Divisional Level Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Safe Migration with Multi-Stakeholders & Networks

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

One Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Safe, Orderly, Regular Migration and the Protection of Migrant’s Rights took place in Circuit House, Jessore on 19th November, which was organized by Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development. Mr. Israfil Alam, MP, Chair of Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development thanked everyone for attending the workshop. He said that labour migration is one of the important sources for the development of the country. He then talked about the activities of Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development. He mentioned that the members of Parliamentarian Caucus working in the grassroots level, national level and even in the international level.He mentioned the outcomes of GFMD 2017. He said that awareness among the people can reduce many problems in the migration sector. That’s why starting from the divisional level, then district level, then union level and finally in the village level awareness programme is needed. He also mentioned that as this caucus is attending in the divisional level programs, the members are gathering recommendations that are coming from the people who have faced in the real life and also from the learned audiences. He said that we will take these recommendations to our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina if it’s needed. Mr. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation, mentioned some of the achievements of the Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development so far from its inauguration on 31st March 2017. In this short period of time this caucus has been very active in the migration sectors. He said that we got different important recommendations throughout the visits in the divisional level. He said that members of the caucus have already brought the issues of migration process in the parliament. He also said that the members of the caucus had different meetings with civil society, government officials and with the private sector as well. He mentioned that the percentage of remittance has declined compared to the previous years. He also mentioned that the number of women migrant workers is increasing very rapidly but women are being victimize in the destination countries more often than the male migrant workers. So we all need to work on ensuring security of the women migrant workers in the destination countries. He praised the initiatives of TTC and the government’s achievement on making the rules of Overseas Employment Act 2013 in 2017. He lastly mentioned that dalal/middlemen need to be regularized by law and the laws should be implemented properly. Stories of Victims: Jahanara Begum went to Saudi Arab and she was told to get 16,000taka. When she reached there she was moved into 2 houses for work. She used to tell to serve the male guest in a very wrong way when she denied to do so she was beaten up so bad by her employer that she wanted to come back to Bangladesh right away. But her employer told her that he bought her with 70000 taka so he can whatever he wants to do with her. Then she acted like she was trying to commit suicide, after that she came back to Bangladesh. And now she is living a very miserable life. Asma Begum went to abroad by a middleman who told her that she will be getting 25000 taka per month. She used to work so hard and there a Negro guy started disturbing her at her workplace. Then she came back to Bangladesh by spending 40000taka. Sabina was in Saudi Arab for 6 months as a domestic worker and she spent 50000 taka to go there. She was imprisoned in the house, her mobile phone and also her passport were snatched away from her. As she could not speak their language she used to get beaten up for not understanding what they are asking her to do. She was not provided with good foods to eat. Morium, a middleman who used to work abroad now is sending women migrant workers in the destination countries. Before sending she always sends the women migrant workers in TTC to get the training. She mentioned that those she has sent so far are doing well in the destination countries. SokhinaKhatun, a returnee migrant worker from Lebanon. She was provoked by a middleman named Rohim, who told her that she would get 20,000 taka per month in abroad. But she did not get paid the amount she was told about. She was there for 3 years and did not get her salary properly. Even her husband died after 6months of her leave. And she was not allowed to contact with her family. Mohammad Forid, wanted to go to Qatar but middlemen sent him to Iraq by telling him that he will earn more money in Iraq than Qatar. After reaching there he was captive with 180 other people for 9months. Then he came back to Bangladesh and triedto file a case against the middleman and the recruiting agency. But the recruiting agency filed a case against him for harassment. He also went to BMET arbitration cell but did not get any benefit from there. Moslem Ali, who went to Saudi Arab by a help of a policeman by giving him 9lakhs ta

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.

11 December, 2017

Due to lack of implementation of migration laws, Bangladeshi migrant workers are frequently getting harassed and cheated by the middlemen at start-up stage of their overseas migration at home, experts said on Sunday.Speaking at a consultation, labour leaders, migrant rights campaigners, civil society members and returned migrants called for strict proper implementation of the laws of the land to punish the middlemen and ensure safe labour migration. On occasion of International Human Rights Day, WARBE Development Foundation organized the consultation on ‘Human Rights Violation of Bangladeshi Migrants and Their Protection’ at National Press Club. Lawmaker and member of the Parliamentarian Caucus of Migration and Development Roksana Yasmin Suty, speaking as chief guest, said that the government would take action if true and specific allegations were lodged with government. The lawmaker, however, stressed for creating mass awareness to keep the migration cost at lower level and control the race of middlemen. Trade Union labour leader Abul Hossain said that as the migration was one of the fundamental rights of the people and they should be given the rights of safe movement although the real situation was opposite. Abu Hossain also said that effective implementation of laws were needed to ensure safe labour migration from the country. Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program executive director Omar Faruque Chowdhury said that the government must be proactive to protect the rights of Bangladeshi migrant workers as they were sending hard earned remittances. He alleged that the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013 actually protected the rights of middlemen not the migrant workers. Manusher Jonno Foundation’s programme manager Sarowat Binte Islam said that it was very to mention that the rights of the female migrants were being violated as they were cheated at home and were also abused at the destination countries. WARBE Development Foundation secretary general Faruque Ahmed said that Bangladesh mission should ensure that the sexually abused female migrants were getting their justice at the country of destinations. At the Arab countries implementation of law was very strict and Bangladeshi victims would get compensations if legal process was taken there, he observed. Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum chairman Nazmul Ahsan said that migrant workers were not getting their minimum rights as their problems started at home, they faced problems in destinations and after returning home, WARBE Development Foundation director Jasiya Khatoon who presented keynote said that over one crore migrant workers from Bangladesh were working in 162 countries. Many of them have migrated with help of middlemen paying high cost for migration, she said. She called for protection of the rights of the country’s migrant workers at home and abroad. Returned migrants Rehana Begum, Soma, Kamala and Rafiqul Islam shared their bad and good experiences of migration at the consultation