Govt urged to implement Migrants Act to ensure workers rights abroad

The government has been urged to implement Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013 and tighten its grip on manpower exporting agencies to ensure rights and safety of Bangladeshis working aboard. The call came at a programme in the city. Addressing the programme, Advocate Salma Ali, Executive Director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association, suggested that the foreign job seekers collect detailed information about the recruiting agencies before making their trips. The speakers demanded reducing migration cost, establishing cost-free ‘legal sale’ in every Upazila and ‘shelter home’ in every embassy and attaché for ensuring security and shelter for expatriate Bangladeshi workers, especially women. They alleged that the government does not register its protest to government concerned whenever any Bangladeshi worker is tortured by its employer as it fears of losing the job market in that country. They also alleged that the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) and Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry are spending the money of Wage Earners’ Welfare Fund (WEWF) in other purposes instead of supporting exploited expatriates and migrants, according to a news agency.