Outflow of migrant workers down by 10pc this year: Report
STAFF REPORTER, Dhaka
The flow of Bangladeshi migrant workers to other countries has decreased by 10 per cent this year compared to last year, according to the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU).
The RMMRU says the shrinking of international job markets, physical and mental torture of women workers, a decline in old job sectors like shrimp cultivation and manufacturing of burqa, and absence of new job markets are responsible for the decrease in the flow of migrant workers.
A total of 734,181 Bangladeshi workers migrated to different countries in 2018. The migration flow has dipped by 130,121 till November this year.
Currently, 1.28 crore Bangladeshis are working in different countries on a short-term basis. There is no exact figure of how many workers have returned so far, as there is no process of preserving such data.
The RMMRU points out that there has not been any qualitative change in sending manpower abroad in the last 40 years as Bangladesh is still sending unskilled and semi-skilled manpower to forein countries.
This was revealed at a press conference titled The Patterns and Trends of Labour Migration from Bangladesh in 2019: Achievements and Challenges, organised by the RMMRU at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital, with eminent jurist Dr Shahdeen Malik in the chair. The RMMRU founding chair, Tasneem Siddique, revealed the information at the event through a report.
The organisation also expressed deep concern over the Rohingya crisis and the ongoing unrest in India over the National Register of Citizen (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). It said even though India had assured them that NRC was not going to affect Bangladesh, such statements could not be taken in good faith as incidents of push-in had taken place.
The RMMRU urged the Government of Bangladesh to form a national taskforce with the participation of all stakeholders, including political parties, to take prior preparation to prevent the push-in incidents. Tasneem Siddique, who is also a professor of political science at Dhaka University (DU), pointed out that Bangladesh women workers in Saudi Arabia faced various kinds of repression, including sexual harassment. Many of them have even died, she added.
She also said at least 311 bodies of women were sent to Bangladesh from 2016 to July this year as per the report of the Wage Earners Welfare Board. Of them, 53 committed suicide, 120 died of stroke, and 56 died in accidents.
On the other hand, as per a foreign ministry report, a total of 131 bodies of women workers were sent back. Of them, 98 committed suicide and five were killed, she said.
Till November 2019, a total of 58,283 women workers had migrated to Saudi Arabia. Of them, around 3,000 women workers returned home, she said.
Tasneem, however, said the number of migrant women workers went up by 4.52 per cent this year compared to last year. Till November this year, 97,430 women workers migrated to different countries.
Speaking about the flow of remittances, she said the remittances were likely to go up by 17.05 per cent compared to last year. As per Bangladesh Bank, the remittances would be USD 18.19 billion.
She also mentioned that owing to the new policy of Saudi Arabia, 12 types of jobs have been closed for foreigners. As a result, many Bangladeshi workers who used to work in different sectors like shrimp cultivation and women burqa-making have lost jobs, she explained.
Around 21,000 workers have returned from Saudi Arabia till October this year, she said.
Tasneem also said the reopening of the Seychelles job market in East Africa is good news for Bangladeshi workers since it was closed till October 2018. However, she mentioned that the Malaysian job market was still closed despite the governments repeated attempts to negotiate with the authorities concerned there.
She also said recently that the Malaysian government under the Back for Good programme had given a chance to migrants with illegal papers to go back home by December this year. There are around 30,000 Bangladeshi workers in the list, she added.
Regarding the NRC and CAA in India, Tasneem said Bangladesh might face a serious challenge of push-in incidents by the Indian government from Assam due to NRC in India. We didnt take any prior preparation regarding Rohingyas. Even though India has assured us, the reality is different. Weve seen incidents of push-in. So, the government should get prepared to tackle such attempts by forming a national taskforce, she added.
The RMMRU recommended that the government and civil society members should ensure the security of women workers in Saudi Arabia, the implementation of Prime Ministers directive to register the touts involved in the process and make arrangements for re-autopsy of the bodies that were sent back home.
Shahdeen Malik said: We couldnt send skilled manpower to abroad. It clearly shows that our education system has failed to produce skilled manpower. It has collapsed as our workers have no demand abroad.
About the Rohingyas, NRC and CAA, Malik said Bangladesh had been facing various problems due to the Rohingyas. Now NRC and CAA may impact the country and so Bangladesh needs prior preparation, he added.
Bangladesh is yet to give refugee status to the Rohingyas as under that status many benefits like education, work, and healthcare services are needed to be provided to them. But id Bangladesh doesnt give them refugee status, international aid for Rohingyas will stop.
