Diplomacy Training program on Building Civil Society Capacity for Advocacy for Migrants Workers and safe Migration

04 January, 2017

WARBE Development Foundation organized a Consultation on ‘Women Migrant’s Rights in Light of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, supported by AWO International, at the Reporter’s Unity, Sagar & Runi auditorium, Dhaka on 15th March 2016 from 10:30am to 1:00 pm. Before the consultation there was a human chain held in front of press club where representatives from WARBE Development Foundation, Baangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF), returnee female migrant workers and other NGO representatives attended. The human chain held demanding for setting SDGs goals including women migrants and their right, implementing the right protecting laws and treaties for the women migrant workers, and ratification of ILO convention 189. The objective of the consultation are: i) To oversee into the target & goals of the SDGs on protection of women migrants ii) Allow state ensure the migrants women rights in the development discourse on SDGs iii) Ratification of Domestic Worker ILO convention 189 Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation, welcomed everyone and gave his welcome speech. He thanked the audience to be presented on the consultation on women migrant’s rights in light of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He played the role of moderator in the entire consultation. Jasiya Khatoon, Director, WARBE DF, spoke as the key note speaker. She said, most of the female workers go to UAE for domestic work, but they are not safe there. Also they face multi-problems within the country like middlemen involvement, machine readable passport, 21 days training etc. She says, 21 day long training is not sufficient for developing sound skill. Also she says, women migrants face certain problems in the destination countries like health problem, food problem. Women migrant’s rights should be included in the setting up of SDG indicators, she added. Tapoti Bhattachariya, Ain o Salish Kendra, says she wonders why women go abroad, where they come across so many forms of abuses and negligence. And the government is not also sincere about their sufferings. Moreover, they migrate abroad leaving behind all the dear ones in the family. Still they do not acquire sufficient knowledge about the destination countries. That is also a big reason why they face problem overseas. Murshida Akhtar, General Secretary, Jatio Garhosto Nari Shromik Network, says- there are the incidents of recovering dead bodies of many girls across the country which, in most cases, go unreported. Even dead body was found at the house of government secretary. So, above all, the government servants need to be conscious and dutiful. And protests should be ignited from everywhere. If the women fail to protest then they are not likely to stand upright. Pulok Ranjan Dhar, General Secretary, Bangladesh Construction and Wood Worker’s Federation (BCWWF), says Trade Union always addresses the plights and distresses of the women worker. Also they place many demands in favor of the women workers. Trade Union is always beside WARBE with their any involvement on the issue of women workers and their rights. Sumaiya Islam, Director, BOMSA, says- women play a very significant and remarkable role in building the society, which is no less than the men. She also says- women should be aware of the rules and laws of destination countries. If Trade Union, labors, NGOs, Civil Societies work together with this issue then this problem will go away. Faruque Ahmed, Secretary General, WARBE Development Foundation, says- government should address the issue of women abuses abroad. He also said, government should provide them state protection. The cancellation of the deal with Malaysia is due to the failure of the government. Abul Hossain, Trade Union leader, says- if there were employments within the country people would not go abroad. There should not be any discrimination on men and women. The political situation of Middle East and Syria is restless and currently there is no life guarantee. So sending people over there is like putting them into danger. Establish rights is a basic need. It may come through peacefully, or through violence. After the discussions of the speakers the floor was open to all. One returnee victim migrant worker shares her story of distress and abuse during her staying abroad. After all the fruitful discussion, Mr. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation, urges every stakeholders to work together, and fearlessly to fight against this kind of dire social problems which puts the women in sheer jeopardy. He again thanks everyone for participating and making the consultation a fruitful one and concludes the meeting.

19 January, 2017

A two days long workshop on “Capacity Building Workshop for Network Partners” organized by Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF) and Supported by WARBE Development Foundation and AWO International held at DISA Academy, Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 4-5 June 2016. The key objectives behind organizing this capacity building workshop were- to strengthen the network on the issues of migration, migrants rights, and development, to ensure a basic understanding among the participants on the key focuses of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), to chalk out a plan of action for the division & district level networks focusing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) & Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in 2016. Network members of BOAF from different districts participated in this workshop. On 4 June, 2016 the workshop began with the welcome speech of Md. Faruque Ahmed, Secretary General, Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF). He spoke about the dignity of female migrant workers; especially in Saudi Arabia they are really in distressed condition. He said, our government should emphasize on the dignity of the female migrant workers in destination country but unfortunately they are not doing that. So we want to raise a collective voice. BOAF looks up to expanding its activities in 8 divisions in an unified and uniformed manner to help the victims. He discussed on the likely outcome of the participants out of attending this workshop. Nazmul Ahsan, President, Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF) thanked the audience for coming all the way, and WARBE DF for supporting for this program. He also thanks OKUP, and BOMSA for the inspiration in building such a forum for the migrant workers. He says, BOAF wants to build their forum in 8 divisions, through which a migrant worker, living at the rural area and having least idea and information regarding safe migration will be benefited from. He also requested everyone to share their experience if they had experienced any problems. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE DF, welcomed the participants for coming all the way and attending this workshop. He basically discussed on the background of GFMD. He said the idea of GFMD came out from the UN’s High Level Dialogue in 2006. A large number of UN foreign delegates expressed their interest in continuing the dialogue on migration and development. The GFMD’s strong link with the United Nations is maintained through the Special Representative of the Secretary General on International Migration and Development. However, GFMD is an informal, voluntary global forum. The 1st GFMD took place in Belgium in July 2007. After Belgium, it was held in the Philippines. The host government has the responsibility for the preparation process and the implementation of forum. First 2 days are allocated for Civil Society’s discussion, next day for common space & last 2 days for government discussion. PGA also provides the essential space to allow civil society to connect the governments’ in GFMD process. The next GFMD will take place in Germany, 2017. Abdullah Al Mamun, Program Manager, OKUP, in his speech spoke on the idea on migration context in Bangladesh. He started his discussion with some statistics about the migrant workers. He also mentioned that 80% of total migrant workers are interested to go to Middle East, Malaysia & Singapore but our government does not have any proper record of the number of their return and death. Day by day they are contributing to our economy by sending their valuable remittance. He divided the whole participants into 3 groups for a workshop. Group-1 has to identify the pre departure problems; group-2 has to identify their problem in destination countries & group-3 has to the problems when they return. Group-1: Financial Problems. Lack of information regarding the types of works. Wrong information of the destination country. Language problems. Lack of skill. No info from the relevant organization. Every year 13-15 lac are entering in the job market, one third of them are the age of (1-22 years). We have a law on the rights of their information, but they do not know about that. So we should aware them by spreading the information. Group-2: Accommodation, Salary, Health, No support from Embassy, Torture by owner, Kafala System, Our migrant workers still don’t get any help from the Embassy in the destination country. They also don’t have enough staffs for guiding them. Group-3: Different disease. Mental sickness. Don’t have enough loans to start a business. Lack of safety. No social respect. Kazi Abul Kalam (Joint Secretary, Member, NCTBB) He spoke on the context of Migration issues in Bangladesh. He started his discussion with the migration trend of our workers. In Qatar we have 91%migration workers of the total population. Like UAE (88%), Kuwait (72%) the number of migrant workers is almost high t

23 October, 2016

Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF) and Chandradip Development Society (CDS) organized a Divisional Consultation on GFMD and Divisional Migrants Rights Network Conference, Supported by DanChurchAid and WARBE Development Foundation under the banner of Bangladesh Civil Society Coordination Committee (BCSCC) on 28 August 2016, DC Office Auditorium, Barisal. Objective of this conference and consultation in Barisal was to mobilize civil societies for PGA and upcoming Dhaka GFMD. Meanwhile, it also share the preparation of government and line ministry for the international summit for the welfare of migrant workers. In this consultation a district forum was also formed along with the NGOs and civil society network members of BOAF who were from different district like: Barisal, Jhalokathi, Potuakhali, Borguna, Pirojpur and Bhola. Advocate Talukder Md. Yunus, Honorable Member of Parliament, Barisal – 2 was the Chief Guest and Dr. Gazi Md. Saifuzzaman, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Barisal was the Guest of Honor of this consultation. Mr. Aminul Hoque Tushar, Consultant of WARBE DF highlights the background of GFMD & PGA activities. Ms. Jahanara Begum Shapna, ED, Chandradip Development Society presented the key note paper of the program. Md. Nazmul Ahsan, Chairman, BOAF and Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE DF also discussed on the roles of Civil society to make the event successful one.

07 September, 2016

On the morning of 18th March 2015, there was a scheduled national seminar event, on the subject of “Protection of the Rights of Migrant Domestic Workers: Importance of Ratification of ILO Convention 189.” This seminar was organised by WARBE Development Foundation, with support from AWO International e.V. It was hosted by and held at the National Press Club, in Dhaka. Featuring various guest speakers, and covering a broad range of focal points regarding the topic at hand, the seminar offered an extensive insight into the facilitation and appropriate handling of the matter of the protection of women migrant workers’ rights and a general upholding of their basic rights and dignity. Among the speakers, notably, was Mr. Israfil Alam, MP, as the Chief Guest, and Guest Speakers including, Ms. Nurjahan Begum Mukta, MP, Ms. Nisha, Chief Technical Adviser of ILO, Mr. Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmmed, Assistant Executive Director of Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, Mr. Abul Hossain, National Domestic Workers Association , Mr. Faruque Ahmed, Secretary General of WARBE DF, Ms. Jasiya Khatoon, Director of WARBE DF and Mr. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman of WARBE DF, who also played a role as a moderator in the event. The event started out with the experience sharing of 2 returnee women domestic workers from KSA who were involved in domestic services for over a year. The experiences revealed that the primary barrier to communication is the difference in language. Further, the workers believed that they have been deprived of their rights due to the communication gap through not receiving the desired salary and quite frequently, they had to work longer than expected hours and without the weekend off. The main topic of conversation within the field of discussion was centred on the involvement of the above mentioned organisations within the particular context of Women Migrant Workers in and as such in regards to recruitment within the region of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The general points covered in the conference included topics such as: 1) to keep the information of agreement as transparent and coherent as possible between BAIRA and SENARCOM (a KSA based recruiting agency). 2) The Provision of building shelter homes in support of the Women Migrant Workers, on behalf of the Bangladesh Embassy situated thereof. 3) Further there was discussion of the need and abilities to equip the sector with legal preparations and appoint lawyers to fight cases within the KSA region. 4) A greater potency was insinuated in the case of Workers’ salary and benefit. 6) Lastly, the conference addressed the need for purposely and effectively enhancing the facilities at district level technical training institute, in relation to the field of work provided to the Workers. Such areas as methodology, technical, socioeconomic and financial terms and conditions were discussed, to further elaborate and mediate on the process of developing the above mentioned areas of interest. The hopes of addressing the incumbent issues and probable solutions for such possibilities were also discussed in depth and further headway was made in this direction. QUOTES FROM THE GUEST SPEAKERS: “The convention 189 speaks of fundamental rights of domestic workers and to protect themselves from any form of violence or torture within the territory of a certain house” – Ms. Jasiya Khatoon, Director, WARBE Development Foundation. “We are not proud sending women to work and earn for the country and their families because the tasks they perform abroad are laborious and not pertaining to any form of intellectual practices” – Mr. Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmmed, Assistant Executive Director, Bangladesh Institutes of Labour Studies. “Migrant rights and civil society organisations need to increase accountability for ratification of Convention 189 because the convention itself is revolutionary and helps to merge supply of domestic workers with International Labour demand.” – Ms. Nisha, Chief Technical Adviser, ILO “We need to strengthen our negotiations with the Government to ensure rights of domestic workers are earned and protected both at home and abroad. If necessary, we are ready to show common people how deprived women domestic workers are through a mass rally which will be a very large demonstration” – Mr. Abul Hossain, National Domestic Workers Association “Social norms must be changed and adopt new ones that will manifest equal rights and honour towards the women domestic workers; otherwise, the general point of view towards them shall remain derogatory” – Mr. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman, WARBE Development Foundation. “We endorse for transparency by the government and the agreement made between BAIRA and SENARCOM be made public” – Mr. Md. Faruque Ahmed, Secretary General, WARBE Development Foundation “If the government could take initiatives and led campaigns to improve livelihoods and services of domestic workers before, then, of course, our government c

12 September, 2016

WARBE development foundation arranged a “consultation on establishing legal support cell” with the support of AWO International e.V. Mr. Syed Saiful Haque, Chairman,WARBE Development Foundation, started the program by delivering his welcome speech. In open floor other police staff gave their own word regarding legal support cell. Nazrul Hossain: He said about the migrant workers go for their socio economic development; however they don’t get those facilities from the destination country. Md. Motiur Rahman: He started with the example of mass grave found in Thailand. He suggested that police should have proper knowledge to prevent the illegal migration. Saiful Haque also think that police can easily get informed about the plights of migrant workers. Additional S.P. He focused on finding out the problems of migrant workers and making awareness. Many police personnel gave their personal opinion regarding safe migration & the prevention of these problems. Making awareness through leaflets with proper direction. Making awareness for target area with specific destination country. Distributing leaflets after the JUMMA in front of Mosque. Using media coverage for better Info based effective training. Making the training component easier. Making the law of 2013 easier to mass people. Boosting the publicity on social networking site. Arranging meeting with the local UP chairman and members. Developing better mutual understanding amongst the BD migrant workers. Iqbal Hossain, Director, (Admin), gave the conclusion speech & he also welcomed those who work for the safe migration. He talked, To take legal steps against those who are responsible for the sufferings of the victims. He also requested the police force to share info about the victim. To support with adequate info those who are planning for migration

06 September, 2016

The Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF) finally came into being on 17th March, 2014, whose main goal is to establish a viable socio-economic development with due dignity, safety and safe migration of all internal and external migrant workers and their families. On 3rd December, 2015, Thursday, a lively general meeting took place where nine (9) members’ executive committee of Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF), and many other network members were present in the annual general meeting. Nazmul Ahsan, President, Bangladesh Ovibashi Adhikar Forum (BOAF) expressed his cordial greetings for the presence of everyone who came so far. He also apologizes for changing the date frequently. He also agreed with Faruque Ahmed about the common platform issues. He thinks that WARBE facilitate that scope. He expected guidelines from Syed Saiful Haque because he has the national & international exposure on these issues. Jasiya Khatoon thinks that no one could be cheated if they can work together. She requested everyone to stay united for the sake of migrant workers. She also mentioned the contribution of WARBE for celebrating IMD since 2009 and that WARBE lobbied for establishing Migrants Bank. Finally she reviewed that there are so many places where they can work together.