UN Human Rights Chief to visit Malaysia for human rights, migrant issues
During his stop in Malaysia, Türk will meet with senior Government officials in Kuala Lumpur and in Putrajaya, including with the Malaysian Prime Minister, according to a press statement from the office of the high commission for human rights (OHCHR) on Friday
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk will be conducting a series of visits in Malaysia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), with a brief stop in Thailand, for several meetings regarding migraine workers and human rights defenders.
During his stop in Malaysia, Türk will meet with senior Government officials in Kuala Lumpur and in Putrajaya, including with the Malaysian Prime Minister, according to a press statement from the office of the high commission for human rights (OHCHR) on Friday.
He will meet with officials of the national human rights institution, SUHAKAM, as well as representatives of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, human rights defenders, representatives of civil society organisations, lawyers' groups, migrants and refugees, and members of the international community.
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Sources from Kuala Lumpur told The Business Standard that the labour rights situation of vulnerable foreign workers from 14 source countries in Malaysia including Bangladesh may be covered.
Human rights defenders have already provided various briefs to him about the recent joblessness of migrant workers in Malaysia, as per the sources.
In a statement in April, a number of UN experts expressed dismay about the situation of Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia, who had travelled there in the hope of employment after engaging in the official labour migration process.
Bangladesh Expatriate Welfare ministry Secretary Md Ruhul Amin said on 21 April that the UN statement is under review.
"The organisation will be informed about it later. The Malaysian side will respond to what has been said about them. We will respond to the comments made about us," said
Bangladesh has already sent 4.5 lakh workers till April this year among the 5 lakh quota under a MoU.
The deadline to May 31 was the deadline to send workers in Malaysia, but at least 10,000 Bangladeshi workers could not fly to Malaysia due to the failure of recruiting agencies syndicate to provide their tickets on time, according to sector insiders.
