12/01/2021
The migration grievance redress mechanism
Case filing at Mobile Court: The Overseas Employment and Migration Act 2013 has kept the provision
under the Clause 40 to access the Mobile Court Act 2009, through which a survivor could file a case.
Case filing at police station or magistrate court: If the survivors are not satisfied with the BMET's GMC
mediation or compensation, they have the provision to sue the brokers or recruiting agents through
filing cases at local police station or magistrate court. There they could charge the dishonest broker
under the Overseas Employment and Migration Act 2013 or Prevention and Suppression of Human
Trafficking Act 2012. The poor migrant workers or survivors could also have the right to take free
assistance from district legal aid services and lawyers. Based on the judicial system, the survivors have
the access to district judge's court or High Court to get fair justice.
Case filing at specialized courts: The survivors could also file cases at specialised courts for claiming
fair justice like: Labour Court or Social Court or tribunal (Druta Bichar Tribunal). In this case they can
also take help of District Legal Aid services free of cost.
Case filing at the court of destination country: For getting justice in the destination country or host
country, the survivor could file a case there under labour law or relevant international laws. With the
help of the Bangladeshi mission, lawyers, international volunteer lawyers or organisations like Lawyers
Beyond Border (LBB), the survivors could run the case.
Public Interest Litigation (PIL): To bring change in the national laws, policies or even international
laws, the migrants or survivors could file PIL (Public Interest Litigation) at Appellate Court for the
welfare of all migrant workers and survivors of labour trafficking. For this kind of PIL, the survivors
could get assistance from the volunteer lawyers' organisation called Justice Watch Foundation.
CONCLUSION: In spite of having different legal remedies for the abused migrant workers or survivors
of labour trafficking, getting proper justice is still challenging for Bangladeshi migrant workers. These
challenging factors may include: lack of knowledge of the survivors or migrant workers' families, lack
of wide publicity campaign on the part of the government, lack of manpower in the government
institutions, absence of capacity building initiatives, delayed bureaucracy procedure, and insufficient
funds for the welfare projects of migrants. Though the CSOs in Bangladesh are practising some
distinctive processes to redress the migration grievances, these are informal, and have limited capacity
to handle such services as well as not recognised by the government. For example, the Union
Information and Service Centres (UISC) are also not well capable of filling BMET online complaint
forms, local Police Stations also are not well familiar with the Overseas Employment and Migration Act
2013. However, existing policies and legislations are in place to protect and uphold migrant workers'
rights as global citizens instead of treating them as commodities of the migration process. It is crucial to
create awareness about this particular aspect of migration. There is a lack of clear procedural guidelines
in the case of overseas migration. However, to ensure the protection of migrants' rights and their
awareness, effective and timely measures should be taken. Therefore, for ensuring fair justice for the
survivors, the structure could create a pathway both for the government and CSOs. For this purpose, the
government should launch an integrated online complaint mechanism system to serve the migrant
community in an efficient way.
The writer is Researcher and Consultant, WARBE Development Foundation, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
aminul_haque2000@yahoo.com
Editor : Shah Husain Imam
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