7/16/2020 Migrant workers coming home: To what? | The Daily Star employment opportunities are available, and whether the employers who are issuing the demand letters actually have enough jobs to provide? In Saudi Arabia, because of the kafala system, employers keep the workers' papers, including passports, and so if a worker tries to escape an exploitative situation, s/he becomes "irregular". Despite paying huge sums of money and going there legally, people like Emdadul must pay the renewal fee every year, which is supposed to be borne by the recruitment company—without this, they become "irregular". These are systemic problems which have become all the more evident during the pandemic. All of the international agreements, such as the Compact for Migration, are non-binding, so nothing is being implemented despite promises that the kafala system will be dismantled. Why are we failing to demand that destination countries treat our workers with dignity and provide them with basic necessities? Our embassies need to reach out in this hour of need. The government says it is allocating Taka 12 crore to provide food, but this is insufficient, especially when they bring in USD 18 billion in remittances. In fact, all the money allocated for migrants, including the amount for loans, are actually from the Migrant Welfare Fund, which is basically the migrants' own money. We need the government to allocate funds from its own coffers. The Foreign Minister made a proposal, which we have been making as well, that there should be a global fund under the United Nations to compensate workers robbed off their wages, but so far, there has been no mobilisation. It is high time we set up a returnee centre dedicated for migrants, which will verify the dues, document violations of workers' rights, build their skills and act as a resource to connect migrants to employment opportunities, associations and networks. Under the welfare board, a taskforce should be created with relevant stakeholders, including employers' federations. Our recruiting agencies have also failed to find new markets for our migrants. We need to do more to find emerging markets and train our people adequately.    https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/news/migrant-workers-coming-home-what-1922477 9/14