Connecting with migrants the key
Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque yesterday said connecting with lower-skilled migrant workers living in different countries is important to resolve many of their problems.
“The issue that we are missing out on is connecting with the migrants. Our interventions, our ideas, our exercises are somehow not aligning with the migrant workers, especially those of lower-skilled category,” he said.
He was addressing a sensitisation workshop on “Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM)” at the InterContinental Dhaka hotel, organised by Bangladesh UN Network on Migration in coordination with the government.
The foreign secretary said migrants of the skilled category are well connected and they can mostly take care of the issues they come across.
The GCM, with 23 objectives, is an inter-governmentally negotiated agreement on a common approach to international migration in all its dimensions.
Though non-legally binding, the Compact provides a strong platform for cooperation on migration.
The foreign secretary said crisis regarding migration was often created by one country but everyone’s effort is needed to resolve them.
He stressed for a strengthened role of the United Nations in resolving global migration crisis, including those related to the Rohingyas.
Referring to a forecast of The Economist, he said Bangladesh might be a major destination country for migrants by 2022.
At present, about 1,00,000 foreign nationals are working in Bangladesh, he said.
The foreign secretary said a fundamental shift in approach in the government as well as civil society is needed to ensure the rights of migrant workers.
Addressing the workshop, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo said efforts have to be made so that global human trafficking can be prevented.
Also it has to be ensured that migrant workers’ rights are protected through implementation of the GCM objectives, Seppo added.
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Bangladesh Chief of Mission Giorgi Gigauri said they are working in line with the GCM to align it with the government’s eighth five-year plan.
In addition, they are also working to support the government in its other development initiatives.
Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, additional secretary of the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, said there is an “invisible element” which is responsible for high migration cost in Bangladesh.
The ministry is working to minimise it and also to combat human trafficking, he said.
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