THE government needs to identify brokers in manpower exports by bringing changes to laws to hold them accountable for malpractices. The brokers locally known as ‘dalals’ are mostly responsible for irregularities and high migration costs and their presence is pervasive at different tiers of the recruitment process. But the government doesn’t take any initiative to hold them accountable. Migrant workers and their families will not be able to reap benefits as long as these middlemen or brokers are not held accountable for their activities. Bangladeshi migrant workers pay extremely high migration fees. Around 76 per cent migrants are compelled to take loans for migration, and many others are forced to resort to selling land. The lack of safe and orderly recruitment practices as well as inadequate protection and welfare services abroad result in making thousands of migrant workers victims of trafficking, abuse, exploitation, and other rights violation. Many return empty-handed, with broken dreams, or with critical illnesses and psychological trauma. Some returnees have to sell their ancestral land to repay debts which puts them into further economic hardship.
Women migrant workers face even greater challenges as, upon their return, they are often abandoned by their husbands. In many cases, their physical and mental illnesses remain untreated due to lack of financial resources. This leaves them highly vulnerable with little or no support in a society that tends to further persecute victims to further deteriorate their condition. If there is no measure to protect migrant workers including women, a real social and financial burden is almost inevitable. Here lies the significance of regularising the intermediaries. If they are regulated by laws, human trafficking could be controlled and discipline could be established.
The government must invest in migration as they push the cart of the economy by toiling hard.
