Introductory dialogue between the Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development and the BAIRA on Safe, Orderly & Regular Migration

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

12 October, 2017

Lawmakers, migrant rights activists and recruiting agents on Monday called upon the labour recipient countries and the international community for taking measures to ensure ‘protections and rights’ of migrant workers. They also called for ensuring the migrant workers leading dignified life as human beings as they were contributing to development activities.. They made their urges at the multisectoral national consultation on Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, organized by Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development, at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city. Chairman of the Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development Md Israfil Alam presided over the consultation which was addressed by lawmaker Hosene Ara Lutfa Dalia and top representatives from government, non-government and international organizations. Speaking as chief guest, foreign secretary Shahidul Haque said that the migration has become a highly political issue in the globe and rights of migrants were being violated in the ways of migration and at the workplace in the countries of destinations. ‘As migrants are human being, so their rights should be protected,’ he said. Shahidul Haque said that punitive measures against right violators should be taken in the global compact to be adopted by the UN for safe, orderly and regular migration. Lawmaker Israfil Alam said that Bangladesh government along with the civil society members has raised the migrants’ issues in the United Nations seeking help of the international community to ensure the migrant workers at the destination countries. ‘As our migrants are suffering many problems abroad, so we have to raise the voices first,’ he said. WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque who presented the draft recommendations for safe, orderly and regular migration said that the migrant workers should be sent abroad to work abroad under the bilateral agreements not on the basis of memorandum of understandings to ensure protection of their rights at destination countries. He said that polices to be formulated in light of the global compact should have to be implemented properly with strict monitoring in Bangladesh to protect rights of migrants at home. Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program chairman Shakirul Islam said that Bangladesh government should take diplomatic measures to convince the European countries not to send back the undocumented Bangladeshi migrants. He called the global leaders not consider migrants as security threat as they were contributing to the economic development with their labours and skills. Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) joint secretary general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said that Bangladesh has become the largest labour outsourcing country in the world. ‘The trend will continue in the next 10 years. So it is the time for Bangladesh to turn the huge population into skilled manpower with providing communicative proficiency to lead in the global labour market,’ he said. Sarwar Binte Islam of Manusher Jonno Foundation said Bangladesh as sending country should take necessary policy to use the opportunities of manpower dividend. Binoy Krishna Mallick. Executive Director of Rights Jessore said that the skilled workers should be sent abroad to reduce problems of migrants in the countries of origins and destinations. He also called for taking measures to ensure migrants leading dignified life. Films4Peace Foundation chairman Pervez Siddiqui, team leader of British Council PROKAS programme Catherine Cecil, National programme officer at International Labour Organizations Ruhnuma Salam Khan and executive committee member of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit SN Azad also spoke at the meeting. Share This Post, Choose Your Platform! FacebookTwitterLinkedinTumblrGoogle+Pinterest

25 September, 2017

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.

12 September, 2017

Speaking as a presenter on Migration Scenario of Bangladesh, WARBE Development Foundation Director Ms. Jasiya Khatoon discussed push factors and pull factors of migration context in Bangladesh. “More than 10 million Bangladeshi migrants are working in 162 countries, but in terms of their contribution in the economy of Bangladesh they didn’t get any facilities,” she said. She also addressed that, like many other developing countries our migrant workers and remittances have been contributing to employment, economic growth, poverty alleviation, and social development in Bangladesh which is almost US $162.166 billion from 1976 to 2016. Besides, she also described the activities of WARBE Development Foundation in grassroots level, national level and international level. Interview of Victims: Victims also participate to share their story in destination country. Farida (Lebanon): It’s almost six months she came back from Lebanon, after the brutal torture of her employer. She went as a household worker but they kept her busy with daily household work. Except fruits she didn’t get any food. Shanaz (Lebanon): Shanaz stayed almost one year in Lebanon. She went Lebanon with her sister as household worker. Her sister was stayed near her workplace in the same city. However, the pressure of her work was not so bad. Sometimes she had to endure the food problems. She was happy in her workplace family but she returned because of the sickness of her sister. Secretary general Md. Faruque Ahmed said that the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families 1990 came into force in June 2005, but is yet to ratify it. So it won’t fruitful until the receiving countries ratify it. Mr. Ahmed also thinks that due to the binding of some restriction, receiving countries are delaying it to ratify. We need to stick together and create more awareness in the rural areas, because still they have information gap about safe migration. He also mentioned that, WARBE Development Foundation is receiving a huge number of cases of the horrific abuse and torture faced by Bangladeshi female workers in abroad. Despite our migrant workers are still participating in the labor force and bringing in huge amount of remittance. Whereas counties such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Indonesia, Philippines denounced abuse faced by their workers abroad and have taken steps to protect their rights. According to Law of the migrant workers 2013, he said that If Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) & our Government could work together then the laws wouldn’t necessary. So it is important to work together among government, BAIRA and other stakeholders. Finally he emphasized on a shelter house (dormitory) for female migrant worker. So they could return to the dormitory from their workplace. Mr. Abdullah Al Hasan, Country Director of Lawyers beyond Borders Bangladesh said that Over the years, there have been ample of complaints of our migrant workers facing abuse and exploitation by their employers especially in the Middle East. They are treated like slaves in there. Most country-of-origin embassies in the Middle East provide shelter to domestic workers who are abusing by their employers, but Bangladeshi embassies only offer shelter in some countries. Bangladesh should ensure its embassies to provide shelter for our migrant workers. Due to the lack of primary education, Bangladeshi migrant workers don’t have adequate knowledge what is written in their contract papers, as a result they don’t even know where to compliant. It is important to develop a legal aid center in destination countries, so that they can submit their complain fearlessly. Our TTC can provide them basic knowledge regarding the legal aid center before their departure. Md. Nazmul Ahsan, Chairman, Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF) said for those living in remote areas, the main obstacles are information gap before their migration. Indeed, besides the fact that information sources on migration may be scarce in rural areas, rural people, face increased difficulties in accessing reliable information on legal and safe migration channels. The activities of our District Employment & Manpower (DEMO) office are still obscure for them. Our lawyers should develop an idea to provide this basic information in rural areas. Md. Atiqun Nabi, Executive Director, INAFI Bangladesh mentioned the main reason for migration because everyone wants to live a happily and joyful life, but unfortunately the scenario is totally opposite in real life. Due to lack of some basic information, they suffer for it in their workplace. In that moment, they even could not return in their countries. Bangladesh government didn’t able to ensure better workplace in destination countries. Even our ministry can play an important role to ensure good governance. Open Discussion: In the open discussion session, lawyers and other representative