Punish the unscrupulous manpower agents
August 27, 2008
I want to convey my thanks to Mr Shamsul Huq Zahid for his column in the FE in which he wrote about the plight of the expatriate Bangladeshis. As an expatriate for 8 years I would like to tell you something regarding greedy manpower agency owners who are responsible for degrading the image of the country and plight of workers abroad. Really, it is a shame for us who are cleaning the road and collecting the Pepsi cans from the dustbin.
Those who are doing the odd jobs should not be blamed because they paid Tk 2/3 lakh each for getting employment abroad. But guilty are the unscrupulous manpower agencies, and corrupt politicians who are enjoying the benefit of remittance. It will be highly appreciated if you through your column ask the politicians, who govern our country, but never take actions against the unscrupulous agencies. Are they really strong to control the manpower agents? Do they get commission from them? I am waiting for the day when these criminal manpower agents will be punished publicly.
What about a regulatory body for manpower sector?
August 27, 2008
BANGLADESHI workers in the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries are increasingly becoming vulnerable to deception, ill-treatment and torture. Deception by recruiting agencies at home or employers abroad has been a recurring event in case of Bangladeshi workers. But the recent police actions against a good number of Bangladeshi workers and their deportation by the government of Kuwait and return of several hundred workers from Malaysia in batches being deceived either by the manpower agents at home or their employers, are among instances that have attracted wider attention. So, it is quite natural for the enlightened section of the society to be seriously concerned about the wellbeing of the Bangladeshi workers who toil hard in distant lands remaining away from their near and dear ones and remit billions of dollars back home annually.
The workers’ remittance, which stood at $6.0 billion in 2007, is actually the single largest source of foreign exchange earning. Though the earning of foreign exchange-nearly $8.0 billion in the fiscal 2007-08, from the readymade garments (RMG) export is shown as the largest, the actual earning from it becomes much lower if one takes into consideration the value addition content. While taking note of the contribution of the expatriate workers to the national economy, more precisely, to the balance of payments (BoP), speakers, who included, among others, an economist, a retired high army official and the head of the association of the recruiting agencies, at a discussion meeting held early this week in Dhaka made scathing criticism of the ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment for its failure to protect the interests of the migrant workers. The indifference of the officials of the Bangladesh missions to the plight of the migrant workers was also noted with grave concern. One speaker even suggested for the formation of a regulatory commission to oversee the manpower export issues.
Unfortunately, the government seems happy enough counting the dollars being remitted by the migrant workers. It has never been serious to address the problems the migrants face before and after their departure. At least, three major issues need to be addressed with utmost urgency. Firstly, there should be all-out efforts to give exemplary punishment to the unscrupulous manpower agents who are primarily responsible for all the sufferings of the migrant workers. Secondly, people seeking to go abroad with jobs should be encouraged to attend vocational training programmes and become skilled and semi-skilled workers. This, if ensured, could help secure more jobs abroad and higher remittance earning. Finally, it should be ensured that the fund being mobilized by the government in the name of welfare of overseas Bangladeshi workers is spent on their short- and long-term welfare.
In case of distress situation following deportation, financial help must be extended to the returnees, at least, for a few months. A part of the financial gains coming from long-term investments being made by the expatriates’ welfare fund is needed to be spent on stipends or scholarships for the children studying in schools and colleges and on the healthcare facilities for their families. Given the importance of their remittance money in the national economy, the expatriate workers deserve better deal from the government. There is no denying that the ministry concerned and the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) have utterly failed to protect the interest of the migrant workers. So, the suggestion to have a sort of regulatory body for the sector deserves to be given due consideration.
400,000 skilled manpower may go to foreign mkts this year
August 27, 2008
Bangladesh is targeting to export 400,000 skilled manpower to foreign markets this year.
Adviser for Foreign Affairs and in charge of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said this while addressing the staff of Jessore Technical Training Centre (TTC) Monday evening.
Chowdhury observed : “All previous records in manpower export and remittances from abroad are being broken. But the challenge now is to improve quality, search for new markets, promote workers’ welfare and protect their rights.”
Decline in remittances likely: The govt. should take necessary steps
August 27, 2008
Remittance by non-resident Bangladeshis rose by 31 percent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year from that of the same period last fiscal year. According to the report, Bangladesh Bank as saying that remittances in the July-May period this FY totaled more than 7.16 billion US dollar equivalent to 49, 060 crore taka against 5.46 billion dollar in the corresponding period of last FY. But economists fear that the rise may face a downward trend as major labour markets in Bahrain and Malaysia have banned fresh manpower recruitment from Bangladesh.
The government should take all necessary steps to convince the two countries to change their decisions. Failing which would badly affect the remittance inflow. Another debacle in getting foreign jobs is the lack of command of the language of the country of destination. The director of the Institute of Modern Languages has said that learning foreign languages could help people, especially young people, get good jobs at home and abroad. Procedural bungling also greatly hampers manpower export to foreign countries forcing thousands of job seekers to wait for indefinite periods.
Some 14,000 workers completed all formalities for flying to Malaysia but their departure was delayed for long just because the flights couldn’t carry more than 700 people daily. This was a great loss for the country. The debacle happened amid government’s failure to find new destinations of employment abroad in the past years. Remittances from non-resident workers are very important for the country’s economy. The government must understand we need to export manpower for earning foreign exchange. Besides, manpower export is a big solace to our unemployment problem. Hence the government should try to address the problem at the earliest.
Dallah Group to recruit 5,000 unskilled workers
August 27, 2008
Dallah Group, one of the largest manpower recruiting companies of Saudi Arabia, will appoint 5,000 unskilled workers from Bangladesh soon, an adviser said Thursday.
This is the first time since March 24 that a Saudi company has offered to import Bangladeshi manpower.
Saudi Arabia on March 24 officially banned the intake of unskilled workers from Bangladesh.
“Dallah Group wants to recruit 5,000 unskilled Bangladeshi workers soon,” foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told reporters.
The Group’s president Alwa Kamel called on the adviser in his office.
“The government is trying addresses some of the problems some workers are allegedly facing,” Iftekhar said.
The Saudi company has so far recruited over 15,000 Bangladeshis to its concerns.
JITCO offers help to export manpower to Japan
August 27, 2008
Dhaka and Tokyo on Monday signed a new loan agreement of 6.96 billion yen equivalent to $65 million for emergency disaster damage rehabilitation project.
The Bangladesh foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and his Japanese counterpart Masahiko Koumura signed the deal on behalf of their respective governments after their bilateral meeting.
Iftekhar is now in Japan on a four-day tour.
The rehabilitation project with the loan will be launched following the signed agreement, said a Japanese embassy release. The loan is provided as co-financing with Asian Development Bank.
The objective of the project is to support quick restoration of economic and social activity in the areas, damaged by the floods in 2007 and cyclone Sidr, through providing speedy disbursement type of import financing for essential agricultural commodities as well as rehabilitating and reconstructing damaged public infrastructures and thereby contributing to sustainable economic growth.
The Government of Japan believes that the quick disbursement component, amounting to 2,965 million yen (equivalent to Tk 1.89 billion or $27.7 million), will help the Government of Bangladesh meet immediate financial requirement for recovery from the flood and cyclone damages and purchase essential food commodities over the next few months.
In addition, Japanese government expects that disaster-resistance design to be adopted in rehabilitating and reconstructing infrastructures will contribute to mitigation of damage from future recurrent floods and cyclones.
Meanwhile, Japan International Training Cooperation Organisation has assured that it will facilitate the manpower export to Japan from Bangladesh.
JITCO president Toshio Takano gave the assurance when the Bangladesh foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury called on him at his office in Tokyo Monday morning, said a release of the foreign ministry.
The meeting decided that JITCO would organise visits by Japanese recruiting firms to Bangladesh and work with the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry.
Quoting the adviser the release said only 12 trainees from Bangladesh came to Japan in the past. ‘This is not satisfactory. Now Bangladesh has a huge potential to satisfy the demand for workers in Japan. JITCO can provide language training in centres already existing in Bangladesh.’
Apart from Toshio Takano, senior vice-president of JITCO Takashi Kamitani, Bangladesh ambassador to Tokyo Ashraf-ud-Doula, Japanese ambassador to Dhaka Masahiko Inoue and director general of Far East Wing of the foreign affairs ministry Shahidul Islam were present at the meeting.
Manpower export abroad
August 27, 2008
It is very sad to note that some Bangladeshi agencies tarnished country’s image regarding manpower export to Malaysia. Punitive steps must be taken against these agencies through proper investigation so none dares to indulge in such anti-state acts.
They caused a great loss for the nation and dimmed all prospects of our hard-working workers going there and earning precious foreign exchange for our country. Regrettably, the probe team found a section of officials in the Bangladesh High Commission and members of Bangladesh Workers’ Welfare Association in Kuala Lumpur engaged in these activities. On the other hand, the reported reluctance of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training, and Passport Department to share their database with the immigration police has led to failures in checking illegal manpower export and passport forgeries.
Immigration police in early 2003 proposed that Bureau of Manpower Export and Training should give them access to its database to check unauthorized migration, illegal manpower export and forgery of passports and visas. Similar proposal was made to the Passport Department in 2005, so that the three government agencies could share data and work hand-in-hand to curb malpractices in manpower trade that often make sad news on sufferings of jobseekers abroad and even deaths in risky ways to coveted European destinations. Forged passports and visas can be misused in many ways which sometimes may also become a national threat.
Besides checking the unauthorized activities, scores of people will be benefited and immigration passage at airport will be relieved of additional pressures if the data sharing is ensured.
Manpower export to Bahrain stops
August 27, 2008
Employment of Bangladeshi workers in Bahrain comes to a halt, as the country on Monday stopped issuing work permits to Bangladeshis, Bahraini newspaper Gulf Daily News reported yesterday.
The Bangladesh embassy in Bahrain says the move is “shocking” and “unacceptable” and they will pursue the Gulf nation to review the decision. Bahraini human rights activists also term it “xenophobic”.
Recruitment businesses observe the ban is a great shock for Bangladesh’s overseas labour market that came after a halt of recruitment in Kuwait in late 2006, reduction in employment in Saudi Arabia and a temporary ban in Malaysia.
Jobseekers now in Bahrain with work visas but yet to get work permit and those with visas but yet to leave for Bahrain will be in troubles, agencies told The Daily Star yesterday.
The recent restriction came following directives by Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa and was revealed in a statement by search and follow-up assistant under-secretary Colonel Yousuf Al Ghatam.
Earlier on Sunday, a group of lawmakers demanded ban on Bangladeshi workers following death of Mohammed Jassim Dossary killed in an attack after an argument with a Bangladeshi mechanic at a workshop in Suq Waqif, Hamad Town on Friday.
Bahrain, which is home to around 1.6 lakh Bangladeshis, is presently the third largest manpower receiving country in the Persian Gulf.
Bangladesh Embassy Charge d’ Affairs Saiful Islam told The Gulf Daily News on Monday the move had left them in shock and said officials would appeal against it.
“For one person the government is punishing a whole nation, which is not acceptable to us,” he said. “We will appeal to the government to reconsider this and I will contact the interior minister and other high-ranking officials.”
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Abdul Matin Chowdhury yesterday told The Daily Star they have not yet received the news from Bahrain but read it on newspapers.
“Our mission in Bahrain is already contacting Bahrain side about the matter,” he said.
In a reaction to the ban, a recruiting agent said this particular country is not a very big labour market for Bangladesh, but the fact is that it will have bad impact on Bangladeshi workers.
Meanwhile, vehemently opposing the Bahraini MPs’ demand, now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights vice-president Nabeel Rajab told The Gulf Daily News on Monday the move is “racist” and “shameful”.
“If a Bahraini commits a similar or even worse crime what action would they take? Would they deport all Bahrainis from here?
“If an American or a European had committed the crime instead of the Bangladeshi, would the MPs dare raise their voice against them, forget imposing a ban on their countries? This is pure racial discrimination.
“Bangladeshis, like all other expatriate nationalities, should first be appreciated for all the contributions they have made to our country. Instead, our MPs forget the hard work and sweat of thousands of expatriates and plan to deport them all based on one person’s actions.”
Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society regional and international relations director Faisal Fulad said a group of lawmakers’ proposal was against Bahraini culture and heritage.
“We are against this move because it is absolutely wrong to ban a whole nation for one person’s crime,” said Mr Fulad, who is also a Shura Council member.
“People from every country have flaws in their characters in one way or the other, including Bahrainis. That doesn’t mean that all of them should be sent back home.
“It is up to the court to decide the punishment and not MPs.”
Bangladesh must gear itself to exporting more skilled labour
August 27, 2008
Bangladesh must gear itself to sending more skilled workers abroad, said speakers at a roundtable Saturday.
Prof Muzaffer Ahmed, chairman of Transparency International Bangladesh, called for a change in the education system to create more skilled manpower for export.
Speaking at the roundtable on ‘Manpower Export and Prospects: What to do to check cheating’, he said: “There are growing demands for skilled manpower in the world. So the present education system has to be changed to produce that skilled manpower.”
“When I attended my local zila school, I learnt about agriculture, metalwork and carpentry.”
“Now these schools do not provide such educations. There is doubt about the quality of the country’s 900 government and private colleges,” the TIB chairman said.
He went on to address the recruiting process for overseas workers: “Our embassies are not efficient. There is doubt whether our embassies abroad have the proper papers of those who are going to work in other countries. The responsibility of the recruiting agency should be to reach those papers to the embassy in the (target) country.”
“Alongside exporting manpower, ensuring workers have the skills required by providing training is also the responsibility of the recruiting agencies,” Prof Muzaffer said.
“The remittance process should also be made easier.”
On salaries of overseas workers, the TIB chairman said: “If India can bargain over the minimum salary of their workers, then why can’t we?”
Executive director of NGO ‘Shishuk’, Shakiul Millat Morshed, pointed out that 25 years ago the minimum wage in Middle Eastern states was around 750 dirham, but now it has fallen to just 350 dirham.
Prof Atiur Rahman of Dhaka University said the middlemen play a big role in exporting manpower.
“How these middlemen can be brought under a legal framework is the biggest challenge now. Giving them licences could be considered.”
The Dhaka University professor said how to send more skilled manpower to Western Europe, Russia and Korea should be considered seriously.
President of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, Golam Mostafa, said licensed recruiting agencies cheated workers less, but went on to claim that the ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment does not provide the expected cooperation.
Former inspector general of police ASM Shahjahan said: “The workers must themselves be made aware of their rights and these issues in order to curb cheating and bring more transparency in the system.”
Sustainable policies must be formulated for the welfare of overseas workers, he added.
Sheba Bangladesh Foundation and Prochesta Kalyan Sangstha organised the roundtable at the LGED auditorium in the city Saturday.
Bahrain extends Bangladeshi ban
August 27, 2008
Bahrain will not renew the work permits of thousands of Bangladeshis working in the Gulf state, in a ban expected to heavily impact the nation’s construction industry.
The decision not to renew work permits follows Monday’s announcement from the Interior Ministry that permits would no longer be issued to Bangladeshis, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper said it had been confirmed on Tuesday that Bahrain would not renew the work permits of Bangladeshi expats once they expired. The newspaper did not give further details.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa on Monday ordered authorities to stop issuing work permits to Bangladeshis, after the alleged brutal murder of a Bahraini national by a mechanic from the Asian nation.
Samir Nass, chairman of Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), said small contracting companies’ dependant on Bangladeshi labour will be hit the hardest by the ban.
“There are many contractors who rely on the cheap labour from Bangladesh…we hope a mechanism is put in place where the ban would be done in a way that minimises the impact on ongoing projects,” Nass told the newspaper.
The ban comes at a time when manpower is already in short supply, while many projects face delays from material shortages, and demands of increased wages from workers, he added.
The accused Bangladeshi was charged with premeditated murder on Friday for allegedly slitting the throat of Mohammed Jassim Dossary with a hacksaw after a disagreement over payment for work on the victim’s car.
The murder outraged some Bahraini government officials, who demanded the deportation of more than 100,000 Bangladeshi labourers from the kingdom.
The government officials have repeatedly claimed Bangladeshi immigrants are behind the nation’s growing crime problems.
Bahrain MP Abdul Halim Murad had called on the government to “put a timetable for the deportation of Bangladeshi labourers from Bahrain after their repeated involvement in murders and other crimes”.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Embassy head Saif Al-Islam said the move had left him and his colleagues in shock and the embassy would appeal against it.
“For one person the government is punishing a whole nation, which is not acceptable to us. We will appeal to the government to reconsider this…we will ask them at least to delay implementing this restriction,” he said.