Staff Reporter :
Migrant rights groups want a comprehensive plan and transparent mechanism to reintegrate the migrants who are returning from abroad after losing jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a virtual discussion on Saturday, they said the immediate task of the government now is to look into the welfare of the jobless migrants and their families as they are not included in the social safety net programme of the government often.
The government also needs to maintain a database of the returnee migrants, including their contacts and skill sets that will be essential for planning and implementing the programme to reintegrate, they observed.
The discussion on “Migrants Budget 2020-2021 and the Protection of Migrants and Families” was jointly organised by WARBE Development Foundation, Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme (OKUP) and Institute of Informatics and Development (IID).
Addressing the discussion, Expatriates’ Welfare Secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said already 3,500 Bangladeshi migrants have returned home and many are likely to return. The number cannot be said at this moment, but it would be a significant one, he added. Therefore, the government is reviewing the impacts of this return and taking actions — immediate, mid-term and long-term. A total of Tk 10 crore has been allocated for food assistance, while Tk 700 crore has been allocated for providing soft loan to the returnee migrants so they can start business.
“Apart from reintegration, we will also plan how we can help re-migration in the changed labour market situation, including by re-skilling them,” Saleheen said.
In a presentation, OKUP Executive Director Shakirul Islam said overseas jobs as well as remittance, which was $18 billion last year, will drastically decline this year. Therefore, the government needs to have a serious plan for it.
IID CEO Syeed Ahamed; Dr Nurul Islam, former director at the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training; lawmaker Shameem Haider Patwary; BRAC Migration Programme Head Shariful Hasan; Centre for Development Communication Ltd Managing Director Hasan Imam Shaon; Parliamentary Caucus on Migration and Development Chair Israfil Alam MP, its member Mahjabeen Khaled MP also spoke at the discussion moderated by WARBE Development Foundation Chair Syed Saiful Haque.
