Reza Mahmud :
Hundreds of women workers, who have been allegedly tortured and abused in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and other middle-eastern countries in recent years, are still deprived of any sort of compensations.
They left their homes with high hopes of earning a decent living and building a new life for themselves and their families. But eventually they had managed to escape their ordeal after fleeing to the Bangladeshi embassies in KSA and other middle-east countries.
Hundreds more are still staying in camps awaiting to be repatriated to their home country after facing mistreatment and sexual harassment from their employers in those countries, they added.
Taslima from Sunamganj, who returned home recently, said, “I have served 11 months in a family in Saudi Arab but returned empty handed. Not only that I have also taken more one lakh taka from my family to meet my return’s spending.”
She said that employers never gave her wages as the recruiting agent promised.
“The recruiting agent told me that I would get Tk 20,000 but my employer gave me only Tk 12,000 which was also irregular. All of my regular needs were to meet with that money. They had stopped my wages for last six months,” she said.
The same bitter experience was shared Jahura Akter of Narayanganj, who also returned home from the Saudi Arabia.
“I left Bangladesh two years ago to work for a family in KSA but I was compelled to work in three places everyday. Even I cannot sleep at night due to huge load of work. But the employer never gave me adequate foods. They also refused to give my wages properly. Then I decided to return home to get rid of this unbearable pain,” said Jahura Akter.
Farida Begum, a young woman of Kurigram district, who returned to Bangladesh on June 19, said, “I faced overwhelming workloads every day. I asked my employers for my salary after working for two months, but they refused to pay my dues and beat me up instead.”
Farida went to that country only two months ago and also returned empty handed.
Sources said, hundreds of Bangladeshi women workers left their homes for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, seeking to turn their lives around by working abroad.
But in recent times, the number of the women returning home is increasing at an alarming rate.
According to a recent report of non-governmental organization BRAC, more than 5,000 Bangladeshi female workers, who worked as domestic help for Saudi families, have returned home in the past three years.
Experts said the female workers working abroad, have lots of contribution for Bangladesh as they send 90 percent of their wages to home comprising with male workers sending 50 percent of their earnings to the country.
But the female workers are not rewarded. Even, the empty handed returnee female workers are also not getting any compensation.
“The female workers failed to get any legal help from embassies against their employers as they were deprived to get proper salaries but tortured,” said Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiron, an expert on migration workers and Chairman, Debate for Democracy.
They (returnee women) also demanded compensations. But they do not get any compensation yet.
When contacted, Nomita Halder, Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, told The New Nation, “We have issued notice to those recruiting agencies involved in sending those female workers to KSA for giving them compensations.”
But she refused to say more details in the context.
Contacted, Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) President Benjir Ahmed told The New Nation, “The main problem of Bangladeshi women is unusual to stay abroad. They can’t stay away from their family members, especially their children, husbands or parents.
He said, “Most of the cases, their allegations of oppression in KSA or other middle-eastern countries are not true. But they try to come back to their families and that is why they alleged against their employers.”
He, however, also admitted that in some cases torture of women are true. Benjir Ahmed said the Ministry has sent letter and blocked server for 128 recruiting agencies.
He said the BAIRA is contacting the ministry for discussion about the matter to solve the issue.
According to data of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), around 735,575 female workers are presently employed in different countries, including the Middle East. Among these women, more than 234,831 went to Saudi Arabia. But many of them have backed home in recent months.
On an average, 200 female workers are coming back home from the Middle-east, mostly from KSA every month since January reportedly for physical and mental oppression.
Many of these workers reportedly were facing physical torture and payment irregularities from their employers.
A number of them also became victims of sexual harassment in Saudi Arabia, leading to psychological issues among them.
The returnees said apart from torture, most of them were deprived of adequate wages.
They demanded legal action against those recruiting agencies who had sent them abroad.
