8-pt Dhaka Declaration adopted

FE Team | Published: April 22, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The 4th Colombo Process Ministerial Meeting concluded in Dhaka Thursday adopting Dhaka Declaration containing eight-point recommendation to promote rights, welfare and dignity of migrant workers, reports UNB. The declaration was adopted after two-day deliberations by Ministers and senior officials of 11 labour-sending countries in Asia. Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Engr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain released the Declaration at a press conference at Sonargaon Hotel in the afternoon. The Dhaka Declaration called for:-ensuring promotion and protection of the rights of all migrant workers and their families including their social and economic rights as well as improving the welfare and dignity of the workers, especially women; - developing employment and labor market policies and formulating rules, regulations and procedures that are conducive to the pursuit of legal, humane and orderly labor migration; - eliminating all forms of occupational and socio-cultural discriminations against migrant workers; - promoting decent work for migrant workers, including in low-skill and low-wage sectors, and designing employment contracts on existing good practice models; - streamlining policy, legal and institutional mechanism to eliminate unethical practices concerning migrant workers including deduction or non-payment, rationalizing migrant costs and promoting transparency in recruitment process; - effectively addressing the specific concerns of vulnerable groups of migrant workers especially women, domestic workers, low-skill and low-wage workers; and formulating appropriate policy to provide security of migrant workers in emergency situation and repatriate them to their home countries. The Declaration was unanimously adopted by ministers and representatives of eleven countries-Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Engr Khandaker Mosharraf said although the Dhaka Declaration is non-binding for the member-states of the Colombo Process, it is expected that the member-countries would follow it. He said the 4th ministerial held after five years in Dhaka finalised the modality of the Colombo Process and the ministerial will now be held after every two years. The 5th Ministerial will be held in 2013, venue of which was not announced. Replying to a question, the Expatriates Welfare Minister said UAE under-secretary for labour Mubarak Al Dhaberi, who attended the ministerial on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), put forward an eight-point proposal. Welcoming the proposals, he said that the Bangladesh government will work on this to ensure transparency in the process of sending workers abroad and check fraudulence and irregularities.