Tofail for tougher laws to protect expat labour

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, now in Qatar, has proposed enactment of tougher labour laws to protect expatriate workers from forced overtime and poor living conditions in the countries under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
He said it is necessary to have bilateral discussions on policies of different countries over manpower exports instead of only focusing on dialogue on labour rights issues between the manpower-exporting and importing countries.
He came up with the proposal while making his deliberation on ‘Labour Markets Policy and its Impact on the Economy: Associated Challenge’ in the 14th Doha Forum in the capital of Qatar on Tuesday.
Countries belonging to the GCC are the major destinations for workers from Bangladesh and many other countries where the expatriates face many challenges while working.
Tofail also proposed introduction of more stringent laws to protect expatriate workers from arbitrary increase in house rents and simplification of work visa rules to enable an expatriate to freely change employers which will help solve the problems faced by the expatriates in the countries under the GCC, according to UNB.