Legal support at foreign missions urged to ensure justice for migrant workers

Diplomatic missions abroad are not well-equipped to provide access to justice for migrant workers, amid a shortage of manpower and funding, making exploitation and trafficking of workers abundant, said migration stakeholders at a dialogue on Monday.

Migrant workers often lose jobs without warnings and are deprived of wages while women workers suffer sexual abuses. The crisis is acute as no worker can file legal complaints for staying far away from their homeland, said Anisul Islam Mahmud, chairman, parliamentary standing committee on expatriate welfare and overseas employment.

Our embassies do not have any legal officer to provide consultation services abroad, Anisul said at the event organised by Bangladesh Parliamentarians' Caucus on Migration and Development, and Warbe Development Foundation.

He suggested providing funds to Bangladesh missions abroad from the Wage Earners' Welfare Board for ensuring legal support for migrant workers.   

Furthermore, it is not possible to seek justice after returning to the country and justice has to be ensured in or around the country where the crime was committed. 

A woman at the discussion session said she was sent to Mumbai, India instead of the promised Saudi Arabia. She managed to return to Bangladesh and filed a case with the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training against the responsible travel agency but has failed to get any compensation so far.

Lawmaker Shameem Haider Patwary said, "The government should form a separate tribunal to address the cases of migrant workers."

He also put emphasis on increasing the allocation and manpower of concerned departments under the expat ministry to serve the migrant workers more effectively. 

More than 1.52 crore Bangladeshis have been employed abroad since 1976 as per the estimation of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training.

A study in 2021 found that around 67.7% returnee migrants did not receive due wages in the destination countries while 38.7% received reduced wages amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

On an average, a returnee migrant lost over Tk1.79 lakh in wages and other entitlements in the workplace, found the research jointly conducted by the Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit and Migrant Forum in Asia.