26/01/2021 Overworked, unpaid and abused, Bangladeshi women return from Middle East | Prothom Alo They said that women migrants mostly employed as the domestic workers were worst victims of the wage theft, as they were traditionally kept out of the labour laws in the Middle East. The experts suggest documenting complaints of migrants to advocate for realising unpaid dues of migrant workers as many of them have been repatriated arbitrarily. When approached, migration specialist Dr CR Abrar, who taught International Relations in Dhaka University, said that migrant workers were facing a crisis amid the COVID pandemic situation. As many migrant workers are coming back home, it is incumbent on the government to examine if they are returning voluntarily or are being forced to leave destination countries in violation of their contracts, he said. He suggested that no repatriation should be facilitated by Bangladesh unless all the lawful claims such as wage, end-service bene t and other entitlements are cleared before repatriation. “Bangladeshi workers have gone to work abroad following international rules and regulations. So they cannot be arbitrarily deported or deprived of their due wages. They should be duly compensated if their jobs are terminated arbitrarily.” said Dr Abrar, also executive director of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) According to a RMMRU study conducted on the basis of interviewing 50 male migrants who returned from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Malaysia because of the pandemic. Those who returned from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar alleged that they had unpaid dues ranging from BDT 9,500 (USD 112) to BDT 5 lakh (USD 5,890), according to nding of the study. Some 39 out of the 50 respondents said they were picked up by police during the pandemic and later repatriated. EWOE ministry o cials observed that it would be di cult for the government to realise the unpaid dues of the migrant workers who were employed in the informal sector. As many Bangladeshi workers have gone abroad with "so called free visa" for their jobs overseas, realising the compensation for such workers would be very hard for government. https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/overworked-unpaid-and-abused-bangladeshi-women-return-from-middle-east 5/8