EXPERTS on migration and development activists laid emphasis on strong coordination among government and recruiting agencies and employers to ensure female migrants’ rights, reported this newspaper on Tuesday.
They passed the opinions in a view-sharing discourse on the Protectors of Female Migrants in the Middle East jointly organised by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) and Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) in the city. Unfortunately, a large number of Bangladeshi female migrants face different kinds of workplace abuse and harassment every day and sometimes are preyed upon by their employers or recruiting agents.
While reports added that the abuse faced by female migrants is mostly physical and sexual, it was also shown how the manpower sector of Bangladesh is the most neglected one by the state, even though they make a significant contribution to the country’s economy through foreign remittance – the major source of foreign exchange.
The Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) was reported saying that the sending country must negotiate with the receiving country to protect migrants from exploitation because it is of utmost national interest.
According to the report, experts suggested that female migrants should have facilities to get assistance from one-stop service centres at Bangladesh missions at the respective employer country. They would provide immediate shelter to those women in need in foreign countries. The report added that a prominent lawmaker said that there are around 27 lakh unemployed adults in the country, and it seems to us that denying them the scope of getting jobs abroad is nothing but foolhardy. But that does not diminish the state’s responsibility to provide protection and facilities so that the migrant workers are secure.
It is about time the private and public sectors of Bangladesh stop treating female migrants as mere ‘foreign remittance machines’ and take initiatives to help them attain secure migration. The burden falls more on the government as they have the necessary power and adequate resources to facilitate safe migration. Female migrants have been contributing to the country’s economy for years and it is pertinent that the government should recognise their contribution first and the reward them back suitably.
The unemployment scenario prevailing in the country is worsening with every passing year. The government and its inefficient and corrupt apparatus have failed to generate jobs for the youths – male and female – in the country due to its wrong policy-mix and divisive political standings. The government rather shamelessly feels proud by sending our younger talented workforce abroad to work for other’s prosperity and development and boost of the unused pilled up foreign exchange which the workers send home without taking any interest for the welfare of those migrant workers. We urge the authorities concerned to be serious in protecting the rights and ensure welfare of the migrant workers, particularly of the female expatriates.
