Divisional Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Safe, orderly, Regular Migration and the Protection of Migrant’s Rights

12 March, 2018

MasterCard in partnership with WARBE Development Foundation on Monday announced the Grassroots Level Financial Education program on Remittance Utilization, Investment and Savings aiming to educate and train more 35,000 Migrant Workers and their left-behind families. Mastercard-WARBE Development Foundation already trained 15,000 migrant workers and their left-behind families in the first phase about proper sending remittance and it utilizations and they targeted to train more 35,000 migrants and their family members in upcoming second phase, the organizers informed the launching ceremony held at a city hotel. Over 11 million Bangladeshi workers who were employed abroad and their families who lived in rural areas of Bangladesh were dependent financially on the foreign remittance. However, most of these people are not aware about the authentic remittance transaction process and its proper utilization. MasterCard through this initiative wants to aware and educate these communities on the proper way of remittance transfer, saving practices and its effective utilization of remittance. State Minister for Finance and Planning Muhammad Abdul Mannan who spoke as chief guest said that the country’s migrant workers in many countries were leading miserable life and they were sending their hard earned remittance back home. ‘Migrants are mostly sending back their money through informal channels but they will have to be motivated to send money through legal channels,’ he said. Speaking on the occasion Syed Mohammad Kamal, Country Manager of Mastercard said that in Bangladesh, livelihood of a large number of people was dependent on the foreign remittance sent by their near and dear ones. Stressing the need for creating awareness about remittance among migrants, he said, ‘We believe that this training will equip these communities with the knowledge and skill sets to create their own opportunities and pursue their dreams, resulting in long-term benefits, not just for themselves, but also their families and society at large.’ Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation said that despite such large amount of remittance being sent from abroad by the migrant workers, their families were not being able to utilize the money properly due to lack of knowledge in remittance management. ‘I hope that, this program will be successful in educating these rural people on how to properly manage their remittance.’ Saiful Haque said that there was no step taken by the government for the country’s wage earners who were contributing to the rural development and poverty alleviation. Due to visa trading, huge amount of remittance was being used by the brokers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia without sending them back home, he said, adding that the migrant workers were being affected by high cost of migration and middle in recruitment process. Lawmakers, senior officials and migration experts who were speaking at the launching ceremony expressed worries at the drastic fall in remittance inflow saying the declining remittances would badly affect the development activities in the country. They said that the migrants’ low wages abroad, high cost of migration, visa trading and the intake of remittance through informal channels caused the decline of remittance. The government should provide incentives for the migrant workers to promote sending their hard-earned remittance through proper channels to boost foreign currency reserve, they Chairman of Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development Israfil Alam MP said that efforts must be taken to stop sending remittance through informal channels. ‘I request the finance ministry to provide incentives to the wage earners,’ he said, adding that remittance inflow has dropped to $13 billion in 2017 from nearly $16 billion in two year ago although overseas employment has substantially increased. Members of the Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia MP, Mehjabeen Khaled MP and Jebunnesa Afroz MP, additional secretary to expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, WARBE DF director Jasiya Khatoon and Mastercard consultant Marilyn Bristi Gomes also spoke at the program. Beneficiaries Aklima Begum from Tangail and Abdul Latif from Keraniganj also shared their experiences at the program.

18 March, 2018

Migrant rights activists on Thursday urged the government to stop sending the women migrant workers to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries unless it takes responsibility to protect them at the destinations. Speaking at a discussion, on occasion of celebrating international women’s day, they said that image of the country has been seriously tarnished by the frequent violations of the migrants’ rights abroad. Bangladeshi female workers who are mostly employed as housemaids often fall victims of sexual abuse, denial of wages and tortures. They made the remarks while speaking at the opinion exchange meeting, organized by WARBE Development Foundation at the National Press Club. Labour leaders, civil society members, university teachers, students, returnee migrants and women leaders from various organizations took part in the discussions titled ‘Time is Now: Action for Protecting Women Migrants.’ Sharing her experience, returnee female migrant Shahnaj Begum said that she returned home four months ago from Jordan where she had worked for 30 months as housemaid. Shahnaj who hailed from Lalbagh of Dhaka had migrated to Jordan in 2015 by paying Tk 60,000 to local broker but she had to face excessive works, insufficient foods and denial of her eight month wages. Another migrant Jahanara Begum who returned from Saudi Arabia said that the young sons of the employer could not let her sleep in the night due to meet their ‘sexual desire.’ ‘Three times I had to escape from the house of employer due to torture and abuse,’ she said, adding that the Saudi police later arrested and sent beck her home within eight of her migration. Yesmin, another returnee from the KSA, also narrated bad experiences that she had been tortured, abused by her employer. Speaking as panel discussant, Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum’ chairman Nazmul Ahsan said that there were so many reports that Bangladeshi female migrants were being sexually abused by the male employers and their sons in the KSA. As an official team from Bangladesh is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia on March 12, he said ‘our demand is to raise the issue with Saudi government to protect them immediately.’ ‘Otherwise, not a single female worker should be sent abroad without protections.’ he said. WARBE DF secretary general Faruque Ahmed said that the sending of female workers to the KSA on conditions of recruiting male workers from Bangladesh was tarnishing the dignity and image of the country. ‘Overseas countries have certain demand of migrant workers, so they will have to recruit workers under Bilateral Agreements, stipulating all rights,’ he demanded. Faruque, also a returnee migrant turned rights activist, said that ‘If the government fails to take responsibility to ensure protection of the female workers at workplaces, we are calling to stop sending the women abroad.’ For an immediate measure of protection, he had proposed that the female workers should be allowed to spend their night at dormitories with other housemaids from Bangladesh under supervision of Bangladesh authorities. Dhaka University international relations’ associate professor Tanzim Uddin Khan said that it was the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens and expatriates who were facing problems at home and abroad. ‘If there is issue of the female migrant in danger abroad, it will be more important for the stare to protect them,’ he said. Tanzim Uddin described the migrant workers as ‘blood cells’ and ‘hearts of the country’s economy’ said that the state should immediately take responsibility to protect the migrant workers facing problems abroad. WARBE DF chairman Syed Saiful Haque who presided over the meeting said that it would be impossible to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals without ensuring the equal rights of the female workers at home and abroad. Trade union leader Abul Hossain called upon the female folks to raise their voices to build their own fates. National Domestic Women Workers Union general secretary Murshida Akhter demanded that the government should enact law immediately in accordance with Domestic Workers’ Protection and Welfare Policy 2015. She also urged the government to ratify the ILO Convention 189 that upholds immigrant workers’ rights including access to decent jobs, proper wages, health safety and other occupational rights abroad. WARBE DF director Jasiya Khatoon, who moderated the discussion, said that the government was playing weak role in protecting rights of the country’s migrants facing problems in the Middle East. In the morning, WARBE Development Foundation, the grassroots migrants organizer, had formed a human chain in front of National Press Club in expressing its solidarity with celebration of International Women’s Day.

28 February, 2018

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration resets on the principles adopted in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and core international human rights treaties. The zero draft with 22 core commitments of this compact has been released on 5th February, 2018. It has been emphasized from the Bangladeshi delegates that there has to be a strong inter linkage between the Compact and the Agenda 2030 for positive contribution of migrants for inclusive growth and sustainable development. Bangladeshi delegates always recognize throughout the phase 1 and phase 2 that international migration is a multidimensional reality of major relevance for the development of countries of origin, transit and destination, which requires coherent and comprehensive responses. The successful implementation of its actionable commitments on the ground will be a challenge. Only a robust follow-up and review mechanism may ensure the future implementation of GCM. As well as Global Compact may be seen as the milestone but not the end of our efforts to address the issue of migration holistically. It is believed that similar dialogues and constructive engagement of parliamentarians on migration needs to be arranged on a regular basis at regional and global levels. Guests of the Program Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development organized a program to reflect the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration with multi stakeholders on 28th February, 2018 at CIRDAP Auditorium. Honorable State Minister Mr. Md. Shahriar Alam, MP, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh graced the occasion as Chief Guest. In this program, Mr. Md. Israfil Alam, MP, Chair of Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development was the chair of the program and he moderated the entire program. Ms. Nahida Sobhan, Director General, (MEA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs talked about the Government’s Negotiation on GCM. Mr. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation, briefly reflected the civil society’s stand on GCM. As honorable Guest Speakers, Ms. Advocate HosneAraLutfa Dalia, MP, Member of Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration & Development (PCMD), Ms. Roksana Yasmin Suty, MP, member of PCMD, Ms. Jebusnessa Afroz, MP, member of PCMD, Mr. Selim Reza, Director General, Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET). Lawmakers, officials from foreign and expatriate welfare ministries, civil society members, trade union leaders, national & international NGOs, migrant rights activists, returnee migrants & migrants family members and senior journalists who took part in the consultation. Reflection on Government Negotiations on GCM Ms. Nahida Sobhan, Director General, (MEA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that GCM is the brainchild of Bangladesh. She mentioned that Bangladesh has been trying to create a global treaty for the countries which will be binding in nature or partially binding. In the zero draft of GCM, it has been mentioned that this compact will be legally non-binding in nature. Bangladesh has put a strong dissatisfaction on this issue. Bangladesh has taken part in different bilateral meetings on this issue. She mentioned that Bangladesh is taking strong stand on the migration issue in the UN headquarters on the zero draft of GCM. She mentioned that in the zero draft of GCM Climate induced migration has been included. Reflection on Civil Society Engagement on GCM Mr. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation, briefly talked about the GCM and how the civil society is involved with the GCM. He said that since 2016, at the GFMD, GCM discussion started taking place. CSOs has organized and participated in different National, Regional and Global Level Consultation on GCM. He mentioned that CSO has presented a Global Civil Society Recommendation for GCM, Now and How: Ten Acts for the Global Compact: A civil society vision for a transformative agenda for human mobility, migration and development. He also mentioned the Preparatory phase of GCM where the CSOs intervened. Open Discussion In the open discussion session Ms. Ishrat Shamim, Executive Director, CWCS, said that lack of enough segregated data in the migration sector creates various problems. She strongly suggested creating database for returnee migrants. She also mentioned to separate domestic worker’s law from the migrant workers’ law. Mr. Faruque Ahmed, Secretary General, WARBE Development Foundation, requested to take immediate action for the safety of migrants and said that GCM should be binding in nature. Mr. Binoy Krishna Mollik, Executive Director, Rights Jessore, talked about remittance management issue, high migration cost and middlemen issue. He also mentioned that awareness will help to minimize the migration problems. Mr. Assaduzzaman, Returnee Migrant worker, talked about creating mo

19 February, 2018

A Knowledge Sharing Workshop on safe migration with Multi-Stakeholders & Networks took place on 19th October 2017 in Cox’s Bazar, which was organized by Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration & Development (PCMD). Mr. Israfil Alam, MP, Chair, PCMD was the chief guest of the workshop. The programme was moderated by Didarul Alam Rashed, Executive Director, Nongor. Mr. Israfil Alam, MP, Chair, PCMD in his welcome speech praised the Government of Bangladesh on its work on the Rohingya issues. He also mentioned the development works and also the attempts to rehabilitate the Rohingya people. Then he talked about the other Divisional level knowledge sharing workshops on safe migration with multi stakeholders & networks. Then he talked about the objectives of the program.The objectives of this workshop are- To share knowledge about safe migration process, regular channels and reduce migration cost. To strengthen the networking capacity of BOAF in National & Divisional Level. Understanding the role of network to effective intervention for migrants’ rights issue. After that Ms. Jasiya Khatoon, Director, WARBE Development Foundation, talked about the activities of Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration & Development. The caucus has been organizing different programs in different divisions. At the same time the members of this caucus also participated in the international events to discuss migration issues. Mr. Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation briefly talked about the migration scenario. He talked about how the migrant workers face difficulties in the process of migration. He said that from 1976 to till now 1,11,879 people has migrated as migrant workers in almost 162 countries. Mr. Forkan, Victim to the act caused by middleman, said that he went to Malaysia by the help of a middleman named Yeasin and his assistance named Romiz. But on his way he was captured by the Thai Police for being undocumented and he had to spend 9 months in jail. Another victim Md. Ishak, Sabrang, Teknaf said that due to the hassle created by the Passport Office and corruption by the police he could not create his passport. Then he came to know about going to abroad without any passport by using ship from a middleman named Abul Kashem. There were 139 people with him who had to face a very miserable situation. YPSA helped him to rehabilitate. Md. Morshed, another victim from Saint Martin, Teknaf said that on 26th March 2015, he was trafficked forcefully when he did not have any desire to go abroad. He said that there were more than 2500 people from Bangladesh and Myanmar. He had to go through a very miserable situation on that time. Somehow he got rescued. Md. Nazrul Islam, Gorjoniya, Ramu shared his experience with the audience. He said that he wanted to go to Malaysia, so he asked an owner of a fishing board to take him to Malaysia. On that boat he saw there were more than 750 people, from them 400 people were Bangladeshi. He had to live in jail for 2 years and 9 months in Thailand. Victim Shumon Barua, West Baruapara, Cox’s Bazar told that a middleman named Ziaur Rahman took him to teknaf promising that he will send Shumon in regular way to abroad. Shumon was sold by the middleman for 15,000 taka. Then he was taken in the trawler where there were 15 more people like him. They were given few amounts of dry foods and 5 liters water to survive. After 15days hey reached in Thailand where they were tortured and forced to call in their house to give 3 lakhs taka as ransom for their life. Then after one month he was captured by the Thai police and he had to stay in the jail for 11months. Ms. Joshna Akter, Choukoria said that middleman Dilowara told her to give her 3,50,000 taka to go to Saudi Arab. So Joshna gave her 40,000 taka initially and then she get her visa checked. Then she realized that she was being trafficked to Bahrain. After that she flew in Dhaka and she was being threatened by the middleman. When she complaint against her to the UNO, the matter started to solve. Mr. Faruque Ahmed, Secretary General, WARBE Development Foundation talked briefly about the activities of WARBE Development Foundation. Mr. Nazmul Ahsan, Chairman, BOAF talked about the contributions of the migrant workers in economy of Bangladesh. Md. Ali Jinnat, Staff Reporter, Daily Star said that there have been series of reports about issues of migration and trafficking. He said that the prominent figures of the society are involved in trafficking. Ms. Saleha Khatun, British Council, talked briefly about the PROKAS Programme. And then she advised the audience to query in DEMO office before going to abroad. Ms. Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia, MP, was very disappointed to hear about the stories about the victims. She mentioned that the vulnerable situation of these innocent people cannot be ignored.

19 February, 2018

The consultation on Recruiting Sub-Agents/ Middlemen for Ethical and Fair Recruitment of Migrant Workers’ was held at CIRDAP auditorium on Wednesday. At least 30 middlemen who hailed from different districts of the country demanded their recognition as sub-agents of the recruiting agencies under the legal framework. They urged the authorities concerned to facilitate them doing organizations like Bangladesh Association International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) to jointly work in the migration sector. Parliamentary Caucus on Migration and Development member and lawmaker Md Altaf Ali was chief guest while migrant rights campaigners, academics, BAIRA leaders and government officials were also present. Migrant rights organization WARBE Development Foundation in collaboration with PROKAS programme of British Council organized the consultation. Sub Agent Abul Kalam who has been working as middleman at Comilla Sadar for last 25 years said that under contact with recruiting agencies he collected migrant workers, money, travel documents and submitted them in Dhaka offices of recruiting for sending them abroad. If the recruiting agencies cheat, delayed, failed to send the workers abroad, all blames came to middlemen, he said, adding that middlemen could only earn Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000 from each worker but they had to face huge pressure. Another middleman Porimal Halder Badal who hailed from Savar said that he has been doing job as sub agent for last 12 years. He demanded the authorities to bring them legal frame work for ensuring their rights and also for ensuring safe migration. Porimal said that police always harassed middlemen and extorted money from them while they took the workers to recruiting agency office for processing recruitment or taking them to the medical center for checkup. Middleman Masuduzzaman Liton hailing from Tangail said that although middlemen have been playing significant role in the country, but they could not be identified with dignity. He demanded the government to bring them under legal framework and recruiting agencies to provide them ID cards. Female broker Shamsun Nahar Putul said that she was engaged in sending workers abroad as her sons and other middlemen sent her visas from UAE and Qatar. WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque who moderated the consultation said that there were huge number of middlemen at home and at destination countries and they were engaged in collecting visas and sending workers for overseas jobs. He called for creating awareness about the existing laws and overseas employment rules among the middlemen to help ensuring safe and orderly migration. Lawmaker Md Altaf Ali said that the government along with all stakeholders of the migration sector would work together to find out ways to manage middlemen. Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training director Nurul Islam, BAIRA joint secretary general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman and Dhaka University associate professor or International Relations Tanzimuddin Khan among others spoke at the function.

19 February, 2018

Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development on Wednesday called for taking immediate initiatives to control the thousands of recruitment middlemen by bringing them under the purview of law to protect the migrant workers getting cheated and harassed by middlemen. They made the remarks while speaking at ‘Hearing on Migrants Rights Violation for Ensuring Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration’ at Parliament members club, organized by the Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development. Deputy Speaker of the National Parliament Md Fazle Rabbi Miah MP attended the hearing as chief guest and he urged the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment for taking necessary steps to bring an amendment to the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013 accommodating the issues of middlemen. Hearing the migrants’ problems, he said that the middlemen were cheating the migrant workers who were seeking overseas jobs and by this ways they were creating obstacles on remittances inflows. ‘The remittance inflow will get seriously hampered unless the migrant workers are protected from the clutch of the middlemen,’ he said. Chairman of Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development Md Israfil Alam MP who presided over the hearing said that the migrants were often being cheated by the middlemen who should be brought under regulations to ensure safe, orderly and regular migration. ‘Every year thousands of workers, mostly the youths, are migrating to overseas countries either getting pushed by the poverty or expecting their better life abroad. They are often cheated by the middlemen,’ he said. Members of Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development Advocate Hoseney Ara Lutfa Dalia MP, Salina Jahan Lita MP and Safura Begum MP, among others also spoke at the hearing. They heard sufferings of male and female migrants who have come from different districts being cheated by the middlemen at home and by employers at destination countries of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar. They raised complaints of charging high cost of migration, cheating, sexual abuse, overload of works, and denial of wages. At least 10 middlemen participated in the hearing and they demanded their legal recognition as sub agents by law with the recruiting agencies concerned to make recruitment process more transparent. WARBE Development Foundation secretary general Faruque Ahmed said that some of female workers were sent back home after getting them pregnant abroad. He urged the government to take legal actions against the sexual violation in the destination countries by Bangladesh embassy concern, so that they could get their compensations. University teacher Israt Shamim said that the government should send workers abroad after providing them training. WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque said that the middlemen should be brought under legal framework. Later, the members of the Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development had a meeting with civil society members and development partners at same venue and discussed about Bangladesh’s participation at the stocktaking meeting to be held in Mexico in next December.