Media Consultation on Bangladesh Annual Migration Report-2016

21 May, 2017

Launching of “Training of Trainers” (ToT) on “Remittance Transfer in Legal Process and its Effective Utilization” organized by WARBE Development Foundation held on 18th May, 2017 at YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association). The inauguration program began with the welcome speech of Syed Mohammad Kamal, Country Manager, Bangladesh, MasterCard. As Remittances represent the largest source of foreign currency earnings, the remittance flow in Bangladesh has grown not only in size but also in importance in terms of as a share of gross domestic product (GDP). Mr. Jabed Ahmed, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, in his speech spoke on the contribution and initiative of the government for the migrant workers. Now our migrant workers can easily spend their remittance in any bank account, since MasterCard recently took a new project to facilitate the whole transaction process. As Chief guest, Md. Israfil Alam, Honorable Member of Parliament and chairperson of Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration & Development started with the official recorded remittances which are much lower than the actual remittances that take place through official and unofficial channels of remittances are coming through different ways like friends, relatives and hundi system. Our grass root workers should be concerned about the forms of payment, because any forms of payment should be documented. Jasiya Khatoon, Director, WARBE Development Foundation took a session on “Remittance and its Proper Utilization”. Like many other developing countries Bangladeshi migrant workers have been contributing to employment, economic growth, poverty alleviation, and social development in Bangladesh. Md. Faruque Ahmed, Secretary General of WARBE Development Foundation described the importance to reduce the migration cost in his whole session. High migration cost also put a pressure to our migrant workers to income more money. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation demonstrated the facilities of sending remittance in legal ways. Compared to formal channels, the hundi system is not only less expensive but also more and easily accessible, so Bangladeshi migrant workers should not be tempted by the better rate of hundi, rather they should find out a proper investment idea for their livelihood. Md. Nurul Islam, Director of BMET at the end of the program showed some graphical statistics on remittance. He also mentioned that these large inflows of remittances are having numerous economic and development effects for Bangladesh.

02 April, 2017

A seven- member parliamentary Caucus on migration and development was launched on 31st March, 2017 at Park Town Restaurant. The parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development has been formed in a joint collaboration with British Council and WARBE Development Foundation. In the launching program, Honorable Deputy Speaker of Bangladesh National Parliament, Mr. Fazle Rabbi Miah graced the occasion as Chief Guest and formally inaugurated the caucus. Honorable Chief Guest, Deputy Speaker, Mr Fazle Rabbi Miah, shared some of his experiences of being the head of the Bangladesh Delegation team of IPU (Inter Parliamentarian Union) Assembly. Mr. Israfil Alam, Chairman of parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development, made the declaration as a chairperson of the Caucus as well as read the proclamation. He talked about the main objectives and activities of the parliamentary Caucus. The parliamentary Caucus will act as a focal group the parliament members who will work in an advocate framework to ensure rights of migrant workers. The goals of the Caucus include working for the development of legal framework and migrant friendly deal in national, regional and international arenas. The Caucus will inspect the workplaces of workers abroad and draw attention of respective parliament members to provide necessary assistance to them, he also said. Roksana Yesmin Suty, MP, Adv. Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia, MP, Talukdar Md Yunus, MP, Nurjahan Begum, MP, Jabed Ahmed, Additional Secretary of MOEWOE were also presented. Representatives from different NGO’s, BAIRA, trade union and media attended the program. Jabed Ahmed, Additional Secretary of the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment ministry said although Bangladesh has ratified the ILO Convention 1990, destination countries are yet to ratify it. Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of WARBE Development Foundation, said the migration sector doesn’t get necessary allocation in the national budget. He also stressed the need for ratification of the international treaties on migration and lowering the cost of migration at a zero level.

20 March, 2017

WARBE Development Foundation organized a national consultation on CSO’s CMW Shadow Report with multi-stakeholders and advocates on 4 March 2017 at CIRDAP auditorium with the financial support from Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), technical support from MFA and Diplomatic Training Program (DTP) alumni; working group on behalf of 20 CSO organizations. The national consultation started with a welcome speech to clarify the purpose of the consultation; followed by a swift presentation on Background and objective of the CSO Shadow Report and National CSO Consultation on CMW Shadow Report. These sessions were facilitated by Ms. Jasiya Khatoon, Director- WARBE DF and Ms. Nayela Akter, Programme Officer, HELVETAS Swiss Inter-cooperation respectively. In the open discussion session after the brief presentation on the CMW Shadow report by the CSOs, the participants urges to point out some major issues in the report such as: ensure accountability of the recruiting agencies activities and recruitment process, ensure the compensation and fair justice towards the deceased and injured migrants, strengthening the migrants friendly and gender sensitive services of Bangladesh High Commission abroad, establish cost effective remittance transfer methods and channel including extension of services of Probashi Kallayan Bank (PKB), Promote advocacy to the receiving countries to ratify the UN CMW 1990 and ensure representatives of migrants in Wage Earners Welfare Board. Among the panel discussant, Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman-WARBE Development Foundation, Md Zahid Hossain, Human Rights Officer from UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, Dr. Meghna Guhathakurata, Commissioner, Bangladesh Human Rights Commission from Research Initiative of Bangladesh were present and provided some valuable suggestions. Dr. Justice Refaat Ahmed, Senior Judge of Supreme Court and CMW expert was chief guest of the consultation; whereas the program was moderated by Dr.Tanseem Siddique, Chairperson of RMMRU. The recommendations and suggestions from this consultation will incorporate at the draft Shadow report and will place to the CMW before 12 March 2017. The final report will be consider for the presentation in the 26th Session of CMW (Committee on Migrant Workers) which will be held from 3-13 April 2017 at the Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland.

20 March, 2017

On the eve of International Women’s Day-2017, WARBE Development Foundation successfully organized a consultation on “Protection of Rights and Dignity of Women Migrant Workers” at Dhaka Reporter’s Unity from 11.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. Before the consultation, WARBE also arranged a “Solidarity Human Chain to Protect Women Migrant’s Rights and Dignity” at in front of press club from 9.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. At the inception of the consultation Chairman of WARBE Development Foundation, Syed Saiful Haque greeted everyone and thanked everyone for attending the consultation. After that Md. Faruque Ahmed, Secretary General, WARBE Development Foundation gave the address of Welcome. In his welcome note, he mentioned some crucial points regarding the rights and facilities of women labor migrant. He proposed the need of female dormitory in the countries where women migrate so that the migrated women do not have to stay and face any problem in their employer’s house. After the welcome note Ms. Jasiya Khatoon, Director, WARBE Development Foundation presented the key note of the consultation. In her key note speech she emphasized on the equal rights of men and women in their respective workplace. She pointed out the need of proper training for the trainers who train the migrant workers before their departure. She also brought up the issue of ratifying the ILO convention no 189 by the government. Among the participants of the consultation 5 female returnee migrant victims from Saudi Arab, Jordan, Lebanon who shared their stories with the audience. In open discussion session, Mr. Sirajul Haque, president, Bangladesh National Garments Workers Employees League (BNGWEL) talked about creating a global community on domestic worker’s right. Mr. Najmul Ahsan, Chairman, Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF) discussed about the initiative of getting two months of advance salary even before the departure of migrant workers and he also mentioned the need of providing security to the female migrant worker in their work agreement. Guest of Honor Ms. Rina Roy, Director, Manusher Jonno Foundation mentioned that Dalals or Middlemen crisis has to be eliminated for safe migration and also mentioned that government should look after the write ups if the agreement of the migrant workers. She put emphasis on the fact that all the NGOs who are working on this matter should stick together for a better outcome. At the same time she mentioned to work side by side with the government. Guest of Honor Ms. Shahina Ferdous, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment mentioned that she collected information from the consultation and she would bring up these issues to the right authority. She told that as the laws are different in the destination countries the government faces difficulties to protect the rights of migrant workers. She encouraged the returnee female migrants in the audience to create awareness among other interested people on the labor migration issue. She also encouraged the returnee female migrants by addressing them as assets of our nation. In the closing remarks Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman of WARBE Development Foundation showed his appreciation to the participants for being presented in the consultation and thanked those persons who were behind working to organize the program. At the same time he recognized the contribution of the female migrant workers and asserted that the interested people who want to migrate for better opportunity should first have to get the correct information.

07 February, 2017

WARBE Development Foundation with the support of AWO International and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Government of Bangladesh organized a Dialogue on “Governance of Migration towards GFMD 2016” on 13th April, 2016, which was held at the UNCLOS Conference Room, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Shegun Bagicha, Dhaka. The objectives of this dialogue were: Revision on the Recruitment reform & Remittance reform in Bangladesh, Connecting Migration agenda in the SDG indicators, Analyzing possibilities for engaging the Bangladeshi Diaspora in efforts to improve migrants’ rights protection and Assessment of the current framework of global governance of migration and development. The dialogue started with the welcome speech of Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman of WARBE Development Foundation and with brief presentation on GFMD and high level dialogue (UNHLD). Ms. Rahnuma Salam Khan, Senior Assistant Chief of Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare & Overseas Employment (MEWOE), spoke on sub themes, round table topics on 9th GFMD. Whereas, M. Azharul Huq, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare & Overseas Employment (MEWOE), focused on importance of skill development & labor migration. Mr. Reaz Hamidullah, Director General of MoFA discussed on the roles of Civil society during the CSD of GFMD and also clarify the roles of the Governments for making the GFMD summit a successful one. Mr. Ali Haider Chowdhury, Senior Vice President of BAIRA, discussed on labor safety in sending and receiving country and the mechanism that practiced by the Overseas Recruitment Agencies. Mr. AHM Bazlur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer, BNNRC spoke on Media coverage and its involvement in GFMD preparatory process. Dr. Wajedul Islam Khan, Secretary General of Trade Union Center (TUC), discussed on the communication issue and Vocational education in Trade union. Sumaiya Islam from BOMSA emphasized on protection of the rights of the undocumented workers. Sarwat Binte Islam, Program Manager MJF, said lowering the cost of migration should be focused in GFMD. Ms. Shaheen Anam, Executive Director, Manusher Jonno Foundation Chaired and moderate the entire program. News Link: http://www.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/article/829150 http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2016/04/13/26055/Strengthen-foreign-missions-to-help-migrants

07 February, 2017

wo representatives for ICMC, Brussels, Belgium visited Dhaka, Bangladesh from 26th September to 30th September 2016. Ms. Laura Hieber (ICMC) and Leila Marzo (MADE Network), visited Dhaka on the occasion of arranging the venue and other logistics supports during the 9th GFMD from 8-12 December 2016. WARBE DF hosted their travel and visit arrangement. As per their visit agenda, WARBE DF scheduled meeting with IOM (arranger of GFMD Government Days on behalf of MoFA), visit venue and meeting with BICC & Intercontinental authority, Visit all pre-selected Hotels, Discussion with DRIK for decoration and exhibition setup etc. The guests stayed at Hotel Lake Castle, one the selected hotel for GFMD CSD delegates. The visit also visited all hotels like: Hotel Ascott, Nordic, Platinum Hotels, De Castle and Orchard Hotels. They also scrutinize their rooms, services, security, and transport services etc. On their last day of Visit, WARBE also hosted a leisure tour at different sightseeing spots of Dhaka and different shopping mall. They also enjoyed different historical places of Dhaka, and finally fly to Brussels, Belgium on 30th September 2016.