Institutional reform and accountability for labour migration

The contribution of labour migrants at the household and community levels as well as in the national economy is widely acknowledged.  At the macro level remittances of migrants play an important role for comfortable reserves of foreign exchange. This, in turn, has help make up the trade deficit and shore up balance of payments, thus contributing to overall macroeconomic stability. The country's economy remained steady in the face of the global economic crisis of 2008-2009, thanks to the steady flow of remittances.
Remittances play an important role in the economic development of the rural community. By creating increased employment opportunities and income migration plays an important role in poverty alleviation efforts of migrant households. Migrants' remittance is an important source of capital to small farms. Investment from remittances creates local employment. Increased consumption expenditure by migrant households prompts investment of other households.
Studies have shown that short-term contract international migration reduces poverty at the family level and because of the size of remittances its potential to reduce poverty is higher than internal migration. As education and health care receive high priority in spending of remittances migration also contributes to human capital formation. Scholars have noted that “migration and remittances in Bangladesh have emerged as dominant factors in household incomes, consumption and savings” and that “migration has replaced agriculture as the most important source of household income, thus contributing to the migrant household's social and economic development”.
HEIS, 2010 survey informs that the income, consumption and savings per household of remittance receivers have far exceeded that of households who do not receive remittances. Moreover, the poverty head count rates of remittance receiving households are 61 per cent lower than those of households who do not receive remittances. Only 13.1 per cent of the remittance-receiving households were below the poverty line in 2010, compared with 33.6 per cent of the non-receiving households and the 31.5 per cent national average poverty incidence.
A Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) survey (2011) found Investment of remittances in small and medium enterprises by returnee migrants and left behind families of migrants has increasingly become more pronounced and visible. Migrants' remittances are found to be playing an important role in modernizing agriculture through purchase of hybrid seeds, fertilizer and insecticide. More enterprising ones invest remittances in irrigation pumps and power tillers. Many successful migrant entrepreneurs or family members invest in a range of enterprises such as fish or poultry farms, leasing in ponds, setting up of rice, flour or spice grinding mills and the like.
While there are major gains from migration at the household, community and national levels, such gains sometimes come with a cost. The poorer migrants are often vulnerable to low, non- or irregular payment of wages; unsafe and hazardous work conditions, poor living conditions, inadequate health-care provisions and little access to procedure. The women migrants, particularly those who work in the domestic sector are often subjected to mistreatment and abuse. In the absence of migrants the elderly may have to bear the additional burden of raising the children left behind. Sometime those children may drop out of school and become social outcasts. At the household level there is evidence that access to remittances reduces incentives for migrant families to generate their own income and employment.
Over the last decade and a half one witnesses increased recognition

of contribution of labour migrants to the national economy by the state. This has resulted in a series of legislative and institutional measures including creation of separate Ministry for Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment in 2001, the framing of Overseas Employment Policy 2006 (that is being currently revised), the establishment of the Migrant Welfare Bank in 2011, the enactment of the Overseas Employment and Migrant Welfare Act of 2013 that replaced the 1982 Overseas Employment and Emigration Act and the like. These were important landmarks in the governance architecture of the labour migration sector in Bangladesh.
While it is too early to assess their impact, all these initiatives have generally received positive endorsement of the civil society organizations involved migrants' rights and welfare. It is in this context of protection and promotion of rights of migrants that this paper proposes a few institutional initiatives that may be taken up by the government. These include establishment of a separate cadre service for overseas employment, focusing on quality skills training and the making Wage Earners' Welfare Fund relevant to migrants' welfare.
The Standing Committee (PSC) on Overseas Employment and Expatriates' Welfare of the 10th Parliament recommended setting up of a separate cadre service for those dealing with labour migrants. In order to develop and retain expertise of civil servants working in this sector RMMRU made the proposal to the PSC when it was invited to a special hearing of the Committee in 2011. The proposal was made in view of labour migration being a complex subject and there is a whole range of issues that the government functionaries need to develop their expertise and understanding on. A number of government offices (the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), District Employment and Manpower Offices (DEMOs), Technical Training Centres (TTCs), the office of the Labour Attaches in the Bangladesh missions) are involved in regulating and providing services to aspirant migrants before departure, migrants on transit and at the countries of destination, and returnee migrants upon return to home country. These services range from providing information to migrants, their registration, regulating recruiting agencies, imparting skills training and pre-departure orientation, issuance of clearance certificate after emigration clearance, rendering protection services, offering consular and welfare services in the countries of destination, investigating complaints against agents and their representatives, exploration of labour market and the like.
Often the tasks are inter-related and the public representatives take time to develop necessary skills in providing the above range of services. On many occasions they are imparted with specialised training both at home and abroad that are time and resource consuming. Dealing with a category of people who have been termed by the ILO as the 'most vulnerable of world's labour force' require constant upgrading of knowledge and skills on the one hand, and empathy and motivation, on the other.
Past experiences have informed that valuable skills, knowledge and expertise are lost when civil servants are posted out of the concerned ministry. It is imperative that appropriate measures are taken for the retention of officials who gain important insights and know-how in dealing with labour migration sector. Once a separate cadre service is instituted instead of being removed from the sector altogether they may be posted in the concerned ministry, the line agency - the BMET, TTCs, DEMOs or in the offices of the Labour Attaches.
In order to meet the administrative needs if specialised cadre services can be created for other sectors there is no reason that why a separate cadre service cannot be established for those dealing with labour migrants. It is imperative that the policy makers give due consideration to this recommendation made by the concerned PSC of the 10th Parliament.
Bangladesh's migrant labour force mainly comprises of low-skilled workers. They constituted more than 73 percent of the total number of workers who migrated in 2013. Included among them were construction and plantation workers, cleaners and porters. Domestic work has been the prime occupation of women migrants. Although low in overall number, semi skilled and skilled Bangladeshi workers find employment in manufacturing, marine and construction industries. Apparel manufacturing, in the Gulf region and in Southeast Asian countries, have also drawn both male and female workers.
There is a general recognition that low skilled workers are subjected to high migration costs and are vulnerable to low pay, ill treatment and various other forms of abuse. Skilled workers not only secure much higher pay but in countries like Singapore enjoy the security of longer-term employment. The protection needs of the skilled workers are also minimal. In challenging situations the latter is generally equipped to seek redress both at the countries of origin and destination.
Over the years, countries like the Philippines and Sri Lanka have been able to reduce their dependency on low skilled to skilled labour. This has resulted in secured protection for migrants as well as improved earning capacities. Proper planning and better appreciation of future labour needs of the destination countries contributed to their success in making such a shift. There are important lessons that can be learnt from those countries.
So far Bangladesh has given a lot of emphasis to infrastructure development of training facilities. The country has 38 technical training centres and 10 more are ready to be operationalised. The TTCs are turning out three times their capacity of 20,000 per year. Last year not even a single training of trainers was held. In many TTCs it is instructors who are running the institutions due to lack of recruitment of principals. Besides, these institutions suffer from a whole range of problems that include dated courses and curricula, lack of appropriate equipment and expertise, and retirement of staff without being replaced by suitable persons. Time has come to lay emphasis on the types and quality of courses and curricula, and refresher and higher training of trainers.
Under such circumstances, focus has to be directed to improved quality of training in trades that are in demand both domestically as well as internationally. Research needs to be conducted to examine the experiences of the Philippines that has successfully made a switch from low skilled migrants to skilled migrants. As a pilot project a handful of TTCs may be selected to offer courses on trades that are in demand internationally such as that of welding, steel fabrication and glass fabrication. Appropriate curricula are to be designed by resource persons who are qualified and has the necessary experience in the trades. Master trainers may be appointed from countries like the Philippines, Thailand, and India to impart training on local trainers in trades that are in demand. TTCs may be brought under link programmes with institutions that are offering Technical and Further Education and bilateral assistance may be solicited to support such link programmes from countries that show interest in taking skilled personnel from this country. The technical assistance of the ILO may be solicited to chart out a detailed plan of action to enhance the capacity of the TTCs in specialised trades.
Globally hospitality and tourism industry is undergoing rapid development creating major demands for young people with soft skills. There is a strong case for investing in and upgrading the Hospitality Training Centre of Bangladesh Tourism Corporation and creating satellite training centres in each divisions. Again technical assistance from ILO and UNDP may be solicited for improving the training facilities. The government should also create enabling environment for public-private partnership in establishing modern training facilities that will offer courses at a level enjoying accreditation of reputed institutions.

Changing demography in the developed west and Japan and rising middle class in other parts of the world have given rise to the creation of demands of health care professionals and care givers. Existing training facilities and medical colleges are yet to develop appropriate curricula and courses to prepare a workforce to meet this burgeoning market. The concerned ministries should co-ordinate their actions and, if need be, partner with the private sector, to access this segment of the labour market.
Over the years, the government of Bangladesh has been collecting fees from the migrant workers under the scheme, Wage Earners' Welfare Fund. The idea of setting of such a fund was mooted following the first Iraq war and the resultant exodus of tens of thousands of Bangladeshis. The government acutely felt the need for a reserve resource to finance bringing back Bangladeshi workers stranded in Jordan, Kuwait and other Gulf states at the time. This led to the creation of the WEWF.
As the title suggests the fund is targeted for the welfare of labour migrants. Constituted in 1990 the fund is generated through collection of a fee from the outbound migrant workers, 10 percent of the service charge on consular fees and entire amount of attestation fees collected from the employers by Bangladesh missions abroad. Initially migrants were charged Taka 100. Subsequently, the figure was raised to Taka 1000 for non-attested visa and Taka 1300 for attested visa. In 2013, without offering explanation the government raised the figures to Taka 2000 and Taka 2500 for the two types of visas respectively. Quite a large amount of money has been amassed under the WEWF. It may be noted that 95 percent of the Tk. 100 crore capital of the Migrants' Welfare Bank was sourced from this Fund.
RMMRU Migration Trends and Challenges Report (2013) informs that between 2005 and 2013 an amount of more than Tk. 550 crore should have been raised only through collecting registration fees from migrants at the rate of Tk.1150 per worker. The figure does not take into account the 10 percent consular fees and the attestation fees generated by the missions. BMET figures inform that during the corresponding period Tk.37.12 crore was spent to meet burial costs of migrants who passed away and another Tk.49.31 crore was distributed among relatives of the deceased migrants. These are the two expenditure accounts through which migrants and their families were directly benefitted from the WEWF. In other words, after offsetting such expenditures the Fund should have a reserve of more than Tk. 463 crore for the 2005-2013 period.
The missions incur two other types of expenditures with resources from this fund that may be considered as justified. Some missions provide one time subsistence relief (an amount of 50 rials in Saudi Arabia) to the migrants in distress situation from this Fund. A few other missions pay for salary of staff members who provide legal assistance to migrants in destination countries. This expense is incurred from the WEWF on grounds that migrants are benefitted from such services. There is a case to argue however whether it is justified to charge the Fund for the salary of staff members of missions that should have been covered from the revenue budget of the government instead.
There is strong perception among civil society organizations that the Fund has been unjustifiably used for interior decoration of the ministry offices and purchase of its furniture, labour market exploration visits of senior functionaries, purchase of cars, paying of tour bills of the Labour Attaches, celebration of important national days and paying of per diem to the members attending Board meetings of the Fund (which incidentally has witnessed a raise from Tk. 500 to Tk. 5000).
It is pertinent to note that recently major changes have been brought about in the management of the WEWF. The Director General of BMET has been appointed the ex-officio Managing Director. A post of full-time Deputy Managing Director has been created along with three directors. One joint secretary and three deputy secretaries have been entrusted to operationlise the decisions of the Board of the Fund that was earlier run by the Director, Welfare of the BMET. It is important to note that salaries of all these officials are sourced from the WEWF itself. It is not known if such a major re-structuring of the management configuration was guided by any particular reason. In hindsight, one may conclude that such beefing up of the administration of the WEWF has not been accompanied by any visible output in the form of improved welfare services to the migrants and their family members.
If the above understanding and perceptions on the utilization of the WEWF are true then there is a strong case to contend that the Fund is not being properly administered. It is principally generated through the subscription of migrant workers and should be used only for their welfare purposes. There is no scope to use the Fund as a reserve fund for the Ministry or the BMET for purposes that should have been covered by the budgetary allocation of the government. The Board needs to be mindful of the fact that it is simply the custodian of migrants' money and be accountable to the general public on every expense made from the Fund.

In order to offset any misunderstanding about the utilization of the WEWF the government should immediately publish full details of the earnings and expenditure under various heads sustained since its creation. The audit reports of the Fund should also be made public. The Board of the Fund should desist from allocating resources for any purpose that are not directly beneficial to migrants or members of their families, and should strictly abstain from authorizing any expenses for purpose that should have been covered by the development or revenue budgets of the government. In order to avoid further depletion of the Fund the government should immediately set up a Committee to revise the modalities for the utilization of the WEWF and its effective oversight. Such a committee should include representatives of migrants, migrant support organizations and eminent persons.
Over the last few decades labour migration governance architecture in Bangladesh has come a long way. Under successive governments legislative and institutional structures were put in place to streamline the sector. In order to remain competitive in the ever-changing global labour market Bangladesh needs to further hone its administrative capacity in dealing with overseas employment affairs. It is in this context this paper argues for active consideration of the government to set up a separate cadre service. Recognising the fact that skilled migration enhances protection while increasing earnings of migrants, the paper urges for a shift in emphasis from infrastructure development to quality of skills training. The concept of WEWF of Bangladesh has worked as a model for other labour sending countries. The paper calls for bringing an end to questionable practices in the utilization of the Fund and calls for accountability, transparency and stakeholders' control over this Fund.

The author teaches International Relations and coordinates the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, University of Dhaka.