Around 1,000 women workers have returned home from Saudi Arabia in the past five months, unable to withstand the physical and mental tortured by their employers. Many are waiting at safe houses and different jails there to get back to Bangladesh. The women went to Saudi Arabia with dreams of changing their fortune, but are now returning home empty-handed, said the Bangladesh Civil Society for Migration (BCSM) at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club yesterday (Thursday).

In a written statement, the BCSM, a coalition of 11 non-government organisations that work for migrants, further said the women were compelled to return as they were overworked, not allowed to retire for the day on time, not given adequate food and their due payment.

Besides, they suffered severe mental and physical, including sexual, harassment by employers and other people in the households, and many of them returned after becoming pregnant, said the statement read out by Rina Roy, director of Manusher Jonne Foundation (MJF).

The BCSM demanded government compensation, proper treatment and due wages for the women who have come back because of harassment. It also demanded safety for each women worker sent to different countries, including Saudi Arabia. It wanted employers and agencies in those countries to take responsibility of the victims and children, and initiate legal action against the culprits.

The BCSM statement said many women workers returned home after having lost their mental balance, as they were subjected to medieval-era repression, like being burnt by having hot water poured on them, and being given iron-shake on their bodies, said the statement.

According to BMET statistics, there are 2,04,729 women workers in Saudi Arabia, which is about 30 per cent of the total Bangladeshi women expatriates.

It regretted that as many as 4,500 had so far returned home after being subjected to mental or physical torture, but the Bangladesh government failed to take steps to deal with the situation.

The government must review whether women workers should be sent abroad unless their safety was ensured, it observed.

While describing their horrible experiences, some of the women broke down and demanded exemplary punishment of the perpetrators.

Marina Sultana, programme director of Refugee and Migration Movements Research Unit (RAMMRU), Saidul Haque, chairman of Warbe Development Foundation, and Shariful Islam, head of migration, BRAC, among others, spoke on the occasion.

The BCSM also formed a human chain in front of the Press Club to protest against the torture of women.