A parliamentary watchdog has recently asked the Foreign Ministry to prepare a specific work plan to stop torture and sexual harassment of female expatriate workers, saying that even a single such incident was not acceptable. While it is true that the government can’t act on emotion and ban female workers completely, it is also equally true that not a single case of death or torture on our female workers should be acceptable. In the last three years alone the bodies of 311 women were sent back to Bangladesh from the Gulf countries. The government could, at the very least, ask the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries to examine how and why these women died. If any foul play was involved then the perpetrators should be charged with homicide.
While the government says that the Saudi government took steps over the torture of workers we don’t have concrete idea as to how many cases were been looked into. Even if we accept the government’s official figures of 6000 workers being tortured (1 percent of 6 lakh female workers abroad) how many cases were actually investigated and how many of the culprits were punished are unknown. The recent case of Bangladeshi female migrant workers pleading to the PM to rescue them has created headlines as they claimed that the Bangladeshi Embassy in Saudi Arabia said they couldn’t buy tickets for them. This type of behaviour by the Bangladesh Embassy towards our female workers is unacceptable and must be changed. If necessary it must be implemented into official policy by our Foreign Ministry.
In addition — we should prepare a blacklist of employers who have had a history of torture of other forms of exploitation on our workers. It should be ensured that any manpower agent who sends women to these employers faces huge fines and if necessary, a period of incarceration so that they don’t make such mistakes in the future—mistakes which cost our workers their lives and dignity. Nothing is worth the death of even a single citizen of our nation–and that includes the billions we get in remittances.
While the government says that the Saudi government took steps over the torture of workers we don’t have concrete idea as to how many cases were been looked into. Even if we accept the government’s official figures of 6000 workers being tortured (1 percent of 6 lakh female workers abroad) how many cases were actually investigated and how many of the culprits were punished are unknown. The recent case of Bangladeshi female migrant workers pleading to the PM to rescue them has created headlines as they claimed that the Bangladeshi Embassy in Saudi Arabia said they couldn’t buy tickets for them. This type of behaviour by the Bangladesh Embassy towards our female workers is unacceptable and must be changed. If necessary it must be implemented into official policy by our Foreign Ministry.
In addition — we should prepare a blacklist of employers who have had a history of torture of other forms of exploitation on our workers. It should be ensured that any manpower agent who sends women to these employers faces huge fines and if necessary, a period of incarceration so that they don’t make such mistakes in the future—mistakes which cost our workers their lives and dignity. Nothing is worth the death of even a single citizen of our nation–and that includes the billions we get in remittances.
