Needed, diversity in manpower export
Shahiduzzaman Khan | Thursday, 5 June 2008
Manpower export to overseas destinations has suffered a setback after Bahrain partially closed its doors for the Bangladeshi job seekers. The incident occurred when a Bangladeshi cook murdered a Bahraini national over a trifling issue. The cook now faces firing squad, but for his crime, the entire Bangladeshi community in Bahrain faces the ultimate penalty - the deportation.
According to media reports this week, negotiations are continuing at diplomatic level to withdraw Bahrain's ban on manpower export. A Gulf newspaper reported that Bahrain has already softened its stance on the ban and said the labourers from Bangladesh who applied for work visas after May 27 will be affected only by the ban. Also, the Bangladeshi residents and members of their families already there would be exempted from the ban. It would not be applicable to professionals, skilled workers, or visit visas. On his part, Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury is trying his best to convince Bahrain to lift the ban, and he is optimistic about a positive outcome.
Bahrain is not the single case where Bangladeshis are in trouble. Earlier, Malaysia imposed a blanket ban on hiring manpower from Bangladesh over rampant cheating by the Bangladesh's manpower agents. Differences of opinions also surfaced between the two countries. However, after years of talks and lobbying, Malaysia resumed hiring skilled and unskilled workers from Bangladesh. A similar situation arose also with Saudi Arabia. At one stage, Saudi Arabia announced that it would hire less manpower from Bangladesh. But the recent statistics suggested that over 90,000 Bangladeshi workers had already been employed in Saudi Arabia this year. This is a record.
In reality, country's manpower export marked an impressive 42.16 per cent growth in the first five months of calendar 2008 over that of the same period of the last year as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia recruited a large number of Bangladeshi workforce. These two Arab countries alone recruited almost two thirds of the total export in May for their booming infrastructure sector. The country expects that it would be able to export around a million of manpower by the end of this year if the trend continues.
But manpower experts fear the current growth might face a setback if the government fails to take quick measures in resolving problems involving the Bangladeshi expatriates. It is a pity that some Bangladesh missions abroad do not cooperate with the workers when they seek assistance. In contrast, the missions of our neighbouring countries always extend cooperation to their workers in times of need. Taking all these into consideration, the government has charted out a seven-point strategy to ensure the well-being of the Bangladeshi workers abroad and expand the manpower-export market worldwide by removing the prevailing hurdles. The strategy includes exploring new manpower export markets in the Scandinavian and East European countries like Norway, Sweden and Romania.
According to a recent study report, Bangladesh has to target Spain, France, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, and Austria for manpower export on a priority basis as these countries have high remittance potential but a low presence of Bangladeshis. The report said, in the short- and medium-terms, Bangladesh should target occupations such as agriculture professionals, clerical and secretarial jobs, accountants, technicians, chefs and caterers, carpenters, masons, drivers, and electricians. But, after establishing high-quality training institutes, the country should export doctors, nurses, financial experts, and managers in the long run.
Meanwhile, the government is planning major reforms in manpower export sector including changes in emigration rules and procedures. Although overseas employment is a crucial sector, it is yet to get adequate attention. A number of steps are now underway to improve this situation drastically. Manpower brokers or sub-agents at home amass huge amounts of money, sometimes even more than the recruiting agent's profit, from overseas job seekers, most of whom collect money through loans at high rates of interest or sale of land. As per normal procedures, workers sign contract papers that describe wages, other facilities and working conditions. But a section of manpower brokers do not care for all this and send workers just as travellers. Unscrupulous recruiting agencies also make fake contract papers, showing exaggerated wages and facilities. Such undocumented workers are either deported from the manpower importing countries, or become illegal and work under inhuman conditions if allowed to stay there.
With such realities, a large number of the Bangladeshi workers cannot benefit from cross-border migration for jobs. The government has already made it mandatory for workers to present contract papers and money receipts for payments made to recruiting agencies. The agencies also must select workers from the database of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) for sending them abroad. The government is also considering if manpower brokers could be brought under a legal framework to prevent them from cheating overseas job-seekers. It is also expected to introduce a strict system to monitor manpower recruiting agencies so that none of them could cheat people seeking employment abroad.
According to media reports this week, negotiations are continuing at diplomatic level to withdraw Bahrain's ban on manpower export. A Gulf newspaper reported that Bahrain has already softened its stance on the ban and said the labourers from Bangladesh who applied for work visas after May 27 will be affected only by the ban. Also, the Bangladeshi residents and members of their families already there would be exempted from the ban. It would not be applicable to professionals, skilled workers, or visit visas. On his part, Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury is trying his best to convince Bahrain to lift the ban, and he is optimistic about a positive outcome.
Bahrain is not the single case where Bangladeshis are in trouble. Earlier, Malaysia imposed a blanket ban on hiring manpower from Bangladesh over rampant cheating by the Bangladesh's manpower agents. Differences of opinions also surfaced between the two countries. However, after years of talks and lobbying, Malaysia resumed hiring skilled and unskilled workers from Bangladesh. A similar situation arose also with Saudi Arabia. At one stage, Saudi Arabia announced that it would hire less manpower from Bangladesh. But the recent statistics suggested that over 90,000 Bangladeshi workers had already been employed in Saudi Arabia this year. This is a record.
In reality, country's manpower export marked an impressive 42.16 per cent growth in the first five months of calendar 2008 over that of the same period of the last year as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia recruited a large number of Bangladeshi workforce. These two Arab countries alone recruited almost two thirds of the total export in May for their booming infrastructure sector. The country expects that it would be able to export around a million of manpower by the end of this year if the trend continues.
But manpower experts fear the current growth might face a setback if the government fails to take quick measures in resolving problems involving the Bangladeshi expatriates. It is a pity that some Bangladesh missions abroad do not cooperate with the workers when they seek assistance. In contrast, the missions of our neighbouring countries always extend cooperation to their workers in times of need. Taking all these into consideration, the government has charted out a seven-point strategy to ensure the well-being of the Bangladeshi workers abroad and expand the manpower-export market worldwide by removing the prevailing hurdles. The strategy includes exploring new manpower export markets in the Scandinavian and East European countries like Norway, Sweden and Romania.
According to a recent study report, Bangladesh has to target Spain, France, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, and Austria for manpower export on a priority basis as these countries have high remittance potential but a low presence of Bangladeshis. The report said, in the short- and medium-terms, Bangladesh should target occupations such as agriculture professionals, clerical and secretarial jobs, accountants, technicians, chefs and caterers, carpenters, masons, drivers, and electricians. But, after establishing high-quality training institutes, the country should export doctors, nurses, financial experts, and managers in the long run.
Meanwhile, the government is planning major reforms in manpower export sector including changes in emigration rules and procedures. Although overseas employment is a crucial sector, it is yet to get adequate attention. A number of steps are now underway to improve this situation drastically. Manpower brokers or sub-agents at home amass huge amounts of money, sometimes even more than the recruiting agent's profit, from overseas job seekers, most of whom collect money through loans at high rates of interest or sale of land. As per normal procedures, workers sign contract papers that describe wages, other facilities and working conditions. But a section of manpower brokers do not care for all this and send workers just as travellers. Unscrupulous recruiting agencies also make fake contract papers, showing exaggerated wages and facilities. Such undocumented workers are either deported from the manpower importing countries, or become illegal and work under inhuman conditions if allowed to stay there.
With such realities, a large number of the Bangladeshi workers cannot benefit from cross-border migration for jobs. The government has already made it mandatory for workers to present contract papers and money receipts for payments made to recruiting agencies. The agencies also must select workers from the database of the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) for sending them abroad. The government is also considering if manpower brokers could be brought under a legal framework to prevent them from cheating overseas job-seekers. It is also expected to introduce a strict system to monitor manpower recruiting agencies so that none of them could cheat people seeking employment abroad.