FE Report
Speakers at a programme underscored the need for exploring new avenues of jobs including care-giving and nursing for women outbound workers to help ensure their safety.
They also placed a series of recommendations such as improved selection process, pre-departure training, and monitoring system and strong diplomatic initiatives to make sure the rights of domestic helps are protected while working abroad.
The views came Saturday at a national dialogue with high level government officials on 'Policies addressing Labour and Mobility'.
The programme was organised by Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) in Dhaka.
Merina Sultana, director of the programme at RMMRU, moderated the dialogue, attended by migrants' rights activists and government officials.
Ali Haider Chowdhury, a former secretary-general of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, said it was needed to introduce demand-based skills training for women overseas job-seekers.
"Professionals like caregivers and nurses have high demand in countries where the number of elderly population is growing day by day," he said.
Bangladesh should target such jobs for Bangladeshi women migrants, which can ensure their better protection and facilities, he added.
Mr Chowdhury noted that the Bangladesh government can also consider dormitory system for domestic helpers as they are vulnerable to abuses in employers' houses.
Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, joint secretary-general of the BAIRA, said if the country reduced the reliance on the middlemen, the majority of the problems plaguing the sector would be resolved.
"We've already sent a proposal on bio-recruitment system to the expatriate welfare ministry to help eliminate the intermediaries' involvement in the sector," Mr Noman said.
He also said the relevant ministries would have to work together to ensure workers' security.
Jyotirmoy Barua said that a large number of dead bodies of migrant workers arrive every year. "But we don't know the actual reasons for their deaths," he said.
He sought intervention of international organisations in this connection.
Addressing as the chief guest, Nazrul Islam, a member of National Human Rights Commission Bangladesh, said the government had to 'own' every migrant worker irrespective of whether they go through the legal or illegal channels.
The migration sector should be declared an industry by the government, he added.
Rupan Kanti Shil, an additional secretary of the ministry of social welfare, was present at the dialogue.
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