Govt, IOM move to bring back stranded migrants from Liberia
Friday, 23 April 2010
FE Report
The government and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have beefed up efforts to repatriate stranded Bangladeshis in Liberia, officials said Wednesday, after discovering that eight recruiting agencies were involved in sending them abroad.
Some 36 Bangladeshi workers were detained on April 8 by the anti-human trafficking force while loitering in an unnamed location of the African country and are now under the supervision of IOM office in Liberia.
"As of today, we've got the identity of 29 people. But we couldn't make sure which agencies were involved in the visa processing out of the eight," an official at the state-run Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) said.
He said the repatriation process will start only if the identity of delinquent recruiting agencies is established and verified.
Director General of BMET Khorshed Alam Chowdhury, however, said his bureau has "nothing to do" if the workers go to Liberia through illegal ways, or non-registered recruiting agencies.
"Recruiting agencies must bear the cost of their return journey, if found responsible. Then IOM and our peacekeeping mission will arrange their repatriation," he added.
"It shouldn't take two to three days, if tickets are sent," a BMET official said.
An IOM spokesman in Dhaka said his agency is coordinating with the government side to speed up the process of return of workers, who went there with farm visas.
Quoting a fact-finding report of a local NGO, the IOM official said one person from Narail district was suspected to have died from starvation as he waited in Liberia for entry into Greece.
BMET officials said the bureau has identified a total of eight recruiting agencies that sent workers to Liberia in recent times, but is yet to single out the delinquent ones that processed visas for the victims.
"We've so far received the passport numbers of 29 people," an official said.
BMET chief said Bangladesh's UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia, which has earned reputations for their role in building peace and stability in the troubled region, is also brokering the repatriation of Bangladeshi workers.
The government and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have beefed up efforts to repatriate stranded Bangladeshis in Liberia, officials said Wednesday, after discovering that eight recruiting agencies were involved in sending them abroad.
Some 36 Bangladeshi workers were detained on April 8 by the anti-human trafficking force while loitering in an unnamed location of the African country and are now under the supervision of IOM office in Liberia.
"As of today, we've got the identity of 29 people. But we couldn't make sure which agencies were involved in the visa processing out of the eight," an official at the state-run Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) said.
He said the repatriation process will start only if the identity of delinquent recruiting agencies is established and verified.
Director General of BMET Khorshed Alam Chowdhury, however, said his bureau has "nothing to do" if the workers go to Liberia through illegal ways, or non-registered recruiting agencies.
"Recruiting agencies must bear the cost of their return journey, if found responsible. Then IOM and our peacekeeping mission will arrange their repatriation," he added.
"It shouldn't take two to three days, if tickets are sent," a BMET official said.
An IOM spokesman in Dhaka said his agency is coordinating with the government side to speed up the process of return of workers, who went there with farm visas.
Quoting a fact-finding report of a local NGO, the IOM official said one person from Narail district was suspected to have died from starvation as he waited in Liberia for entry into Greece.
BMET officials said the bureau has identified a total of eight recruiting agencies that sent workers to Liberia in recent times, but is yet to single out the delinquent ones that processed visas for the victims.
"We've so far received the passport numbers of 29 people," an official said.
BMET chief said Bangladesh's UN peacekeeping mission in Liberia, which has earned reputations for their role in building peace and stability in the troubled region, is also brokering the repatriation of Bangladeshi workers.