Raising voice in favour of migrant workers
Shahiduzzaman Khan | Sunday, 13 July 2008
MIGRATION of labour is an extremely important issue in Bangladesh. Migrant workers, with their hard labour, make the country rich by sending money. They face terrible hurdles that start from the very beginning at the village level; afterwards they are exploited by the middlemen, and a section of the recruiting agents.
In fact, the migrant workers and their families often pay a very large sum to secure an overseas employment opportunity. For them, the direct cost may involve giving up their current employment and incurring large upfront costs, in terms of agency fees, affairs etc, to secure the job. It often takes several months, if not years, to recoup their cost of overseas employment. The families of the migrant workers sometimes face severe deprivation during the transition phase. Therefore, safe and cost-effective migration is very important.
The market for migrant workers is highly imperfect, characterised by high transaction costs, pervasive information gaps and misplaced expectations. The market imperfections are often evident in unfair labour contracts. Recruiting agents often reap abnormal profits, largely at the expense of the migrant workers' interests. Language barriers and a lack of understanding of the country's legal system can make it difficult for migrant workers to seek legal remedies against unfair labour practices. The unhealthy competition among recruiting agencies from different developing countries often exacerbates the situation.
Bangladesh is one of the first few countries to sign the 'International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families' as early as 1998. Since then, 37 countries have ratified the Convention while 15 are signatories to it. This is the most comprehensive instrument detailing the rights of migrant workers and their families.
Over the last five years, on an average, 300,000 people migrated from Bangladesh annually as short-term contract workers. In 2007, the stock of short-term contract migrants stood at 4.6 million; another 1.0 million more constitutes the Bangladeshi Diaspora. It is expected that this year the inflow of remittance will exceed US$ 8.0 billion. The importance of remittances to the Bangladesh economy cannot be overemphasised.
Among the 70 developing countries who receive a sizeable portion of remittance, Bangladesh is the 7th largest; India being the second. Nonetheless, compared to India, per capita remittance earning of Bangladesh is 33 per cent higher. It is unfortunate that due to reasons operational both within Bangladesh and in receiving countries, Bangladeshi migrant workers have become one of the most vulnerable sections of our labour force. Migrants continue to face hardships at home and in destination countries. Unscrupulous recruitment practices have led to high costs, fraudulent practices and pauperisation of a section of migrant workers. In destination countries, due to the arbitrariness of the employers and discriminatory policies of receiving states many migrants face exploitation and loss of rights in the form of low and irregular wages, bad working conditions and restrictions on their movements.
The present caretaker government has initiated reforms in various sectors of the economy. With regard to migration of workers it has undertaken a series of measures to curb the irregularities in the recruitment process and has increased market access and better terms and conditions of Bangladeshi labour in UAE, Malaysia and more recently in the Republic of Korea.
The UN Convention on 'The Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families' is the most important international instrument concerning migrant workers. The Convention came into force in June 2005 with the ratification of 20 countries. For the first time this convention provides a comprehensive definition of migrant workers including those who are to be engaged, are engaged or have been engaged in a remunerative activity in a state of which they are not nationals.
With the World Bank recently describing migration as the third pillar of globalisation, alongside trade and capital flows, it is no surprise that policy discussions on migration and its impacts are gaining importance in Bangladesh. From a few thousand in the 1970s, the number of Bangladeshi migrants has exploded to a gross figure of more than four and a half million by 2007.
The importance of the migrant workers and their role in the development of Bangladesh is not lost on policy-makers, with increased attention being paid to other temporary migration mechanisms such as those offered through the Temporary Movement of Natural Persons (TMNP) of the WTO's General Agreement of Trade in Services (GATS). An understanding of the challenges to, and the potential gains from, increased temporary migration is thus imperative for Bangladeshi policy makers.
The GATS identifies four specific ways that services can be traded. One of these modes, Mode 4, is the TMNP. The GATS describes TMNP as the supply of a service "by a service supplier of one Member, through presence of natural persons of a Member in the territory of any other Member." A liberalisation of TMNP would thus allow for greater movements of workers from one member country to another, for temporary employment, such as through a guest-worker program geared towards highly skilled workers.
Due to the politically sensitive nature of any migration policy, Mode 4 temporary migration has often been given lower priority in services trade discussions and, thus, has relatively limited commitments and scheduled concessions. However, given the declining labour forces and aging populations of developed countries, there is a growing global demand for workers. Given this increasing demand and the decreasing financial and social costs of labour mobility, increased temporary migration has aroused the interest of policy makers in the North as a viable alternative to permanent migration.
Indeed, the vast majority of Bangladeshi migrant workers are unskilled and low-skilled workers heading out to the Middle East or East Asia. However, the opening up of newer labour markets in the North for Bangladesh's semi-skilled workers would provide a new and aggressive expansion of our labour exports. A successful restart of the Doha Round negotiations would give Bangladesh the impetus to successfully negotiate for greater temporary worker migration as part of the greater development agenda.
While the migration sector is not ignored, the people who work in this sector are ignored and one of the reasons is that they don't have any bargaining capacity. Think what would happen if these people one day decided that they would not send money anymore. They are not aware enough, they are not mobilised either, are not educated enough and even are not given the right information. In Bangladesh, migrants do not have a formal source of information about the international labour market, placement, recruiting procedure and about costs and benefits. That's why the aspirant migrant has to go to the informal sources that just abuse or exploit them. Bangladesh needs a very strong monitoring body or maybe a task force which will monitor all the different actions or policies and all the rules and regulations of the recruitment agencies.
Bangladesh needs to address the migrant issue more firmly. The country is one of the signatories that has still not ratified the 1990 UN Convention. The present caretaker government has spoken a lot about eliminating corruption from the society. This area has a lot of corruption that needs to be addressed. There is no more important area of cleaning up than the issue of migrant labour force through which the country earns a handsome amount of foreign exchange. Civil society also needs to raise their voice in favour of migrant workers. They also do not get adequate representation in the media either. As such, the government, civil society and the media need to work together from the perspective of progressive self-interest and building a good future for Bangladesh.
................................................................
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com
In fact, the migrant workers and their families often pay a very large sum to secure an overseas employment opportunity. For them, the direct cost may involve giving up their current employment and incurring large upfront costs, in terms of agency fees, affairs etc, to secure the job. It often takes several months, if not years, to recoup their cost of overseas employment. The families of the migrant workers sometimes face severe deprivation during the transition phase. Therefore, safe and cost-effective migration is very important.
The market for migrant workers is highly imperfect, characterised by high transaction costs, pervasive information gaps and misplaced expectations. The market imperfections are often evident in unfair labour contracts. Recruiting agents often reap abnormal profits, largely at the expense of the migrant workers' interests. Language barriers and a lack of understanding of the country's legal system can make it difficult for migrant workers to seek legal remedies against unfair labour practices. The unhealthy competition among recruiting agencies from different developing countries often exacerbates the situation.
Bangladesh is one of the first few countries to sign the 'International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families' as early as 1998. Since then, 37 countries have ratified the Convention while 15 are signatories to it. This is the most comprehensive instrument detailing the rights of migrant workers and their families.
Over the last five years, on an average, 300,000 people migrated from Bangladesh annually as short-term contract workers. In 2007, the stock of short-term contract migrants stood at 4.6 million; another 1.0 million more constitutes the Bangladeshi Diaspora. It is expected that this year the inflow of remittance will exceed US$ 8.0 billion. The importance of remittances to the Bangladesh economy cannot be overemphasised.
Among the 70 developing countries who receive a sizeable portion of remittance, Bangladesh is the 7th largest; India being the second. Nonetheless, compared to India, per capita remittance earning of Bangladesh is 33 per cent higher. It is unfortunate that due to reasons operational both within Bangladesh and in receiving countries, Bangladeshi migrant workers have become one of the most vulnerable sections of our labour force. Migrants continue to face hardships at home and in destination countries. Unscrupulous recruitment practices have led to high costs, fraudulent practices and pauperisation of a section of migrant workers. In destination countries, due to the arbitrariness of the employers and discriminatory policies of receiving states many migrants face exploitation and loss of rights in the form of low and irregular wages, bad working conditions and restrictions on their movements.
The present caretaker government has initiated reforms in various sectors of the economy. With regard to migration of workers it has undertaken a series of measures to curb the irregularities in the recruitment process and has increased market access and better terms and conditions of Bangladeshi labour in UAE, Malaysia and more recently in the Republic of Korea.
The UN Convention on 'The Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families' is the most important international instrument concerning migrant workers. The Convention came into force in June 2005 with the ratification of 20 countries. For the first time this convention provides a comprehensive definition of migrant workers including those who are to be engaged, are engaged or have been engaged in a remunerative activity in a state of which they are not nationals.
With the World Bank recently describing migration as the third pillar of globalisation, alongside trade and capital flows, it is no surprise that policy discussions on migration and its impacts are gaining importance in Bangladesh. From a few thousand in the 1970s, the number of Bangladeshi migrants has exploded to a gross figure of more than four and a half million by 2007.
The importance of the migrant workers and their role in the development of Bangladesh is not lost on policy-makers, with increased attention being paid to other temporary migration mechanisms such as those offered through the Temporary Movement of Natural Persons (TMNP) of the WTO's General Agreement of Trade in Services (GATS). An understanding of the challenges to, and the potential gains from, increased temporary migration is thus imperative for Bangladeshi policy makers.
The GATS identifies four specific ways that services can be traded. One of these modes, Mode 4, is the TMNP. The GATS describes TMNP as the supply of a service "by a service supplier of one Member, through presence of natural persons of a Member in the territory of any other Member." A liberalisation of TMNP would thus allow for greater movements of workers from one member country to another, for temporary employment, such as through a guest-worker program geared towards highly skilled workers.
Due to the politically sensitive nature of any migration policy, Mode 4 temporary migration has often been given lower priority in services trade discussions and, thus, has relatively limited commitments and scheduled concessions. However, given the declining labour forces and aging populations of developed countries, there is a growing global demand for workers. Given this increasing demand and the decreasing financial and social costs of labour mobility, increased temporary migration has aroused the interest of policy makers in the North as a viable alternative to permanent migration.
Indeed, the vast majority of Bangladeshi migrant workers are unskilled and low-skilled workers heading out to the Middle East or East Asia. However, the opening up of newer labour markets in the North for Bangladesh's semi-skilled workers would provide a new and aggressive expansion of our labour exports. A successful restart of the Doha Round negotiations would give Bangladesh the impetus to successfully negotiate for greater temporary worker migration as part of the greater development agenda.
While the migration sector is not ignored, the people who work in this sector are ignored and one of the reasons is that they don't have any bargaining capacity. Think what would happen if these people one day decided that they would not send money anymore. They are not aware enough, they are not mobilised either, are not educated enough and even are not given the right information. In Bangladesh, migrants do not have a formal source of information about the international labour market, placement, recruiting procedure and about costs and benefits. That's why the aspirant migrant has to go to the informal sources that just abuse or exploit them. Bangladesh needs a very strong monitoring body or maybe a task force which will monitor all the different actions or policies and all the rules and regulations of the recruitment agencies.
Bangladesh needs to address the migrant issue more firmly. The country is one of the signatories that has still not ratified the 1990 UN Convention. The present caretaker government has spoken a lot about eliminating corruption from the society. This area has a lot of corruption that needs to be addressed. There is no more important area of cleaning up than the issue of migrant labour force through which the country earns a handsome amount of foreign exchange. Civil society also needs to raise their voice in favour of migrant workers. They also do not get adequate representation in the media either. As such, the government, civil society and the media need to work together from the perspective of progressive self-interest and building a good future for Bangladesh.
................................................................
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com