Dhaka must have bilateral deals for migrant workers

EDITORIAL

THE plight of Bangladeshi migrant workers in destination countries has almost always made the headlines. Stories of the sorry state of migrant workers have recently been heard more, especially after the authorities in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries started going tough on migrant workers. The number of illegal Bangladeshis in Malaysia could be, as New Age reported early September quoting officials and migrant rights activists in both Malaysia and Bangladesh, about a million. As the Bangladesh authorities could not protect the rights of migrant workers living illegally there, the emerging situation has pushed the remittances from Malaysia, which was $1381.53 million in the 2015 financial year, down to $1107.21 million in the 2018 financial year. Stories on Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia narrate how the workers, many of whom paid for their migration cost by selling their homestead, are tortured, physically and sexually, how they are not paid their proper wages regularly and how they returned home empty-handed. Remittances from Saudi Arabia, which topped in the 2015 financial year with $3345.23 million, declined to $2591.58 million in the 2018 financial year. Although reasons for the plight of migrant workers in various destination countries may be different, the Bangladesh authorities have hardly been successful in protecting their rights.

The problem, it seems, lies in the way the workers are sent abroad. Bangladesh sends workers to 165 countries but has bilateral agreements, which are binding, with only two countries — Kuwait and Qatar. The Bangladesh authorities have memorandums of understanding, which are not binding, with only 11 countries — Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Korea, Oman, Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Maldives and Kampuchea. Besides, Bangladesh sends some technical interns to Japan under a memorandum of cooperation, which is the weakest of the three instruments. More than 12 million Bangladeshi workers have migrated to work abroad since 1976 although many of them have already returned, yet leaving a greater number of them with overseas jobs. A situation like this does not arm up Bangladesh adequately to monitor migrant worker situation and protect their rights in destination countries. 

It is in this context the government should heed what people at the Global Forum on Migration and Development summit in Marrakesh have pushed for — bilateral agreements, which can provide for the best protection for workers in destination countries. Bilateral agreements can effectively provide for ‘fair and ethical recruitment’, ‘labour rights’ and ‘decent work’. Bangladesh should immediately start working to replace non-binding memorandums of understanding with destination countries with binding bilateral agreements to effectively protect the rights of migrant workers and add to the amount of remittance inflows.

The government, therefore, must step up to the plate to have in place bilateral agreements on worker migration, replacing the current memorandums of understanding or cooperation, with all the destination countries so that rights of Bangladeshi workers could be protected there. Bangladesh must also go for bilateral agreements on worker migration when it explores new overseas job market. Only this way, the government can stop Bangladeshi workers from being exploited in destination countries and make further addition to the remittance inflows.

• Courtesy: New Age /Dec 09, 2018