Safety of migrant workers stressed

Discussants at  a prgramme on “Safe Migration of Workers: Bangladesh
Perspective” in Babuganj upazila of Barisal  on Wednesday stressed for
safety and security of the migrant workers by maintaining legal
procedure with transparency and accountability.
The commitment of high commissions, skills, fitness of workers,
transparency and accountability of the recruiting agencies and
migration of skilled manpower abroad through a legal channel can help
ensure safe migration of skilled manpower abroad as well as safe
repatriation during crisis periods, they opined.
The participants revealed that the vulnerability of migrant workers is
mainly due to a lack of awareness of their rights and lack of skills.
The programme was organised by the safe migration programme of BRAC at
Upazila Parishad in collaboration with Upazila administration,
employment and manpower office.
AKM Sahabuddin Ahmed, assistant director employment and manpower
Barisal, presided over the programme and Zakir Hossain, field
coordinator, presented key-notes conducted by Abul Bashar of the of
the BRAC programme.
It was addressed among others by Bakayhed Hossain, Babuganj upazila
nirbahi officer, Kamal Hossain, upazila social services officer, Asma
Begum, upazila youth development officer, Dr. Swapan Kumar Mitra,
upazila health and family planning officer, Ripan Chandra Mandal,
district BRAC official of Barisal.
The speakers emphasised the unconditional assistance of embassies and
transparency and accountability in the works of recruiting agencies
for safe migration of skilled manpower and safe repatriation of the
workers during crisis periods.
They reviewed about migration-related policies and legislation,
pre-departure orientation and research on the contribution of foreign
employment to the national economy.
They also focused on the essentials of migration management, migration
market development, preparation for regional and global events
information dissemination and counseling for safe migration.
The most common forms of abuse of migrant workers include overwork, a
monthly income below the minimum wage, a lack of social security,
harassment and sexual abuse, they said.
They strongly recommended strengthening local capacities to protect
migrant workers, gain medical fitness, skill, reviewing labour
legislation relating to domestic work and launching a large-scale
information campaign on the rights of migrant workers.
They also suggested a comprehensive action plan for the protection of
migrant workers including the revision and application of the legal
framework for migrant workers; the launching of an information
campaign and the training of workers in labour rights.
(Barisal  Correspondent)

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