Find migrant workers'cause of death

The government and the host countries must identify the real causes of  the deaths of so many Bangladeshi migrant workers, speakers told a media dialogue yesterday.

According to WARBE, more than 3,500 bodies of Bangladeshi migrant workers were sent back every year from different countries, but their causes of deaths could not be identified properly, said Faruque Ahmed, secretary general of WARBE.

The causes of their deaths should be identified through autopsies,he stressed at the programme organised by WARBE Development Foundation and The Daily Star in association with British Council at the capital's The Daily Star Centre.

Unnatural deaths, sexual abuse of female migrant workers, misbehaviour and wage issues were also needed to be highlighted in the upcoming ninth Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) to be held on December 8-12 in Dhaka, he said.

WARBE Chairman Syed Saiful Haque said the migrant workers were not treated well by the host countries, which should be addressed at the upcoming forum.

Blaming visa trading for increasing migration costs, Jabed Ahmed, additional secretary to the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry, said the issue should also be addressed.

“Media also has an important role in upholding the migrants' rights,” said Roksana Yasmin Suty, MP, the chief guest.

Shabarinath Nair, an advisor of migration and development at the Switzerland embassy in Bangladesh, said the government has to take necessary steps according to the recommendations to come from the GFMD.

A change of mindset is necessary to treat the migrants properly, said Syed Istiaq Reza, director of news and operation of Ekattor TV.

Mohammad Monirul Islam, director general of Multilateral Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Selim SH Chowdhury, general manager (production and events) of The Daily Star, Rahnuma Salam Khan, national programme officer of ILO in Bangladesh, and Catherine Cecil, team leader of PROKAS at British Council, also spoke.