Policy actions can aid reintegration of returnee migrants

The return and reintegration of migrants is an integral part of the migration cycle. Effective reintegration refers to the successful reintegration of returning workers into their families, communities, the economy, and society in a safe and dignified manner after achieving their migration objectives overseas.

The reintegration process enables individuals to secure and sustain political, economic, social, and psychosocial conditions needed to maintain life, livelihood, and dignity in the country and community they return to, in full respect of their civil, political, economic, labour, social, and cultural rights. This includes targeted measures that enable returnee migrants to have access to justice, social protection, financial services, healthcare, education, family life, an adequate standard of living, decent work, and protection against discrimination, stigma, arbitrary detention, and all forms of violence. All this allows returnees to feel that they are in an environment of personal safety, economic empowerment, inclusion, and social cohesion.

Sustainable reintegration calls for a holistic and needs-based response at the individual, community, and structural levels. After the return, the sustainable reintegration of migrants is fundamental. The benefits that accrue to the country of origin through reintegrated returnees are immense. Bangladesh is no exception to that. Returnee migrants bring knowledge, resources, finance, and their global networks into Bangladesh, and they must be recognised as assets for the country. The support for safer migration management will contribute to a stable and economically as well as socially inclusive Bangladesh.

Remittance from migrant workers is the second-largest contributor to Bangladesh's GDP, as far as forex is concerned. However, little has been done so far to make the remittances of migrants sustainable so that they do not have to re-migrate. Every year, a large number of migrant Bangladeshis return from overseas. According to the Population and Housing Census Report 2022 of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, around 4,66,000 workers returned to Bangladesh in the previous two years. An effective regulatory framework is absent for the socioeconomic reintegration of returnee migrants, and there appears to be no obligation of service providers—in particular the public sector—to this group of migrants. In addition, female returnee migrants face stigma from their families and communities due to the perceived or real sexual exploitation of female migrants.

Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment has drafted a specific policy on returnee migrants. The draft policy has incorporated provisions for introducing a returnee database, setting up one-stop centres, and developing a referral mechanism for employment. The mission is to ensure effective and accountable governance of a comprehensive and gender-responsive reintegration programme, in collaboration and cooperation with relevant stakeholders to secure the rights, protection, and welfare of migrants and their families, while creating opportunities to engage them as equal partners in the development process of Bangladesh.

Apart from the draft policy, a project titled "Recovery and Advancement of Informal Sector Employment: Reintegration of Returning Migrants," funded jointly by the government and development partners, has been launched to serve two lakh returnee migrants. Through this project, each returnee migrant will receive a financial incentive of Tk 13,500, orientation and counselling, while 23,500 returnee migrants will be awarded skills certificates on Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

Despite the above institutional measures, challenges remain in integrating relevant stakeholders and service providers into the same platform and taking a holistic approach to reintegration. In this regard, adequate financial resources, coupled with a motivated and competent workforce, are needed. The major challenges to effective and sustainable reintegration include: lack of data on returnee migrants and their diverse skills, needs, and aspirations; limited targeted institutional and gender-responsive economic, social, and psychosocial support services; limited awareness; the social stigma associated with women migrants; lack of financial literacy and remittance management among migrants; absence of mechanisms for properly identifying the needs of vulnerable returnee migrants and victims of trafficking; and a lack of coordination in linking returnees to government and non-government service providers.

Whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches will have to be adopted to effectively implement the draft reintegration policy when it comes to implementation. Effective coordination mechanisms, and engaging multi-level stakeholders, need to be established in that direction. Public sector partnerships with civil society, NGOs, development partners, and private sector employers would yield a better result for the sustainable reintegration of returnee Bangladeshis. A well-developed, integrated, and resourceful institutional framework along with a time-bound action plan of reintegration will help returnees mainstream in society and involve them in the development process of the country with dignity.

Dr Nasim Ahmed holds a PhD in public policy from Ulster University in the UK, and is currently working as associate professor at Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management. Reach him at nasim.ahmed@bigm.edu.bd

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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