Hold ‘dalals’ liable for malpractices: speakers
Speakers at a discussion yesterday said the government needs to recognise intermediaries, locally known as "dalal", by bringing changes to laws to hold them accountable for malpractices in the country's labour migration sector.
They said the intermediaries are mostly responsible for irregularities and high migration costs and their presence is rampant at different tiers of the recruitment process, but inadequate government initiatives have left them unaccountable.
Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) in association with Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) organised the discussion on "Review of Migration-Related Policies and Laws: Perspective of Human Rights, Labour Rights and Women Rights" at The Daily Star Centre.
Presenting a research paper, BILS Deputy Director (research) Manirul Islam said the government should review the Overseas Employment and Migration Act-2013, as the law does not recognise intermediaries.
Manirul said the country's other major migration-related legal instruments, including the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act-2012 and Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Policy-2016 should also be reviewed to ensure "consistency and coherence" among the laws and policies.
Presence of the intermediaries could be seen from rural areas to the offices of recruitment agents in Dhaka, said Israfil Alam, chairman of Bangladesh National Parliamentarians' Caucus on Migration and Development.
However, they do not have any accountability. They neither exist in law nor do they abide by any code of conduct or policy, he said while chairing the discussion.
Israfil said although they have repeatedly urged recruitment agents to provide intermediaries with identity cards, the agents did not comply with such requests. "The government also failed to hold them accountable."
Migrant workers and their families will not be able to reap benefits as long as middlemen or intermediaries are not held accountable for their activities, he said, adding that migration cost in Bangladesh is among the highest in the world.
Israfil, an Awami League lawmaker, said the government should undertake an initiative promoting the slogan "employers' pay model", in which all migration costs will be borne by foreign employers.
Pointing to the migration sector's contribution to the country's economy, MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam said everybody -- including government and non-government stakeholders working in the sector -- has a common goal, which is to ensure safe and dignified migration.
On the plight of female migrant workers, she said female workers are returning home regularly and telling harrowing stories.
"We have to deal with this more seriously," she said, adding that the government should continuously hold dialogues with receiving countries, to make them follow their own laws and other international legal instruments while dealing with Bangladeshi workers.
Proper implementation of policies and agreements can end sufferings of female migrant workers, said BILS Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan.
He alleged those who are entitled to implement the laws lack the capacity to do so.
Laetitia Weibel Roberts, the chief technical advisor of International Labour Organisation's Programme Office in Dhaka, said her organisation has been providing technical support to the Bangladesh government to ensure safe and orderly migration.
Addressing the event as chief guest, Additional Secretary to Expatriates' Welfare Ministry Khadiza Begum said the ministry is committed to bringing changes in the laws and modernise those in the changing context of labour migration sector.
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