Stop sending domestic helpers to KSA as cases of sexual harassment surge

More than 90 per cent Bangladeshi migrant domestic helps is subjected to sexual harassment at their workplaces, especially in Saudi Arabia, said a rights lawyer on Monday.
"Many of them do not tell their stories to families fearing of relation break up," said Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers` Association (BNWLA). "Bangladesh should not throw its women into tiger cages."
The authorities also can rethink sending woman workers to Saudi Arabia as they are more vulnerable in the Arab country.
Through interviewing, they found at least 90 per cent of returning women workers was abused by sexual harassments.
Ms Ali made the revelation at a national dialogue on 'Migration Governance of Women Mobility, Employment and Access to Entitlements' was organised by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) in Dhaka.
The government should give priority to the sectors other than domestic work for women workers, she argued.
C R Abrar, executive director of RMMRU, moderated the programme, where Salim Reza, director general of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET), was the chief guest. Rights activists, officials and migrant workers, among others, spoke.
The BNWLA chief said that although there are shelter homes in Saudi Arabia, workers do not get necessary support as officials are non-cooperative.
"Attitudes of labour attaches towards workers are not friendly," she added.
The rights activist also stressed the need for adequate skills training of house maids for all job destination countries.
She said campaign for raising awareness among women workers was necessary as they still pay money to the recruiters because of ignorance.
"I interviewed returned women workers who said they spent minimum Tk 80,000 each. But the government announced zero migration cost for the women outbound workers," she added.
Many of workers were the victims of human trafficking as they did not get the types of jobs what were stipulated in their contract papers and they were tortured in many ways.
C R Abrar said a comprehensive data of women returning workers should be made to find out the root causes of their return.
Like males, women should have the rights of mobility from one country to another, he said, adding the deployment of women workers abroad should not be stopped, rather they should be protected at workplaces.
He also suggested raising awareness about the government's zero migration cost policy through the media including state-run Bangladesh Television.
Responding to the queries of participants, Salim Reza said all women workers were going abroad without cost. "You can interview women (who went abroad free of charges) if you want and I will arrange it," he said.
"Improvements are happening in the migration sector," he said.
Nurul Isalm, director BMET, said the state agency was putting emphasis on sending skilled women instead of house maids.
Some 121,000 Bangladeshi women went abroad with jobs in 2017, he added.

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