29/04/2021
Bangladeshi returnee migrant workers call for government help to retrieve their unpaid wages — Freedom Collaborative
committed to carrying out programs for the
development and betterment of the
migrant community, has received similar
reports.
Over 400,000 Bangladeshi migrants have
come home amid the COVID-19 pandemic
since April 2020, according to official data
from the Bangladeshi government. Of this
number, around 350,000 were male and
50,000 were female migrant workers who
were forced to return. Many of BOMSA’s
clients have complained that they were
either denied several months’ wages or
were underpaid in destination countries,
where they also experienced exploitative
working conditions. These returnees don’t
know how to recoup what is due to them,
or how to pay back the loans they owe to
agents and money lenders now they have
left their overseas employment.
Migration experts and rights organizations
have called on the government of
Bangladesh to take immediate steps to
recover these unpaid wages, pointing out
that India and the Philippines are dealing
with similar issues and have taken practical
steps to help retrieve the money owed.
They say that immediate action should be
taken, such as the appointment of lawyers
and translators at Bangladeshi embassies
in destination countries; commitment to
the discussion of wage theft at the
upcoming International Labour Conference
(ILC) at which employers and other
stakeholders will be present; and practical
assistance for migrant workers from
recruiting agencies and the government to
retrieve their unpaid earnings. The Ministry
of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas
Employment secretary, Dr Ahmed Munirus
Saleheen, has said that the government is
trying to get ground-level information about
the problem.
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accountability, or the lack thereof, for the
treatment and welfare of migrant workers,
which was raised repeatedly during the
Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment
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