Ensuring rights of female migrant workers
According to the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, around 1.18 lakh women went abroad seeking employment in 2016. This constituted 16 percent of the total labour migration last year. Yet, as experts in a discussion organised by the Bangladesh Women Migrant Workers' Association on Wednesday pointed out, these women are largely ill-quipped to navigate the unfamiliar terrain they are faced with in foreign lands.
That Bangladeshi migrant workers, especially women, face hardships and human rights abuses is undisputed. From being victims of extortion by unscrupulous agents, and of physical or sexual violence by employers' abroad, they are often left without a helpline. Experts at the discussion rightly pointed towards the need for capacity building and orientation for them. Training in relevant skills, basic language proficiency, and a general awareness of the process and rights could go a long way in curbing the extent to which these women are swindled or harmed.
But, we must point out that besides capacity building for female job seekers, the ministry must step up its efforts. The ministry has already started a helpline for these workers. But we still hear of cases where workers are not allowed mobile phones by their employers. Given that we have memorandums of understanding with the labour-receiving countries, our ministry and consulates there must work towards ensuring compliance. If there are repeated human rights violations, then the host country should be involved in the process and exemplary punishment should be ensured for the violators.
There have been suggestions of legalising the middlemen in recruitment to make them accountable and ensuring that all workers have phones. Capacity building and ministry efforts must be given priority. These women, through remittances, help build our economy. It is shameful and a failure on our part if we cannot ensure their safety.
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