FE Report
Some 50 women domestic helps returned home from Saudi Arabia in the last three days because of different kinds of exploitations at workplaces, people familiar with the situation said.
Of the total, 27 women came on Thursday. Most of the workers migrated to the oil-rich kingdom six to two months back.
Besides, 140 women are waiting for being repatriated into safe homes and emigration camps in the Arab country, according to the people with knowledge of the matter.
Migrant rights activists said it was painful to see women workers return home being victimised on the 'International Women's Day'. This has proved the government's insincerity about workers' rights, they added.
Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of WARBE Development Foundation, said that it is not wise to send women abroad without ensuring security.
The government has to have proper policy on female migration and also compensation for the returnee workers.
Sharmin, who hailed from Barisal, migrated to Saudi Arabia without the state-run manpower bureau's clearance. She didn't get the job as was promised by the recruiting agent.
She was engaged in hazardous jobs where she was also tortured in many ways. She then escaped the employer's house and took shelter in the embassy, said Al Amin Noyon, information officer of migration programme at BRAC.
Based on applications from migration programme of BRAC, Wage Earners' Welfare Board arranged the repatriation of the women, he said.
Employer left Shopna at a market place after the expiry of her contract period. Actually, Shopna wasn't provided Ikama by her employer, despite it is a mandatory document for work.
He believed the employer dropped her at a market to avoid legal hassle.
Mr Noyon said now-a-days bringing back victim women is being delayed as employers file cases when a worker escapes house. Law enforcement agencies are also in favour of employers.
He requested the government to take proper diplomatic initiative so that offenders are brought within the ambit of law of that country
Nearly 0.7 million female workers went abroad between 1991 and 2017, of which more than 0.2 million went to Saudi Arabia with domestic jobs.
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