Remittance to Bangladesh rose to an eight-month high in March as migrant workers sent home a higher amount to help their families meet an increased expenditure during Ramadan, officials data showed.

Cooperation among different stakeholders at both sending and receiving ends is required to ensure ethical recruitment practices in labour migration, said speakers at a consultation meeting yesterday.

Bangladeshi migrant rights activists and researchers have demanded that authorities investigate the unnatural deaths of migrant workers in the destination countries, including those in the Gulf.

Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad yesterday said he has been waiting for Malaysia’s response to initiate talks over sending Bangladeshi migrant workers to the country.

Bangladeshi migrant rights activists and researchers have demanded that authorities investigate into the unnatural deaths of migrant workers in the destination countries, including those in the Gulf.

Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Imran Ahmad today said migrant workers’ plight starts here at home.

The death toll from a migrant shipwreck off Tunisia on Friday has risen to 20 people, most of them Syrians, as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, a civil protection official told Reuters on Saturday, the latest migrant ship disaster off Tunisia.

Badal Khandaker went to Serbia in November last year with hopes of a well-paying job that would ensure a better life for his family back home.

The Malaysian human resources ministry has received 200,000 applications for Bangladeshi foreign workers, which are presently being vetted, said M Saravanan.

As many as 114 Bangladeshis returned home yesterday in a chartered flight from Libya.

As many as 114 Bangladeshi nationals returned home from Libya today, under the International Organization for Migration’s Voluntary Humanitarian Return Programme.

Remittances fell into a negative territory last month after showing a dazzling display in December and January.

At least nine African migrants drowned in a shipwreck off Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy on Monday, while another nine were rescued by the navy, the defence ministry said.

An Australian company has signed a deal to recruit IT professionals from Bangladesh.

The Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources has received 111,807 applications from foreigners applying to work in the country since the day the facility was inaugurated on February 15 until yesterday, reports Free Malaysia Today (FMT).

Bangladesh and Libya have shown interest in signing a memorandum of understanding on sending Bangladeshi workers to the North African country.

With 4.57 lakh workers hired from Bangladesh just last year, Saudi Arabia has been the top destination for Bangladeshi migrants for the past five years.

The body of one more Bangladeshi migrant, who was among the seven to have died from hypothermia while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to enter Italy illegally, arrived home today.

The body of a youth, one of the seven Bangladeshis who died from hypothermia on a boat carrying migrants while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to enter Europe illegally, arrived home today.

Recruiting agencies of both Bangladesh and Malaysia yesterday said they don’t want “syndication” in the process of sending Bangladeshi migrant workers to Southeast Asian countries.