Editorial
A new threat to migrant workers
MRPs must be ensured
POVERTY, fraudulent agents, difficult employers, inhuman working and living conditions, and now even a conflict in the air. As if the challenges were not enough for Bangladeshi migrant workers abroad, now they also face the risk of being out of work and deported if they do not possess machine-readable passports (MRP) by March 2015.
While passports are a necessity for every citizen, they are crucial for the thousands who migrate every month and the over 6 million Bangladeshis currently working abroad. Without MRPs, the latter will not be able to obtain or renew their visas or work permits, not to mention restrictions on travel home, after the given date. In countries such as Malaysia, where the government has already begun a crackdown on illegal foreign nationals and where there are a large number of Bangladeshi workers, their plight will be even more severe.
Remittance accounts for around $14 billion, 11% of our gross domestic product (GDP). Overseas employment also makes up 25% of overall employment. It is essential that we remove all obstacles to the growth of a sector which is so crucial to our nation's economic development. The task of issuing passports to the citizens of a country as overpopulated as ours may be daunting, but it must be done and the authorities must take all necessary steps to make the process quicker and the system more efficient.
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