Measures to stop migrant workers' harassment urged

The decline in overseas employment in recent months and harassment of migrant workers are not a result of the ongoing global financial meltdown, rather in most cases it is caused by indifferent recruiting agencies, a dialogue in Dhaka was told yesterday.
Speakers pointed out that migrant workers have to pass through difficult situations in receiving countries mainly because of the failure of recruiting agencies to manage jobs as promised and negligence of Bangladesh missions abroad.
Action Aid Bangladesh organised the discussion on Economic Recession: Fate of Bangladeshi Migrant Workers at the Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium in the capital.
In his keynote paper, Zoynal Abedin Joy, chairman of International Migrants Alliance (IMA) Research Foundation, said around 32,000 cheated migrant workers have been deported mainly from Malaysia, Dubai, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during January-March this year.
He said the number of deaths of migrant workers in receiving countries have also increased to 635 in the period, which raised concerns.
“The government should take the situation seriously, as migrant workers are important forces of our national economy,” he said.
Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid, said the expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry should ensure the well-being of the migrant workers abroad.
“The government should take immediate measures to strengthen diplomatic relations with more countries to explore new destinations for our migrant workers,” she said
Representatives from Bangladesh Ovibasi Mahila Sramik Association and Shikkha Shastha Unnyan Karjakram, migrant workers organizations also spoke on the occasion.