Why do so many migrants die abroad?

As the number of our workers going to the Middle East in search of employment increases every year, so does the number of their deaths. According to data from the Wage Earners' Welfare Board under the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, the dead bodies of 18,166 migrant workers arrived in the country between 2018 and 2022. Among them, more than 20 percent – 3,698 of them – died in various workplace-related accidents, including fires, falling from buildings, electric shocks, road accidents, etc. The rest, as cited by the authorities of the destination countries, died of heart attacks, strokes, and other "natural" causes. While such an alarmingly high number of migrant worker deaths should have raised serious concern among Bangladeshi authorities here and in the destination countries, we have hardly seen them raise any questions in this regard.

In the past few years, there have been ample reports in the media revealing the inhumane conditions in which Bangladeshi migrants have to work in the Gulf countries. While the extremely high temperature in these countries often takes a toll on their overall health, many develop life-threatening diseases which eventually cost them their lives. The question is: if our workers die in the Gulf countries, having been subjected to the brutal living and working conditions, can the authorities in the destination countries call these "natural" deaths? And what could be their explanation for the deaths and torture of so many of our female migrant workers in these countries, particularly in Saudi Arabia? According to the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, the dead bodies of 404 women workers arrived in the country from the Gulf states between 2020 and 2022. The death certificates of 227 stated that they had died "natural" deaths. What is most curious is that almost all of them were below 40 years of age and had no prior health issues before leaving the country. The families of migrant workers have many unanswered questions about the untimely deaths of their loved ones, but no one to turn to for the answers.

We join the families and migrant rights activists in urging the authorities to seriously investigate these cases. The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) has demanded that the government conduct a second post-mortem in the cases of unnatural deaths, which the government should seriously consider. It can no longer turn a blind eye to the ever-increasing death toll and must seriously engage with the destination countries to address the precarious workplace conditions that are systematically putting the health and well-being of Bangladeshi workers at risk.