The deplorable overseas labor market!
Dr. Forqan Uddin Ahmed :
About ten millions working people of Bangladesh are employed in 161 countries of the world. If the families below the poverty line in Bangladesh can be converted into remittance recipient families, then those families will not be poor. It will be easier to take the country to the developed country. This is possible only when there is proper management of the immigration process. The remittance of migrants is playing a significant role in Bangladesh’s economy. The role of migrants in Bangladesh’s poverty alleviation needs to be dynamic and strengthened.
The majority of the ten millions people belong to working class. Others are engaged in business or other professions in abroad. With more than 99 percent of Bangladeshis living abroad, have their links with their roots in Bangladesh. Expatriates send a large portion of their income as remittances to their relatives. Today the economy of the country has reached a respectable level due to the remittance sent by the expatriates. But the question is whether there is any obligation towards the Bangladeshi nationals of the diplomatic missions abroad. Their dealings with the expatriates are similar to those of the feudal lords. In spite of potentialities, foreign investment in Bangladesh is not being promoted due to lack of proper representation of Bangladesh to foreign investors. It is open secret that the expatriates are not properly assisted in the mission of Bangladesh, When, people from other countries see that Bangladeshis do not get the honor of their own embassy, then the people of that country also get the opportunity to show disrespect the Bangladeshi workers.
In the hope of improving the socio-economic conditions, various skilled and unskilled workers of this country have gone abroad. Money earned has changed their quality of life, working in various countries in the Middle East and Europe for the past few decades, and at the same time strengthening the country’s GDP. By capitalizing on this interest, the human trafficking syndicated group targets the youth of our country and tempts them to migrate abroad illegally for their own interests. Falling into that temptation, our young people are taking risks of their lives to cross the Mediterranean to Europe through Libya. The gang of human traffickers is active on the entire route across the Mediterranean from various countries in Asia and Africa. The state system in Libya has now collapsed. Various armed groups have controlled different parts of the country. In collusion with international human trafficking groups and local brokers, the migrants are being held in various places, tortured and forced to pay ransom. Immigrants are being brutally murdered if they cannot pay the ransom as demanded.
The level of deception and harassment of people in the name of migrating abroad is increasing day by day. A class of brokers is easily capitalizing on the enthusiasm of the youth to go abroad. Over time, Bangladeshis have had the opportunity to live in different countries of the world. Many of them are taking risks in various ways. As soon as he makes a place for himself, he starts preparing to take his friends and relatives from the country. And in this case there are various dangers. They have no travel visa, no job approval order. According to a 2017 survey by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Bangladeshis is among the top five countries whose citizens have tried to cross the Mediterranean for Italy. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Bangladesh is also in the list of states trying to enter Europe through the Mediterranean. The top countries along with Bangladesh are Syria, Nigeria, Guyana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Eritrea and Gambia. The question naturally arises, why are the citizens of Bangladesh crossing the sea like this with the citizens of Africa or war-torn Syria?
Overseas migration has attracted a lot of attention from policymakers and academics in Bangladesh. The writings and debates on migration in Bangladesh has centered around the economic benefits of migration as well as its social implication. The sharp variation in the intensity of overseas migration across the different districts of Bangladesh gives us new insights for policy that links overseas migrations as a panacea for some of the development challenges. The country’s undeveloped region remains limited and in some ways continues to keep them trapper in a vicious circle of deprivation. Bangladesh has the 9th highest remittances recipient country in the world in 2017 (Bangladesh Bank 2018), and in 2019 Bangladesh migrant workforce contributed around USD 19.8 billion to the national reserve and became 8th highest recipient of remittance among the 10 countries in the same year. 18 remittances were seen as the highest source of foreign currency in terms of net earnings 19 Overall, remittance inflows have increased over the last six years, moving from approximately US$ in FY2013-2014 to US$16 FY2018-2019.
While the present government has taken various initiatives for the welfare of the expatriates, its success will depend on the missions. Embassies should be the main hub of labor market, the main office of our export market. In order to expand the labor market of Bangladeshi workers abroad and increase exports, Bangladeshi missions will have to be reorganized to promote foreign investment in the country at a critical level. As a dedicated institution of the country and the people, initiative must be taken to build them. Only then, we will able to export more workforces safely, which will further expedite our sustainable development.
(The writer is former Deputy Director General, Bangladesh Ansar & VDP).
