Mahabub Alam :
The Overseas Employment and Migration Act-2013 was enacted about 15 months ago to stop fraudulent migration and ensure migrants’ rights but there is no execution of it, says a survey report conducted by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU).
Discrepancy in some sections of the Act and unawareness about process of filing case has been described by the survey to be a cause of inactivity.
The law has authorised victims’ families, Officer-in-Charges, Upazila Nirbahi Officers, Magistrates and Lawyers to file case against the illegal manpower exporters or human traffickers. But no case was lodged in this connection since its enactment in 2013.
They are still found by the RMMRU study report to be unaware.
A study report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stated that about 87,000 job seekers landed in Malaysia through river route illegally this year compared with 53,000 in 2013.
The media reports say nearly 540 people lost their lives at the time of going to Malaysia through illegal channels in 2014.
According to Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand, some 700 Bangladeshis had been recovered from different jungles and costal areas of Thailand this year.
RMMRU reports say that about 4,000 people from seven Upazilas of Sirajganj district flocked to Malaysia through ocean route illegally in the last eight months this year. Of them, 500 could not yet been traced while 250 in jails of Thailand.
An organised syndicate allure the working people of lucrative jobs from Tk 10,000 to Tk one lakh. Hosting them in Thailand or Malaysia, Tk 2.20 lakh to 2.50 lakh is demanded. In case non-payment, they are cruelly tortured and even killed.
RMMRU survey says, there is no ‘non-obstensive close’ in the Overseas Employment and Migration Act-2013. Moreover, the Act does not contain words like ‘must be done’, but ‘might be done’, which encourages offenders to slip punishment.
There are loopholes in Section Nos- 38, 39 and 40 of the Act.
Under the proposed law, the offenders will be tried in the first class Judicial Magistrate courts for disposal of case within six months since filing.
In it, there is also a provision of maximum 10 years imprisonment and a penalty of Tk 5 lakh for sending a person abroad through illegal channels.
But Judicial Magistrate has no authorisation to award anyone 10 years jail, the report says.
The Section-40 says that this law will be scheduled in the Mobile Court Act-2009’s Section-5. But the Mobile Court has authorisation to give any convicted one year jail only.
Who can be able to award the highest punishment? RMMRU questioned.
Private recruitment agencies can send jobseekers abroad by realizing from them migration costs as fixed by the government. They cannot appoint middlemen in the country, but would be allowed to appoint representatives abroad with prior permission from the government, says the law.
But it is reported, three to five fold money is realised from migrants. Middlemen are also used.
Md Answar Uddin Anas, Assistant Communications Officer of RMMRU, told this reporter, the existing discrepancy in the law should be removed. And the awareness should be created among the victim family, OCs, UNOs, Lawyers and Magistrates to file case.
The Overseas Employment and Migration Act-2013 was enacted about 15 months ago to stop fraudulent migration and ensure migrants’ rights but there is no execution of it, says a survey report conducted by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU).
Discrepancy in some sections of the Act and unawareness about process of filing case has been described by the survey to be a cause of inactivity.
The law has authorised victims’ families, Officer-in-Charges, Upazila Nirbahi Officers, Magistrates and Lawyers to file case against the illegal manpower exporters or human traffickers. But no case was lodged in this connection since its enactment in 2013.
They are still found by the RMMRU study report to be unaware.
A study report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stated that about 87,000 job seekers landed in Malaysia through river route illegally this year compared with 53,000 in 2013.
The media reports say nearly 540 people lost their lives at the time of going to Malaysia through illegal channels in 2014.
According to Bangladesh Embassy in Thailand, some 700 Bangladeshis had been recovered from different jungles and costal areas of Thailand this year.
RMMRU reports say that about 4,000 people from seven Upazilas of Sirajganj district flocked to Malaysia through ocean route illegally in the last eight months this year. Of them, 500 could not yet been traced while 250 in jails of Thailand.
An organised syndicate allure the working people of lucrative jobs from Tk 10,000 to Tk one lakh. Hosting them in Thailand or Malaysia, Tk 2.20 lakh to 2.50 lakh is demanded. In case non-payment, they are cruelly tortured and even killed.
RMMRU survey says, there is no ‘non-obstensive close’ in the Overseas Employment and Migration Act-2013. Moreover, the Act does not contain words like ‘must be done’, but ‘might be done’, which encourages offenders to slip punishment.
There are loopholes in Section Nos- 38, 39 and 40 of the Act.
Under the proposed law, the offenders will be tried in the first class Judicial Magistrate courts for disposal of case within six months since filing.
In it, there is also a provision of maximum 10 years imprisonment and a penalty of Tk 5 lakh for sending a person abroad through illegal channels.
But Judicial Magistrate has no authorisation to award anyone 10 years jail, the report says.
The Section-40 says that this law will be scheduled in the Mobile Court Act-2009’s Section-5. But the Mobile Court has authorisation to give any convicted one year jail only.
Who can be able to award the highest punishment? RMMRU questioned.
Private recruitment agencies can send jobseekers abroad by realizing from them migration costs as fixed by the government. They cannot appoint middlemen in the country, but would be allowed to appoint representatives abroad with prior permission from the government, says the law.
But it is reported, three to five fold money is realised from migrants. Middlemen are also used.
Md Answar Uddin Anas, Assistant Communications Officer of RMMRU, told this reporter, the existing discrepancy in the law should be removed. And the awareness should be created among the victim family, OCs, UNOs, Lawyers and Magistrates to file case.
