TU-CSO Platform on Migration Preparatory Meeting with parliamentarians Caucus

31 January, 2021

The Parliamentarians’ Caucus on Migration and Development & WARBE Development Foundation organized with the support of PROKAS, British Council the consultative meeting prior to the 13th GFMD Summit. “The Future of Human Mobility: Innovative Partnerships for Sustainable Development” Them of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) 2020 will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 18-24 January 2021. The Bangladesh Parliamentarians’ Caucus on Migration and Development jointly with WARBE Development Foundation, supported by PROKAS, British Council organized a pre-GFMD National Consultation virtually on 5th January 2021. H.E. Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen, MP, Honorable Foreign Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs was present in the consultation as Chief Guest. Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mr. Benjir Ahmed, MP, President, Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) was present as Special Guests. The virtual consultation was Moderated and Chaired by Barrister Shamim Haider Patwary, MP, Chairperson, the Bangladesh Parliamentarians’ Caucus on Migration and Development. Ms. Mahjabeen Khaled, Secretary-General of the Caucus provided the welcome statement and introduced the engagement of the Caucus at the National and International levels. Closing Remarks delivered by the Co-chairperson of the Caucus Advocate Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia. The voice of the Civil Society was represented by Dr. CR Abrar, Chair Bangladesh Civil Society for Migrants (BCSM) and Executive Director, RMMRU, Mr. Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, General Secretary, BAIRA Represented Private Sector. Mr. Gerry Fox, Team Leader, PROKAS, British Council and Ms. Nazia Haider, Programme Manager-Safer Migration, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Bangladesh were speaking as Guest of Honor. The tone of the consultation was set by Mr. Md. Shahidul Haque, Former Foreign Secretary, Advisor IOM-Bangladesh and Honorary Fellow of the North-South University as a Guest of Honor. Mr. Nazrul Islam, DG (MEA), MoFA provided an overview of GFMD, and the discussion on thematic areas of GFMD 2020 was moderated by Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation. The Consultation Participated by the Representatives from the Bangladesh Parliamentarians’ Caucus on Migration and Development, relevant Ministries, Government Officials along with the Representatives from NGOs, CSOs, Academics, Researchers, UN Agencies, Development Partners, Networks, Trade Unions, Migrants, Media, and Private Sector. Mr. Md. Shahidul Haque, Former Foreign Secretary, Government of Bangladesh, Advisor IOM-Bangladesh and Honorary Fellow of theNorth South University, Setting the Tone of the Consultation with a Vivid Presentation touched all the Responses and Actions of Migration through Covid-19 Pandemic and Future Discussions of UAE GFMD 2020 “The Future of Human Mobility: Innovative Partnerships for Sustainable Development”. The Panel Discussant on Thematic Areas: i. The Governance of Labor Migration in the Context of Changing Employment Landscapes were discussed in terms of the future work potential were addressed by Ms. Shahreen Munir, Head – Migration Governance Unit, IOM and Head – Secretariat, Bangladesh UN Network on Migration (BDUNNM) & Ms. Shirin Lira, Sr. IBP Manager and Gender & Social Inclusion Adviser, PROKAS, British Council. ii. Skilling Migrants for Employment were covered by Mr. Shakirul Islam, Chairman, Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP). iii. Leveraging New Technologies to Empower Migrants were focused by Mr. Syeed Ahamed, CEO, Institute of Informatics and Development (IID) iv. Addressing Gaps in Migrant Protection were discussed by Ms. Farida Yeasmin, Director, Bangladesh Ovibashi Mohila Sramik Association (BOMSA), and Ms. Sumaiya Islam, Executive Director, Bangladesh Nari Sramik Kendra (BNSK). v. Discussing Approaches to Address Irregular Migration were focused by Ms. Marina Sultana, Director Program, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) and Ms. Jasiya Khatoon, Director, WARBE Development Foundation; the speakers discussed which approaches has the potential to work and what can be done in the future. vi. Fostering Partnerships to Realise Migration-Related Goals in the Sustainable Development Agenda and Managing the Future of Human Mobility were addressed by Mr. Shariful Islam Hasan, Programme Head, BRAC Migration Programme. Mr. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation Moderated the Discussion.

26 January, 2021

WARBE Development Foundation along with Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF) a Migrants Rights Network in Bangladesh observed the International Migrants Day (IMD) on 18th December 2020 with a “Rally and Human Chain” in front of Bangladesh National Press Club, Dhaka. The Rally and Human Chain were formed by representatives from CSOs, Trade Unions, Migrants Returnees, and Migrants Family Members. Leaders from BOMSA, BOAF, and WARBE Spoke in the Program. On this occasion of International Migration Day (IMD), CSOs, NGOs, TUs, and other Organizations issued a joint statement.

01 June, 2018

Rights activists and returnee female migrants on Thursday urged the government not to send women workers to Saudi Arabia until and unless ensuring their workplaces protection. They said women migrant workers are not the money making machine. So the authority should give priority to their interests. The rights campaigners demanded for active role of Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh to take legal action against the offender employers. The employers also have to take all responsibilities of the pregnant women workers and their children who were raped at workplaces. The activists made their demands at a press conference at the National Press Club in the city, organized Bangladesh Civil Society for Migration. Returnee migrants, Sharmin, Mousami, Kulsum and Lata, narrated their experiences of suffering in the Saudi Arabia. Excessive works, low wages, lack of foods and physical abuses they had to face in the workplaces. Manusher Jonno Foundation director Rina Roy said if it is not possible to fulfill their safety, the government has to think whether they will send women worker or not to Saudi. Since January, about 1000 women domestic helps came back home following workplaces exploitation. A good number of women are waiting for coming home at the Embassy’s safe home and immigration camp in the Arab country, according to the press statement. But the government doesn’t want to acknowledge the high figure of victim women. Indonesia and Philippines protest against any torture on their domestic helps in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The countries also reduced sending women workers to the kingdom, the statement said. After that the KSA decided to hire workers from Bangladesh. About 0.2 million women workers went to the oil-rich country since singing female workers recruitment deal in 2015. Sumaiya Islam, director of Bangladeshi Ovhibashi Mohila Sramik Association said women workers are not getting due facilities in Saudi Arabia. Standard wages, working hour, overtime, food and accommodation were mentioned in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between Dhaka and Riyadh, she added. Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of WARBE Development Foundation said the government should give financial and others necessary supports to the victim women workers. Shariful Islam Hasan, programme head of Migration of BRAC, Faruque Ahmed, secretary general, WARBE DF, RMMRU director Marina Sultan , among others were present at the programme.

08 May, 2018

The female workers who are technically skilled and educated should go to work abroad as they will be capable enough to get themselves protected from sexual abuses and other problems, said labour migration experts. Migrants’ rights activists, trade union leaders and returnee workers said that female workers should not be sent abroad for domestic job which was vulnerable to sexual abuse unless the state failed to take full protection measures. They made their observations while speaking at a dialogue on celebrating International Workers’ Day-2018, jointly organized by WARBE Development Foundation and Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum at the National Press Club. Speaking as chief at dialogue on ‘Ensure and Protect Migrant Workers Rights and Safety’ member of the Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development, Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia MP said that there were lots of domestic works at home and the female workers need not go abroad with the housemaid jobs. ‘Without being skilled and educated, female workers should not go abroad to work. If necessary only meritorious female workers will go abroad,’ she said, adding that female workers could not be made skilled with ‘one month trainings’ at home. The lawmaker expressed her solidarity with the right activists who demanded protection of rights of the female migrant workers who were frequently returning home suffering sexual harassment and others abuses abroad. WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque who presided over the dialogue said that it was urgently needed to protect rights of domestic workers at home by taking legal steps. ‘Then we can proceed to advocate for upholding the rights of workers at the foreign countries,’ he said. BOAF chairman Nazmul Ahsan said that domestic workers were forced to work more hours and their working hours and wages should be fixed and protected by signing the bilateral agreements. He called for bring the middlemen under the government’s regulation. WARBE Development Foundation secretary general Faruque Ahmed said that the state must take responsibility to protect the country’s all citizens including the female migrant workers being abused abroad. ‘If it fails to protect them, female workers should not be sent abroad,’ he said. Faruque Ahmed demanded the government to conduct fresh postmortem of dead bodies of migrant workers coming home to discover real cause of deaths in Bangladesh. Domestic worker leader Murshida Akhter said that the domestic workers were more vulnerable groups in the country and their rights should be protected through enforcing national policy and ratifying ILO convention 189 without delay. BOAF member Shimanto Shiraj said that boosting foreign currency reserve has been possible only for the country’s 1.15 crore migrant workers who were working abroad and sending money back home. WARBE Development Foundation director Jasiya Khatoon moderated the dialogue while its monitoring and documentation officer Roksana Mohammed presented keynote paper.

07 May, 2018

Bangladesh parliamentarians who were going to Malaysia with fact finding mission should boldly negotiate with the Malaysian authorities to protect the rights of the country’s migrant workers employed in the country. Migration experts and migrants’ rights campaigners on Wednesday made their suggestions while speaking at coordination meeting of the Bangladesh Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development at the conference room of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training in Dhaka. They also suggested the outgoing Bangladesh team for raising issues with the Malaysian authorities to break syndicate of recruiting agents sending workers to Malaysia taking joint steps to stop visa trading for reducing high migration cost. They also called for taking the mutual steps to remove the levies on the workers frequently imposed and increased by the government of the host country. Chairman of the parliamentarians’ caucus on migration and development Israfil Alam MP along with two caucus members Md Ayeen Uddin MP and Moh Salim Uddin Tarafder MP took the suggestions from the migration experts at the meeting. A Bangladesh delegation led by Israfil Alam MP left for Malaysia as Fact Finding Mission on official visit on April 20-22. Migrant Forum in Asia organized the field visit of the fact finding mission. Participants for the field were parliamentarians only from Nepal and Bangladesh. The number of participants who were around 6-10 parliamentarians would have meetings with relevant government ministries, with specific members of the Parliament, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, migrants community of Nepali and Bangladeshi, civil society and trade unions and foreign missions of Bangladesh and Nepal. Speaking at the meeting, Dhaka University’s international relations Professor CR Abrar, also executive director of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, said that the Caucus members should raise their voice boldly so that the country’s workers could get atmosphere of working with ‘dignity and accountability.’ He suggested the Bangladesh parliamentarians to ask their counterparts in Malaysia on which criteria basis the syndicate of recruiting agencies were formed to send workers to Malaysia. Abrar mentioned that for many employers, there were many workers becoming irregular in destination countries. He also pointed out lack of coordination between labour attaches and foreign ministry officials at Bangladesh high commissions affecting migrants’ rights. WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque said that the highest number of workers had been sent to Malaysia in 2008-2009 under the ‘Calling Visas’ and they had to face immense problems there. Describing the fact finding mission of the parliamentarians as milestone, he said that the delegation should find out fact whether Bangladeshi workers were getting jobs nor not under the G2G plus visas in Malaysia currently. Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program chairman Shakirul Islam said that it was very essential to find out who were getting most benefitted by sending migrant workers to Malaysia. ‘Identify who involve with the visa trading mechanism in Bangladesh and Malaysia,’ he said. WARBE Development Foundation secretary general Faruque Ahmed said that Bangladeshi workers were forced to live in substandard accommodation in Malaysia and their rights issues should be protected by the employers. ‘Imposing levy on the migrant workers should be cut immediately through mutual discussion with the Malaysia authorities,’ he suggested. Bangladeshi Ovhibashi Mohila Sramik Association director Sumaiya Islam said that undocumented workers were in bad condition as they were not getting jobs in Malaysia. ‘It is essential to find out how many Bangladeshis passing days in jails and hospitals abroad,’ she said. Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum chairman Nazmul Ahsan said that migrants have often lodged the complaints of negligence of the Bangladesh embassy officials. Those problems should be solved, he said. BMET director general Salim Reza said that concerted efforts should be taken to ensure safe and orderly migration from Bangladesh. He, however, put emphasis on promoting migration of skilled workers to reduce their problems at home and abroad. BMET additional DG Tajul Islam said that all recruiting agencies must be united to stop visa trading to reduce migration cost. BAIRA joint secretary general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said that rational migration cost should be set up and it should be announced through media outlets to make people aware. BMET director (immigration) Atiq Rahman said that Malaysia labour market should be expanded more as most of the tradition markets in Middle East region were in problems. OKUP executive director Omar Faruque said that recruiting agencies were enjoying benefits from the migration laws that were serving interest of agents not migrants.

29 May, 2018

Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum on Thursday organized national conference-2018 at National Press Club with aiming to protect the rights and dignity of Bangladeshi Migrant workers. Representatives from Parliamentarians Caucus and migrant rights activists who spoke at the conference sought the intervention of the Prime Minister to stop visa trading for reducing migration cost for the outgoing migrant workers. They stressed the need for creating massive awareness at the grassroots level to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration from Bangladesh. Speaking as chief guest member of Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development Jebunnesa Afroz MP said that the country’s economy has been vibrant die to inflow of remittance sent by the migrant workers from abroad. She said that Prime Minister Office, ministries of expatriates welfare and overseas employment, foreign affairs and youth would have to work together to ensure safe and skilled migration. The lawmaker urged the government and non-government organizations to unitedly work to create awareness at the grassroots level about safe migration. BOAF chief adviser Syed Saiful Haque said that inflow of remittances has reduced in last year especially from Saudi Arabia due to visa trading that caused high cost of migration. The intervention of the prime minister was urgently needed to stop the visa trading, he said. Saiful said that poor migrant workers have been sending their hard earned remittance back home although the government has no provided incentives for them. Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies joint secretary general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said that due to lack of physical fitness, adequate training and proper communication skills, Bangladeshi workers were being paid lower wages abroad. International Labour Organization’s national programme officer Rahnuma Salam Khan said that massive campaigns should be launched at the remote and grassroots areas from villages to towns to ensure safe migration. She said that each of the migrant workers must have skill on specific trade, knowledge on spoken languages and rules of the recipient countries before going to work abroad. In his welcome addresses, BOAF secretary general Faruque Ahmed said that 22 Bangladeshi female migrant workers have recently committed suicide in the Middle East countries and many female workers were still facing abuses and other problems abroad. He said that the female domestic workers should not be sent abroad without taking protective measures for them. BOAF Chairman Nazmul Ahsan said that his organization had networking in 64 districts.