26/01/2021 Overworked, unpaid and abused, Bangladeshi women return from Middle East | Prothom Alo Kulsum, a 14-year-old girl from Brahmanbaria, died in King Faisal Hospital of Saudi Arabia on 9 August after she had been tortured by her employer. The body of Kulsum arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on 11 September. She was buried at Nurpur village of Nasirnagar upazila in Brahmanbaria on the following day. Kulsum had gone to Saudi Arabia through a local middleman Razzak Mia after spending Tk 30,000. MH Trade International was the agency that had arranged the documentation for Kulsum 17 months ago. 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. The family also alleged that the employer and his son broke Kulsum’s knee, back and leg four month ago, and after a few days ago left her on the street after damaging one of her eyes. Later, Saudi police rescued her and admitted her to King Faisal Hospital. On 17 August, Kulsum’s father Shahidul Islam applied to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) for her dead body and eight months wages. In their statement, Bangladesh Civil Society for Migration (BCSM), a platform of 19 organizations, raised many questions on untimely death of migrants. They demanded justice for Kulsum through proper investigation. According to a study released by IOM in August, 70 per cent of returnee migrants to Bangladesh struggle to nd employment. A total of 29 per cent of respondents of the study indicated that they had returned to Bangladesh because they were asked to leave the country they were in, and 23 per cent reported that they were worried about COVID-19 and wished to return to their families. At the time of the interviews, a total of 55 per cent of the respondents who had returned from abroad had accumulated unpaid debt. Shirin Lira, Programme Lead for Labour Migration project PROKAS, supported by UKAID, said that COVID 19 pandemic has an immense impact on migrating women. Thousands of women who had completed their pre-departure training, manpower procedure, medical test, some had even bought their tickets, could not y as all migration-related activities have been postponed inde nitely, due to COVID-19 . “They are also experiencing uncertainty of future employment, family pressure, nancial loss and social stigma,” she said. https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/overworked-unpaid-and-abused-bangladeshi-women-return-from-middle-east 7/8