26/01/2021 Overworked, unpaid and abused, Bangladeshi women return from Middle East | Prothom Alo The COVID-19 pandemic which began in Wuhan, China, has now spread all over the world. In the Middle East, the rst case was con rmed in UAE on 29 January. On 26 March, Saudi authorities announced a total lockdown of Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah and a nation-wide curfew. As cases started showing up, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait also implemented curfews and restriction from 26 March. About 80 per cent of the total 12 million Bangladeshi male and female migrants workers are employed in Middle East and North African countries, said Bangladesh o cials. As all ights are suspended since March due to the corona pandemic, around 300,000 prospective migrants have been stranded in Bangladesh. Among them at least 30,000 are women as per the estimate of recruitment agencies. They are passing their days in frustration as their employment plans have been disrupted. Bangladeshi Ovibashi Mohila Sromik Association (BOMSA) said that they are receiving over 30 phone calls every day from the female migrant workers in Bangladesh and abroad and providing counseling services to them via phone. Among the callers are regular and irregular (forcefully sent back) returnees, potential migrants and their families all of whom have been economically impacted by COVID-19. Family members said the employer tortured her physically and sexually since she joined work. The family contacted the recruiting agency, but the agency did not take any steps to bring Kulsum back. Analyzing 400-450 call records from March to September, BOMSA said some female workers were stuck in their employer’s houses in Saudi Arabia. In some cases, their employers did not provide enough food to the workers let alone their due salaries. Some of the migrant worker’s family members have said that the migrant workers have not received any salary and can’t pay back their loans or support their family. Farida Yeasmin, BOMSA Director of Programmes, said that they have received many complaints from the women migrants at destinations, including non-payment of wages, abuse and physical torture. “We will soon raise the issues of wages-theft and other problems of the female migrants with o cials of the concerned ministries and the recruiting agencies in Bangladesh,” said Farida Yeasmin who is also a senior lawyer at Bangladesh Supreme Court. Tortured to Death https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/overworked-unpaid-and-abused-bangladeshi-women-return-from-middle-east 6/8