Celebrating “International Migrants Day” 2020 amid pandemic

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.

22 March, 2018

Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development on Thursday organized the “Hearing on Migrants Rights Violation for Ensuring Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration‘’ at the Parliament Members’ Club in the city. Deputy Speaker of the parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah, MP who spoke at the hearing as the chief guest said that the middlemen were getting more benefited by charging high cost of migration from migrant workers seeking jobs overseas. ‘In the past, if any person managed to go abroad with job could make brick-building at village. Now more buildings are being built by brokers,’ he said. The Deputy Speaker said that there were many cases of the Bangladeshi migrant workers who were getting cheated with the job visas in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. Fazle Rabbi Miah said the country’s migrant workers were forced to pay four times of the government set migration cost but the concerned ministry was yet to take action in this regard. Member of Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development Roksana Yesmin Suty MP said that housemaids in Dhaka were able to earn monthly Tk 15000 to Tk 20,000 by working on hours. She stressed the need for taking steps to create awareness about safe migration at the grassroots level. Another caucus member Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia MP who presided over the hearing said that there were many victim workers who had returned home facing problems abroad. Senior officials, migrants’ rights campaigners, recruiting agents, middlemen and victim migrants took part in the hearing. WARBE Development Foundation’ secretary general Faruque Ahmed said that the sending of housemaids to the KSA and other Arab countries should be stopped if the government fails to protect them abroad. He suggested that the separate dormitory system for housemaids could help protecting female migrants in the KSA. EWOE ministry’s additional secretary Ahmed Munerus Saleheen said that due to high cost of migration, the migrant workers were getting engaged with illegal workers in destination countries. WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque who moderated the hearing sessions said that huge amount of money was being used in visa trading in KSA, causing to decline remittance inflow. Manusher Jonno Foundation’s director Rina Roy said that the lack of responsibilities by all of stakeholders was obstacle in ensuring safe and orderly migration from Bangladesh. BAIRA’s joint secretary general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman also spoke at hearing.

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.