Labour migration
Labour migration is now the largest foreign currency earning sector for Bangladesh. According to official statistics, 800,000 plus migrant workers had overseas employment in 2007 while earnings from the remittance is US$ 6.3 billion. (Most of the migrants had jobs on their own initiatives, however, they had been registered with BMET as per rule). The remittance is five times higher than the official development assistance (ODA). However, the sector has not drawn proper attention of the policy makers of successive governments. Whatever the ministers (including the Advisers now) and senior government officials are saying is very much limited to lip service. Nothing has been done to streamline the sector. This has been reflected in the incidents in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia and continuous and unabated exploitation in the labour migration processes. The government established a new ministry styled Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment (MOEWOE) on 20 December 2001. The Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) is its main implementing agency. Both the MOEWOE and BMET lack required logistical support and human resources. Corruption and lack of dedication among a section of officials and employees are reportedly norms over there which contributed to malpractice by a section of recruitment agencies, increase in migration costs, and continuous deception and exploitation of migrants. The District Employment Offices are also under-resourced and under-used. Although the main objective of the new ministry is to ensure welfare of the expatriate workers and enhancement of overseas employment, this is sill an elusive goal which is frequently highlighted by the media. There has been an unholy competition among the recruitment agencies run by influential individuals belonging to political parties and other groups. (This was the norm during the rule of the four-party alliance in particular. Some of them are now in jail). The caretaker government should take effective steps immediately. There should be a significant development budget allocation for the migration sector. The MOEWOE needs to be strengthened in terms of its capacity and efficiency. There should be exemplary measures against the corrupt officials including Labour Attaches posted in overseas missions. The government should be cautious about the activities of a section of NGOs (both national and international) which are always trying to create confusion between human trafficking and exploitation in the labour migration processes. This attempt aims to curb our people's right to mobility. The unscrupulous recruitment agencies and dalals need to be brought to justice. The lone official recruitment agency, Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd (BOESL) and BMET need to be decentralized up to upazila levels. The political parties should come forward with a plan in their election manifesto mentioning what they want to do for the sector in future.
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