Workshop on National Plan of Action (NPA) on Migration in the Light of Relevant Laws and Policies and Inauguration of Grievance Receiving Center at BMET
Migrants’ rights campaigners, recruiting agents and government officials have called for taking combined efforts of all of the stakeholders to ensure safe, orderly and dignified migration from Bangladesh.
They made the call while speaking at a workshop on “National Plan of Action (NPA) on Migration in the Light of Relevant Laws and Policies” at the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training Conference Room on Sunday.
WARBE Development Foundation organized the workshop, which was attended by returnee migrants, their family members, migration researchers, lawyers and representatives from various government and non-government organizations.
Speaking as chief guest BMET director general Md Salim Reza said that they were working to make the migration services easier and reach services to the people’s doorsteps through decentralization of different activities.
‘We are committed to protect the migrant workers from getting cheated,’ he said, adding that the national action plans which would be prepared with suggestions of the stakeholders would be implemented to ensure welfare to the migrant workers at home and abroad.
Declaring himself as ‘reform-oriented man’ Salim Reza said that he already set vision to turn the BMET into a number one department, improve the training facilities of the technical training centers and also ensure safe migration.
BMET director Nurul Islam who moderated the workshop said that the national plan of action must be time bound and all stakeholders must work jointly to solve the problems of the migrant workers.
‘Our main concern is to reduce the migration cost for the outbound workers,’ he said.
WARBE development foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque said that it was urgently necessary to formulate the national plan of action for safe and orderly migration and ensure its proper implementation.
‘The recruiting agencies who are major stakeholders must take their responsibility to ensure migration,’ he said, adding that all concerned should take efforts to help ensure zero cost migration for the workers.
INAFI Bangladesh executive director Atiqul Nabi said that a comfortable situation should be created for Bangladesh migrants with ensuring safe, orderly and dignified migration from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies ‘ joint secretary general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said that due to lack of skills, Bangladeshi migrants were getting lower wages abroad although they were paying the higher cost of migration in comparing cost with other sending countries.
Bangladesh Data Management and Research Center’ Chief Executive Officer Aminul Islam Monju said that Bangladeshi migrants in the Middle East countries were facing many problems and they were also paid lower wages than it offered before the departure.
WARBE development foundation director Jasiya Khatoon who presented keynote said that there were so many challenges for safe migration governance in the country.
Challenges include lack of safe migration information, existence of middlemen, less skill migration, sponsor or kafala system in gulf countries, visa trading, high cost of migration, lack protection measures for migrants, lack of re-integration, lack access to justice and weakness implementing laws, she said.
