Recruitment system of migrant workers should be revamped
The country's recruitment system for sending workers abroad requires a thorough reform, said Salim Reza, full-time member of National Human Rights Commission, yesterday.
"I don't think the [current] piecemeal system is providing any significant progress," he said.
He was addressing a consultation on "Regularisation of Sub-agents for Ensuring Fair and Ethical Recruitment Practices" organised by Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) with support of ILO and UN Women at a city hotel.
The event was organised to create recommendations for a set of rules to be formulated by the government for the registration of sub-agents and specifying their roles and responsibilities in the labour migration sector.
Earlier this year, the government amended the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act, recognising sub-agents who work at the grassroots.
Salim Reza, a former secretary of expatriates' welfare ministry and former director general of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), said he has been working on developing a model for the recruitment system based on his own experience, adding that he would disclose the model later.
Addressing the event as chief guest, he pointed to the high number of workers migrating abroad this year and said the government must have a monitoring system to ensure their wellbeing.
"Over 12 lakh people have migrated. Did we monitor how they are doing?" he said, adding that hundreds of Bangladeshis have been facing jobless situations in Saudi Arabia.
He said aspirant migrants must undergo compulsory training at home and that the country also has to shift towards skilled migration from unskilled migration.
On formulating the rules for sub-agents, he said the government must ensure "balance" by upholding workers' rights and specifying the roles and responsibilities of the expatriates' welfare ministry and BMET.
At the event, RMMRU came up with a proposed model for the registration of sub-agents that says BMET should be the registering authority while the names of sub-agents should come from recruiting agencies.
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