5.5 lakh migrant workers deported in last 10 years
Nearly 5.5 lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers were deported from different countries in the last 10 years, Shariful Hasan, head of Brac Migration Programme, said at a workshop yesterday.
Almost all of these migrant workers had become undocumented in those countries and travel passes were required for their return, he added.
He said the data was prepared based on statistics maintained by Prabashi Kalyan Desk -- set up at airports by Wage Earners Welfare Board -- and other government agencies, as accurate data on returning migrant workers is not available.
Shariful said in most cases, migrant workers returned because their visas expired and due to lack of job opportunities, physical and mental abuse, not getting promised job, illness, employing companies shutting down or going bankrupt, and failing to adapt to new environment.
“If we want to make their reintegration in society sustainable, we have to focus on their mental health and the skills that they have accumulated,” he said.
Brac Migration Programme and International Organization for Migration (IOM) Bangladesh held the workshop as part of a project called “Prottasha” at Brac Centre Inn in the capital.
Addressing the programme, IOM Bangladesh official Phineas Jasi said reintegration is an integral part of migration cycle and essential element for migrants returning to Bangladesh after years of absence from their families and society.
Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, additional secretary to Expatriates’ Welfare Ministry, said the government with help from IOM Bangladesh is preparing a database on returning migrant workers.
It will enable the government to provide better services to the returnees, he said, adding that they now have data on migrant workers going abroad.
“We don’t have information on how many of them returned,” he added.
Under the “Prottasha” project, a hotline service for migrant workers was launched at the programme.
Migrant workers will be able to get information by dialing +08000102030 (toll free) and +09610102030 (long code) from 7am to 11pm every day.
The “Prottasha” project is led by the government. IOM Bangladesh is implementing it in partnership with Brac, funded by the European Union.
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