MIGRATION of unskilled or semi skilled Bangladeshi nationals abroad has become highly risky and fraught with danger of being cheated and misled at every steps. Only two days back 24 Bangladeshi nationals drowned in the Mediterranean as a group of 78 set off on a dangerous journey from Libya to Italy by sea. Report said over 2,500 people have so far drowned in the Mediterranean this year in their desperate attempt to flee the war zones in Syria, Iraq, Libya and some African countries. The stream of refugees towards Western Europe shows peace and prosperity in Europe can’t stay unaffected if the people across the sea remained unsafe in wars and in abject poverty. It is not unfair to say, Europe party created the situation and they are hit back by refugees whether they want it or not.
The death of Bangladeshi nationals in the Mediterranean shows the desperate fights for livelihood of our people away from the country. Some of them also died earlier on such ill-fated journey. What is shocking is that the Libyan government did not return the dead bodies; they buried them there. The rescued people from the Libyan coast are also held in detention camps, as many of them don’t have the valid resident documents to come to Bangladesh. As it appears that some victims were settled in Libya before the civil war broke out and as they turned out quite unsafe and jobless, they made the desperate attempt to migrate to Europe. Victims’ families in Bangladesh now mourn their sons and brothers death but it also exposes the danger in which millions of Bangladeshi workers abroad are fighting in hostile environment to earn livelihood for them and their families. They are important lifeline of our economy but ignored in all respects. Needless to say that the tragedies in the West shock the nation after tens of thousands of young Bangladeshi nationals were rescued from traffickers in Thai jungles and sea where many of them were also buried in detention camps. Media report also said human traffickers are regrouping to start the slave trade again after the monsoon in East Asian routes.
The fact is that if the Bangladesh government were really concerned for the safety of its nationals and economic growth were made faster young people would not have fallen victim to traffickers and would not join the global stream of refugees. Moreover, the government knows the big names of human traffickers and if they were destroyed, media report of their new preparation to start the slave trade after monsoon would not come to light again. So we must do enough to protect our people without letting them to fall victim in others hand.
In our view our diplomatic missions abroad must also become pro-active to give protection to the young people in risks. The embassy in Libya is only watching the development from the sideline. What is more important is that the immigration must be more vigilant to stop people going out without valid work permit and to war zones. Our sea-lane must also be sealed to traffickers trying to reopen the slave trade again.
