Sagar Biswas :
A parliamentary watchdog has directed the government to take immediate step to check trafficking of women those are sending to different foreign countries undercover of cultural teams and issuing tourist visa.
The directives came at the meeting of parliamentary standing committee on Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry on Thursday after committee member Israfil Alam [MP of Naogaon-6 constituency] raised the allegation of women trafficking.The JS body asked the government to take coordinated move involving the Ministry of Home and the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment to tackling the women trafficking issue.
The meeting, presided over by Nurul Majid Mamun Humayun, held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, also proposed the government to collect adequate information about the ‘workplace and category of job’ before sending women team to any foreign country.
When contacted, Israfil Alam told The New Nation last night, “Yes, I raised the issue at the meeting….The real situation is highly sensitive. Recently, I visited some of the Middle East and South Eastern countries where I had seen sufferings of several Bangladeshi girls those were trapped by bad elements.”
“I can give some specific examples….there are several incidents of women trafficking in Malaysia and Dubai. Most of these victims went there as artistes. In Dubai several Bangladeshi women were subjected to severe torture also,” he said.
“Some others went to Malaysia with visit visa, but they were in trouble when failed to return after expire of visa tenure. Three women were caught by Malaysian police and I had met one of them whose condition was critical,” the MP said elaborating his thrilling experience. A source close to Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry said that the incidents of women trafficking undercover of cultural team came to light when some victims managed to contact human rights organizations of those countries seeking help and shelter.
It was found that the victims were enlisted in the ‘cultural teams’ in exchange of Tk 4-5 lakh. But the syndicate later sold them as ‘sex workers’ again taking huge amount of money from the buyers. The story is almost same about visit visa case, the source said.
Israfil Alam further said, “Apart from cultural team, the Bangladeshi women also fell in trap, especially in Saudi Arabia and other OIC countries, those are sent there as housemaids.”
“Not only that, a good number of women also went to different countries to get a job in garment factories and several of them were either trapped or tortured. So, the JS body asked the government to ensure safety of women before sending them as maids and garment workers,” he said.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary standing committee also urged to government to bring all the expatriates under insurance facilities. The committee believes that it is necessary to take such steps apparently to give compensation to the families of accident victims. The meeting was attended by committee members Md Shahabuddin MP, Mahfuzur Rahman MP and Md Ayen Uddin MP, among others.
Secretary of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, director general of BMET, managing director of Prabashai Kalyan Bank, president of BAIRA Abul Bashar were present.
