Chairman of Parliamentarian Caucus on Migration and Development Md Israfil Alam on Wednesday said thousands of Bangladeshi workers were moving on the streets in Bahrain without jobs as more workers were sent there than the demand.
"About 10,000 Bangladeshi workers were recently sent to Bahrain against the jobs of 5000 workers," he said while speaking at a national consultation on global forum on migration and development at CIRDAP auditorium.
WARBE development foundation organized the nation consultation on Global Forum on Migration and Development 2017.
The upcoming GFMD is due to be held in Berlin, Germany on June 28-30, 2017, said the participants.
Speaking as chief guest, Israfil Alam said that Tk 1400 crore were laundered to Bahrain through issuance of false visas and payment of high migration cost of Bangladeshi workers.
Referring to his to recent visit to Bahrain, Israfil said that he found involvement of Bangladeshi officials in Manama with attestation of false visas to recruit workers from Bangladesh without confirmation of jobs.
In his welcome address, WARBE development foundation secretary general Faruque Ahmed said that problems of the migrant workers at the grassroot level would be presented in the national and international forum to find solution.
WARBE director Jasiya Khatoon presented a keynote paper at the function.
Speaking as guest of honour, expatriate welfare and overseas employment ministry’s acting secretary Jabed Ahmed said that the government was working to ensure ‘safe and orderly migration’ in light londontoto of achieving the sustainable development goals.
Mentioning that more than one crore Bangladeshi workers were employed abroad, Jabed Ahmed said that it was necessary for the Bangladesh’s government and other civil society members to play important role in the global forum like GFMD.
International Labour Organization national program manager Rahnuma Salam Khan said that the Bangladesh delegation should focus on how to ensure migrants’ decent work as it contains details about standard of job contact, wage, overtime and working hours at workplace.
Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) joint secretary general Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman said that the female workers who consist of 27 per cent of the total migrants were kept out of the labour law coverage in the destination countries.
About 78 per cent of the country’s total migrants were employed in Middle East countries from where small number of representatives takes part in the global forum, he said.
Noman urged the government to slash the travel cost for migrants and reduce the passport fees in a bid to lower the migration cost.
Presiding over the consultation, WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque said that they would present recommendations to the government as well as to the GFMD meeting in Berlin.
Bangladeshi Ovhibashi Mohila Sramik Association (BOMSA) general secretary Sheikh Rumana, foreign ministry’s assistant secretary Kaniz Fatima, BOMSA director Sumaiya Islam, INAFI Bangladesh executive director Atiqun Nabi and BASA director AKM Saiful Islam took part in the discussion.
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