Call to stop harassment of migrant workers in Malaysia
Speakers at a press conference yesterday demanded an end to harassment and corruption in sending workers to Malaysia.
They demanded punishment to the corrupt government officials and recruitment agencies for their treacherous activities to the hapless migrant workers.
The speakers placed a 6-point demand at the press conference organised by Bangladesh Development Partnership Centre (BDPC) at Dhaka Reporters' Unity auditorium in the city.
They also urged government to take an effective initiative to return the illegal migrants and trafficked people who are confined in different jails and detention camps in Malaysia for carrying forged documents.
BDPC Director Sharif A Kafi said several recruiting agencies in connivance with some corrupt government officials of both the countries are engaged in forgery of passports and other documents.
These unscrupulous groups are also competing for securing job demand letters from Malaysia, he added.
He demanded withdrawal of the officials of Bangladesh high commission's labour wing from Kuala Lumpur due to their inefficient handling of migrant workers there.
Sharif said, “Withdrawal of these officials from the spot is very essential, otherwise they can easily mislead investigations.”
He emphasised the importance of forming a task force and more investigation to wipe out such corrupt people from the sector.
He said, “Plight of cheated Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia is long-standing and the corrupt and responsible officials are still operating their unholy business smoothly.”
BDPC conducted an investigation on the status of illegal migrants in Malaysia. In most cases, the probe body found these hapless workers, either cheated by recruiting agencies or manpower agents at home or employers abroad, he mentioned.
He further said that a good number of these poor job seekers lost everything in the process. On many occasions, they were landed in jails mainly due to fraudulent activities of the manpower agents.
Shahriar Rahman, Akhtarin Khayer Tanim and Ruma Das of BDPC and labour leaders Amirul Haque Amin and Jahangir Alam took part in the programme.
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