Migrants Return Home Traumatised

Being a labour intensive country, labours from Bangladesh go to different parts of the world like Malaysia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to work for better pay. However, on December 10, at least 50 Bangladeshi women and 75 men returned back from Saudi Arabia after facing abuse in the hands of their masters. Similar cases have taken place before where hundreds and thousands of domestic workers from Saudi Arabia have returned home traumatised.

Women migrant workers have alleged that they were exploited physically, mentally and sexually. According to some allegations, they were not even paid their wages, and worse, not given adequate food. For the victims of sexual abuse, returning home adds on to their trauma as their husbands refuse to accept them. According to reports, some of these women come back pregnant. Women migrants working indoors in the Gulf are more vulnerable, firstly, because they are not covered by the local labour law, secondly, because being a foreigner in another country she will most probably not have knowledge, resources and confidence to go to court.

Migrant men were detained even when they had passports. Inquiries revealed that these men had ‘free visas’, which is illegal. Employers secure approval of work visas from work authorities to make money. Once the workers reach the country, they find a different job and pay a monthly/ yearly fee to the sponsors. Bangladeshi labours have also been victims of bonded labour at Top Glove, the world’s largest medical glove maker, located in Malaysia. According to The Guardian, Bangladeshi workers had paid Tk 3-4 lakhs to get the job. This leaves them in huge debt.

A close look at the management of labour workers from Bangladesh and Malaysia show that the recruitment process under G2G Plus Deal is being distorted by transnational traders to make workers pay high fees. The Bangladesh government proposed the Global Impact on Migration in the UN in 2016, but this cannot enforce what is needed to care for the country’s migrant workers.

Read more: The Daily Star