UAE open to migrant workers again
We welcome the recent lift of a six-year-long ban on recruitment of Bangladeshis to the UAE. An MoU between officials of the two countries has sealed the deal which will allow jobseekers to apply for employment in the Emirates.
It is especially reassuring that under this MoU workers will get contracts stating job description, salary and other benefits such as food, accommodation and transport. This will hopefully provide better protection to the migrant workers.
The agreement and the lifting of the ban will, no doubt, be a great relief to many jobseekers who were deprived of the opportunity to work abroad. The ban, imposed in 2012, was mainly because of malpractices in the labour recruitment sector by brokers and agents, a problem that we have continually been plagued with.
While this renewed agreement gives us hope that all Bangladeshi jobseekers seeking employment in the UAE will be recruited legally and with proper contracts that will safeguard their rights, we urge Bangladesh's expatriates' welfare ministry to ensure that no more irregularities can emerge in the recruitment process. Female migrant workers especially, must be protected from fraud, sexual harassment and abuse as has been the case in numerous occasions in the past. Our government must clamp down on unscrupulous brokers and agents who deceive unsuspecting jobseekers into paying huge sums of money with the promise of lucrative jobs abroad only to trap them into low-paying, exploitative jobs. Often these migrant workers find themselves as undocumented when they reach their destination and are at risk of being deported or imprisoned.
It is crucial therefore that the concerned ministries in both countries work together to make sure that all recruitments are documented, legal and based on contracts that will ensure that Bangladeshi workers are not exploited in any way. This will obviously be of mutual benefit.
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