Manpower recruiters submit a memorandum to PM demanding end to police harassment

Calling for an end to their "harassment" by police using the anti-trafficking law, manpower recruiting agencies have sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday.                                                            

They also demanded an amendment to the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act, 2012, claiming that some of its sections allow police to "harass and humiliate them intentionally".

They called for the inclusion of a provision so that if a worker leaves the country after getting clearance from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training (BMET), it will remain outside the purview of the anti-trafficking law.

The recruiters said they want exemplary punishment for human traffickers, but at the same time, they expressed concern that numerous recruiting agency owners are being discouraged to send workers abroad due to harassment using the human trafficking prevention law.

As a result, the government's target of sending workers abroad is being hampered, they said in the memorandum.

"Sending workers abroad after accepting smart cards issued by BMET is not human trafficking. If workers have any grievances, they can seek redress under the migration law," M Tipu Sultan, proprietor of Rajdhani Trade International, told The Business Standard.

"Even after sending workers legally, recruiting agency owners are arrested like human traffickers and thus they get their achievements tarnished," he added.

In 2019, the expatriates' welfare minister wrote the home minister stating that any complaint brought against recruiting agencies would be outside the scope of the trafficking prevention law, the memorandum mentioned.

Earlier, last Sunday, the manpower recruiters formed a human chain in front of the National Press Club in the capital to press their demand.

The protesters also sent a memorandum to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.

Speaking at the human chain, the recruiters said if they did not get any positive response from the authorities on stopping harassment, they will declare tougher programmes such as halting manpower exports from 1 November this year.

Around 1,500 recruiting agencies are members of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agency.