Protect the migrants

Bangladesh has written to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, urging for measures to protect the rights of migrants being affected by the global coronavirus pandemic.

"We told the UN Secretary-General that migrants are an integral part of development for both sending and destination countries. If migrants are terminated without compensation and deported home, they and their families will be hit hard," Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said.

"It will be disastrous for them to be terminated. They need a cushioning period. So, we said if any of the migrants are to be sacked from jobs, they should be paid compensation equal to at least six months' salary," he told The Daily Star yesterday, referring to the letter last week.

He added that migrant remittance is crucial for their families who can improve their health and education, some of the most important goals set in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sudden termination without any compensation means the SDGs will stumble, he said.

There are some one crore Bangladeshi migrants working mostly in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. They sent home $18 billion in remittance last year, which is the second largest foreign exchange after the readymade garment sector.

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, global brands have cancelled readymade garment orders of more than $3 billion, raising concerns over the country's export earnings. The World Bank has, meanwhile, said the remittance may see 22 percent decline in Bangladesh this year because of decline in overseas jobs and already joblessness of those abroad.

Officials of the Bangladesh's foreign and expatriates' welfare ministries said there might be a few lakh Bangladeshis returning home in the coming months if the coronavirus situation does not improve. Already, there is a process of repatriating over 30,000 Bangladeshi migrants mostly in jail, deportation centres, and undocumented from the Middle Eastern countries.

Five regional rights bodies in Asia and the Middle East on June 1 issued a joint statement calling for establishing a transitional justice mechanism for the migrant workers.

In the statement, Migrant Forum in Asia, Lawyers Beyond Borders Network, Cross-Regional Centre for Migrants and Refugees, South Asian Trade Union Council, and Solidarity Center said millions of migrants could slip into poverty if they are repatriated without compensation.

Out of similar realisation, Bangladesh is trying to communicate with various regional and UN bodies.

During a recent virtual meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Bangladesh proposed creation of a common fund for the migrants affected by the new coronavirus.

Bangladesh also urged the migrant-receiving countries to make sure that the migrants get food and healthcare during the pandemic.

"Recently, we had communications with the Bahrain authorities. They said they won't force any migrant to return home. Also, the Saudi Arabian authorities said they are ensuring food and healthcare of the migrants," Momen said.

Turkey, which is a powerful member of the OIC, has endorsed Bangladesh's call for ensuring six months' salary in the case of job termination of the migrants, while supporting the proposal for creating a common fund for the migrants.

Some of the OIC members inquired how the fund could be created for the private sector migrants, the foreign minister said.

"We said our prime minister has shown the way. Readymade garment workers are working in the private sector. But she has declared Tk 5,000 crore stimulus package for them. The garment factory owners can take loans at a very low interest rate and pay the workers' dues," Momen said.

He added that some of the destination countries of the Middle East import food from other countries, but now they can go for producing food by employing the migrant workers in the farm sector.

"By this time, our migrants have proved in some of these countries how they have produced food crops. We said instead of sending the migrants back, they can re-deploy them in the farm sector because food shortage will be a major issue in the coming days," the foreign minister mentioned.