Ethical recruitment of migrant workers is the answer
The commemoration of International Migration Day yesterday, December 18, has brought to the fore many pressing issues related to migration which has become more and more widespread than ever before. Migration is a product of globalisation and is a manifestation of the interconnectedness of the countries of the world in general. Thus problems related to migration are multifaceted and complex requiring sincere cooperation and partnerships. For Bangladesh particularly, the problems faced by migrant workers have become acute and require immediate attention.
According to reports, Bangladesh has not been able to practice ethical recruitment and has rather failed to stop the exploitation of workers seeking overseas employment by recruitment agencies. Where there should be a zero migration cost policy, in reality we have a situation where Bangladeshis pay exorbitant amounts of money just to secure a working visa to a foreign country. Bangladeshis pay many times the amount for an overseas employment compared to their counterparts from the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. This is because of the presence of illegal brokers dominating the sector with impunity. The consequence of uncontrolled activities of the manpower syndicates is already having a detrimental effect with countries reducing or even refusing altogether, Bangladeshi migrant workers. This is an ominous sign for Bangladesh which is heavily dependent on foreign remittance.
Apart from the high cost of recruitment, migrant workers become victims of fraud, bonded labour, sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation. The high number of cases of abuse of Bangladeshi women migrant workers in Saudi Arabia indicates the helplessness of these workers when they go abroad.
Obviously things cannot go on this way. The government must take stringent measures to stop illegal manpower brokers from operating, make sure that all migrant workers go abroad through legal channels, reduce the cost of recruitment (with a goal to eliminate the cost altogether in the future), facilitate training of migrant workers so they have better skills hence better jobs, and also negotiate with the recruiting countries so that the rights of the migrant workers are protected. In this regard our foreign missions must be more proactive and better equipped to help migrant workers when they are in distress. Ethical recruitment is the only way to ensure that our workers can reap the benefits of their hard earned labour which ultimately benefits the country.
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