PM calls for contingency planning to deal with migrant workers in crisis

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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Wednesday the on-going crisis in Libya heightened the need for formulating effective contingency planning and mechanism to deal with the problems of migrant workers in any emergent situation, report agencies. "In Libya, migrant workers and other third country nationals were the first victims of the unrest as employers evacuated or shut down factories due to the growing violence," she said. The Libyan crisis, she noted, has made it clear how important it is to have an effective contingency plan to deal with such complex emergencies. The Prime Minister made the observation at the inaugural ceremony of Fourth Ministerial Consultation of Colombo Process (Fourth Ministerial Consultation on Overseas Employment and Contractual Labour for Countries of Origin in Asia) at a city hotel. On this occasion, Expatriate Welfare Bank was also launched. Sheikh Hasina underscored the need for collective action of manpower exporting countries in Asia for stopping irregularities during migration and for ensuring overall welfare of the workers including payment of minimum wages, acceptable working conditions and health benefits. She said for many labour exporting countries in the region, including Bangladesh, unethical recruitment practice is a major challenge. The problems of exploitation and malpractices in labour migration process, high migration costs, employment in low skilled and unregulated sectors, ignorance of the migrant labourers etc., are issues of common concern of many of the countries in the region, she added. The Prime Minister said Bangladesh has put in place a range of measures to regulate the affairs of recruiting agencies and also for operationalsing protection mechanisms for the migrant workers. The government formed an expert committee to determine the costs involved at various stages of migration and to arrive at a consensus on what the maximum migration costs should be. Mentioning the return of over 35 thousand Bangladeshi migrant workers from Libya, many of whom came back home without their documents, personal possessions, and, receipt of their pay while leaving savings there, Hasina requested the Organisation of Migration (IOM) and other international agencies concerned to help ensure employment opportunities for them. The Prime Minister who also inaugurated 'Expatriate Welfare Bank' said from now on the intending migrant workers could get collateral-free loans from the bank for meeting their migration cost. The new bank will contribute to bringing down the cost of migration, especially the part that is spent to fund the process of migration. Besides, Hasina said the returnee migrant workers would be able to take loans from the bank for their employment generating programmes. She handed over cheques of collateral-free loans among four workers to meet their migration costs. She also released postal stamps issued by Bangladesh Postal Department, marking the inauguration of the bank. The bank began its operation with Tk 1.0 billion as paid-up capital with the aim of providing funding facilities to the intending migrant workers and ensuring safe transactions of their remittances. Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, Expatriates Welfare Minister Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain, the visiting Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Iskandar, Expatriates Welfare Secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan and the Director General of International Organisation for Migration, William Lacy Swing, addressed the inaugural function. "We expect the Expatriate Bank to benefit about 7.6 million Bangladeshi expatriate workers currently staying in some 100 foreign countries around the globe," Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan told the newsmen.