Abuse of human trafficking law harms labour market

Reza Mahmud :
Abuse of human trafficking law harms labour market as many members of recruiting agencies are being harassed frequently.
Many members of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) alleged that police frequently raided and arrested them and sent to court without justifying the real matter.
As a result, they said, several foreign bound workers failed to go to their confirmed workplaces abroad in absence of reformation.
“When a proprietor of any recruiting agency is barred or is victimised abusing the human trafficking law, all the procedures of visas of his company must be hampered,” said one of the BAIRA members.
They said eventually many of the visas because invalid and those foreign bound workers failed to go to the destinations.
Sources from BAIRA said that the recruiting agencies always send workers following the migrant law appropriately.
But, they said, the human traffickers used to send people without applying any rule to Europe and America through a third country using as a transit.
Mostly the local agents are doing such heinous work.
Those miscreants are staying away of arresting, but the police arrest the legal recruiting agency owners abusing the law frequently.
“If any migrant worker face legal action abroad after violating local rules of the concern country, they filed allegation against the recruiting agency who sent him abroad and police use the law to harass the owner,” BAIRA members alleged.
When contacted, Mohammad Abul Bashar, President of BAIRA told The New Nation on Wednesday, “All of the licensed recruiting agencies send manpower abroad following the ‘Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013’. We send workers abroad only after getting certificates from the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET). So it is impossible to conduct human trafficking by any BAIRA member.”
He said the workers who file cases against BAIRA members are doing wrong burying their own faults and responsibilities to the recruiting agents.
The BAIRA President said, recruiting agencies never dream of any foreign bound workers wrong dream by telling lie about their wages and working conditions,
but it is local agents who commit such.
“Police have to know that such things are not violating of human trafficking law, but they abuse the law in such cases,” he said.
Abul Bashar, however, said that they are not against the human trafficking law but want not to use it against them.
The BAIRA President said that they have met with Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed, in December where the Secretary of the ministry and Secretary of Foreign ministry also present.
In the meeting, the BAIRA leaders requested the minister to take measures to stop such harassments and to uphold the dignity of the sector which is contributing enough earning huge foreign currency.
The minister assured them to take necessary steps in this regards, he said.
Contacted, Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, Secretary General of BAIRA told The New Nation, “Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013 is only be useful against legal recruiting agencies. The human trafficking law is to be used against the human traffickers.”
He asked the law enforcers not to harass the BAIRA members as they always work following rules and to serve the country.