Thrust on global cos' social duty for remitters
Sunday, 6 December 2009
FE Report
Multinational companies thriving on the global remittance industry should do business in a socially responsible way, caring about the remitters and their families, said a top migrant activist Saturday.
Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of the WARBE Development Foundation, said global money transfer giants like Western Union and MoneyGram and airlines need to be involved in projects for the welfare of transnational families.
"Global corporations are prospering on migrants' money. It's their responsibility to do something for the migrants and their families," Mr Haque said.
He said his organisation would celebrate this 10th December as the "Transnational Family Day" in the capital to express solidarity with Bangladeshi migrants.
The celebration of the day is part of the global action of La Liga Global in Mexico last year, which is a transnational network of migrants, remitters, their families, organisations and their allies.
An estimated 5.6 million Bangladeshis are employed abroad who send home $9.7 billion in remittance, making it the second biggest source of foreign exchange after merchandise exports.
"Transnational families are writing the rules of a new global economy where economic democracy replaces economic concentration," says the La Liga website.
The WARBE head said the "Transnational Family Day" will also be observed in the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Korea and other countries.
"We seek to change the historic equation that has forced millions to be displaced from their families," he said.
Bangladesh remains a major sending nation in the world, and its workers' deployment first topped 100,000 in 1989, since the country's entry into the global labour market in the 1970s.
Multinational companies thriving on the global remittance industry should do business in a socially responsible way, caring about the remitters and their families, said a top migrant activist Saturday.
Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of the WARBE Development Foundation, said global money transfer giants like Western Union and MoneyGram and airlines need to be involved in projects for the welfare of transnational families.
"Global corporations are prospering on migrants' money. It's their responsibility to do something for the migrants and their families," Mr Haque said.
He said his organisation would celebrate this 10th December as the "Transnational Family Day" in the capital to express solidarity with Bangladeshi migrants.
The celebration of the day is part of the global action of La Liga Global in Mexico last year, which is a transnational network of migrants, remitters, their families, organisations and their allies.
An estimated 5.6 million Bangladeshis are employed abroad who send home $9.7 billion in remittance, making it the second biggest source of foreign exchange after merchandise exports.
"Transnational families are writing the rules of a new global economy where economic democracy replaces economic concentration," says the La Liga website.
The WARBE head said the "Transnational Family Day" will also be observed in the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Korea and other countries.
"We seek to change the historic equation that has forced millions to be displaced from their families," he said.
Bangladesh remains a major sending nation in the world, and its workers' deployment first topped 100,000 in 1989, since the country's entry into the global labour market in the 1970s.