Female expat workers need protection

The Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment minister's comments that our female workers in Saudi Arabia are returning due to language problems and food habits, amount to virtual denial of the reality on the ground. Can one overlook the hundreds of cases of women who have been forced to return with marks of physical abuse while being employed in that country? To state that these women have been making "false statements" is appalling and goes to show that the authorities have opted to disregard the human rights abuse that our workers have to endure in foreign lands which has forced as many as 1,500 Bangladeshi women to return home prematurely over the last six months.

This paper has published many reports about the pathetic conditions that many of our female workers face in the Middle East which include physical torture, sexual abuse and even rape. We have repeatedly urged authorities to take measures through our embassies in those countries to address the plight of our workers, but little has changed. Now with the minister coming out in the parliament with the rather incomprehensible explanation about our women workers abroad, what hope is there for Bangladeshi women workers to get protection from their government?

It is ironic that while other Asian countries like Indonesia and the Philippines have stopped sending female workers to these countries because of their own experiences, we continue to encourage more women to go work there. Concrete action should be taken by our authorities to work with the Saudi authorities to ensure workers' rights. And if that can't be done, we should reconsider the decision to send our women workers to face suffering and degradation.