MEDIA report on Friday quoting TIB findings based on a detailed study report that around 90 percent of five lakh Bangladeshi male migrant workers had to pay two to three times the actual migration cost last year for seven countries just shows the terrible exploitations the poor job seekers were to face. The report also sounded highly critical to the recruitment process for which manpower agents from Bangladesh have to make transfer of huge money for private sector recruitment. The amount was over 5,234 crore which was a direct capital flight through informal channel. The government is allowing the exploitation to continue.
It is quite unacceptable that a job seeker has to pay between Tk 5 lakhs and Tk 12 lakhs last year for going abroad raising the question how he will be able to recover the money when the job certainty in the Middle Eastern countries is almost absent now and wage level is too low that may require a man at least five years to recover the cost of migration. Why then people are going abroad instead of working in Bangladesh or using the money to run small business is the big question.
The fact is that business environment in the country is fraught with political chaos, corruption and mugging that encourages a man to go abroad on a job. But uncertainty haunt him from day one while manpower agents and other people involved in the process make good of their helplessness to make the way out of the country. TIB’s observations in the report are not anything new and also not unknown to the government watchdog agencies. But what is at fault in absence of workable initiative to improve the poor governance of migration activities including perfecting legal regime and institutional and procedural shortcomings.
The whole labour migration process is intentionally complicated with widespread corruption and high-handedness to force job seekers to pay huge bribes and exorbitant fees at every step to visa office, recruitment agencies, manpower office and whoever has a role in the recruitment process. It is highly abhorrent that an applicant has to go through 24 to 27 stages for getting visa, immigration clearance and smart cards and every step is a trap to extract money from the poor job seekers.
Migrant workers are playing key role to earn foreign currency for the country contributing to country’s faster economic growth and particularly in combating rural poverty. By all account they need all help from the government to go to the country of their destination. But they are getting instead totally sucked that need to be effectively held under check. Particularly their exploitation by employees at the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry and the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) as the TIB report said is not acceptable at all that needs to be severely punished. The TIB report is a fresh eye-opener to the government to act without delay.
It is quite unacceptable that a job seeker has to pay between Tk 5 lakhs and Tk 12 lakhs last year for going abroad raising the question how he will be able to recover the money when the job certainty in the Middle Eastern countries is almost absent now and wage level is too low that may require a man at least five years to recover the cost of migration. Why then people are going abroad instead of working in Bangladesh or using the money to run small business is the big question.
The fact is that business environment in the country is fraught with political chaos, corruption and mugging that encourages a man to go abroad on a job. But uncertainty haunt him from day one while manpower agents and other people involved in the process make good of their helplessness to make the way out of the country. TIB’s observations in the report are not anything new and also not unknown to the government watchdog agencies. But what is at fault in absence of workable initiative to improve the poor governance of migration activities including perfecting legal regime and institutional and procedural shortcomings.
The whole labour migration process is intentionally complicated with widespread corruption and high-handedness to force job seekers to pay huge bribes and exorbitant fees at every step to visa office, recruitment agencies, manpower office and whoever has a role in the recruitment process. It is highly abhorrent that an applicant has to go through 24 to 27 stages for getting visa, immigration clearance and smart cards and every step is a trap to extract money from the poor job seekers.
Migrant workers are playing key role to earn foreign currency for the country contributing to country’s faster economic growth and particularly in combating rural poverty. By all account they need all help from the government to go to the country of their destination. But they are getting instead totally sucked that need to be effectively held under check. Particularly their exploitation by employees at the Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry and the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) as the TIB report said is not acceptable at all that needs to be severely punished. The TIB report is a fresh eye-opener to the government to act without delay.
