Editorial
Our expatriate workers' plight
Handling of the issue leaves much to be desired
To say that the problems of expatriate Bangladeshi workers have not been handled well is an understatement. Their woes have been splashed very poignantly in the media continually, without any improvement in the situation. It seems that very little time is being given to ensure the entire process of workers employment abroad that occupies several stages are foolproof and hassle free.
Over the last several weeks in particular the travails of a large number of workers in Malaysia left in limbo due to documental lacunae was heartrending. Some of them have returned home but many are awaiting repatriation and due remuneration. In the meantime one of them has died in Malaysia while waiting to get home.
Only the other day 82 Bangladeshi workers were returned from Dubai for possessing fake travel visas. And equally disturbing is the recent news of seven Bangladeshi workers of a furniture factory in Saudi Arabia, being burnt to death.
The relevant authorities perhaps need to be kept reminded that our workers abroad earn the largest foreign exchange for the country. It is a thankless administration that fails to ensure that these persons get the deal that they are promised.
Regrettably, they get the raw deal in most cases, starting from the very first phase, that is the actions of the relevant agencies at home, to the time they are absorbed in the receiving country by their employers. The fact that 82 were sent home for possessing fake visas demonstrates the sloppy oversight exercised by the authorities, whose one fundamental job is to ensure that all the travel documents are in order.
The less said of the local employers not living up to the bargain both in terms of work conditions as well as workers' remuneration, the better. The squalor and the decrepit conditions they have to live in and the hazardous conditions they have to work in are not alien to the relevant agencies in Bangladesh.
In seeking greener pastures abroad Bangladeshis do not forfeit the right to the minimum dignity of human beings or their basic right as a human. Regrettably, neither the employing agencies in Bangladesh nor the foreign employers care to keep this in mind.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments