The Dhaka Consultation of Colombo Process

ELEVEN Asian manpower exporting nations are scheduled to begin their two-day deliberations today (Wednesday) in Dhaka under the banner of the Colombo Process, a regional consultative process on the management of overseas employment and contractual labour having their origins in Asia. Bangladesh, a member of the Colombo Process, took over its rotational chairmanship in December 2009. The Process initiated in 2003 at the ministerial consultation of ten labour-exporting countries of Asia in Colombo, Sri Lanka, has so far held two more consultations, one in 2004 and another in 2005. The Dhaka Consultation is being organized at a time when the issues such as labour migration and remittance have assumed far greater importance than anytime before because of the possible impact of political unrest in a good number of Gulf and north African countries and the rising oil and commodity prices on the manpower exporting countries. The constituents of Colombo Process are the source of the majority of foreign labourers working in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, USA and Europe. It is estimated that over 2.5 million Asian workers leave their countries every year taking contractual employment abroad. Such workers have been making significant contributions to the economies of the countries where they are employed in areas such as services, trade and construction. International experts maintain that the number of Asian migrant workers would increase in coming years because of the declining working populations in many parts of the world and the growing demand for skilled workers and service personnel. The Asian labour exporting countries are becoming increasingly aware of the need for protecting the rights of their overseas working populations, notwithstanding the fact all the countries are not equally sensitive to the issue. Besides, increased efforts are also needed to maximize the benefits of organized labour migration. Equally important are the issues such as the development of new markets and beefing up the remittance flows through formal channels. The Colombo Process member-nations obviously are addressing those issues individually. But their regional platform can be utilized effectively when it comes to protecting the interests of their migrant workers. The forum should open up dialogue with the appropriate authorities of the labour-employing countries to deal with many alleged incidents of maltreatment to their workers. In this connection, it would be worthwhile to refer to the inhuman police action on the Asian migrant workers, including those having their origins in Bangladesh, in a couple of the Middle Eastern countries last year. Since the Colombo Process is a common regional platform to protect the interests of the Asian workers, it should have taken up the issue with the authorities concerned of those countries. There should be no reason to have yet another 'talking shop' if it cannot move ahead, with the right causes of the migrant workers who at the cost of their sweat and blood are sending billions of dollars home every year and providing the much-needed cushion to the balance of payments of their respective countries. The Fourth Ministerial Consultation in Dhaka, thus, offers an opportunity to reinvigorate the process of dialogue among the member-countries and also with officials of the labour-employing countries who are expected to be present during the consultation in Dhaka. This will be also an occasion to take stock of the prevailing labour market situation and review the progress made in achieving the main objectives behind the formation of the Process and chart out future directions in the context of to-day's globalised world and other political and economic realities.