Detained workers in Liberia return home next week
Friday, 28 May 2010
FE Report
Detained 39 Bangladeshi workers in Liberia are expected to return home by next week, thanks to government's quick initiative in cooperation with the UN bodies.
Law enforcement officials of the west-coastal African state detained 41 Bangladeshi workers in mid-April this year for entering and working in the country without proper documents.
"With the help of International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UN peacekeeping mission working in Liberia, we have secured the release of 39 workers," an official in the expatriate welfare ministry confirmed the FE.
According to the settled negotiation, responsible recruiting agents would compensate for the air fare of 19 detained workers while the Bangladesh government and IOM would pay the other costs, he elaborated.
These workers are expected to be released in phases with the first group scheduled to return home by next week, the official said.
"Release of the remaining two detained workers would take some time," he added.
Earlier, director general of the external publicity wing of the foreign ministry Saida Muna Tasneem acknowledged the report of detained workers in Liberia and said, "Some recruiting agencies in Bangladesh had sent the workers to Liberia, but they did not have valid documents for work, and ultimately the Liberian police detained them."
"It could not be known when the jobseekers went to Liberia," she added.
The ministry of expatriate welfare and overseas employment sources say there are about 6.5 million Bangladeshis working across the world, concentrated mainly in the Middle Eastern countries. These unskilled and semi-skilled workers are the main contributor in generating remittances worth over US$10 billion last year, according to the central bank figures.
But due to lack of public awareness and involvement of unscrupulous recruiting agents and middlemen, illegal worker migration has been a vital aspect for the government, risking migrants' safety in foreign lands.
In July-April period a total of 16,712 Bangladeshi workers were sent back by the recipient countries for their inadequate legal documents as migrant workers. Government statistics also revealed that 72210 workers were sent back in 2009.
The government said 134,787 Bangladeshis found jobs in the first four months of 2010, declining by 24 per cent than the same period last year. In 2009, overseas employment was recorded at 475,278.
Detained 39 Bangladeshi workers in Liberia are expected to return home by next week, thanks to government's quick initiative in cooperation with the UN bodies.
Law enforcement officials of the west-coastal African state detained 41 Bangladeshi workers in mid-April this year for entering and working in the country without proper documents.
"With the help of International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UN peacekeeping mission working in Liberia, we have secured the release of 39 workers," an official in the expatriate welfare ministry confirmed the FE.
According to the settled negotiation, responsible recruiting agents would compensate for the air fare of 19 detained workers while the Bangladesh government and IOM would pay the other costs, he elaborated.
These workers are expected to be released in phases with the first group scheduled to return home by next week, the official said.
"Release of the remaining two detained workers would take some time," he added.
Earlier, director general of the external publicity wing of the foreign ministry Saida Muna Tasneem acknowledged the report of detained workers in Liberia and said, "Some recruiting agencies in Bangladesh had sent the workers to Liberia, but they did not have valid documents for work, and ultimately the Liberian police detained them."
"It could not be known when the jobseekers went to Liberia," she added.
The ministry of expatriate welfare and overseas employment sources say there are about 6.5 million Bangladeshis working across the world, concentrated mainly in the Middle Eastern countries. These unskilled and semi-skilled workers are the main contributor in generating remittances worth over US$10 billion last year, according to the central bank figures.
But due to lack of public awareness and involvement of unscrupulous recruiting agents and middlemen, illegal worker migration has been a vital aspect for the government, risking migrants' safety in foreign lands.
In July-April period a total of 16,712 Bangladeshi workers were sent back by the recipient countries for their inadequate legal documents as migrant workers. Government statistics also revealed that 72210 workers were sent back in 2009.
The government said 134,787 Bangladeshis found jobs in the first four months of 2010, declining by 24 per cent than the same period last year. In 2009, overseas employment was recorded at 475,278.