrupulous recruiting agencies and individuals engaged in smuggling and trafficking of human beings in the name of labour migration. In terms of long-term activities, the government should look into the following: overhauling of the existing policy and the legal and administrative framework to meet the needs of the present day labour migration, building up the capacity of the relevant ministry and departments, developing a database for registering complaints regarding exploitation and abuses in the labour migration processes, blacklisting those engaged in exploitation of migrant workers, promoting fare and ethical labour migration etc. Besides, a separate national authority with sufficient power and resources should be set up to deal with migration related issues. It is evident that the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Welfare (MOEWOE) is a neglected institution so far. It is learned that the MOEWOE has approached the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for their technical assistance. Let us see what the outcome is. The government should also look into the recommendations of the recently adopted Abu Dhabi Declaration (January 2008). Enhance knowledge in the area of labour market trends, skill profiles, remittance policies and flows and their interplay with developments in the area. The other points include building capacity for effective matching of labour demands and supply, preventing illegal recruitment practices and promoting welfare of migrant workers.
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