The government will bring back home all undocumented Bangladeshi workers from abroad as their presence will cast a bad impact on the country's overseas job markets, said sate minister for Foreign Affairs Shariar Alam on Wednesday.
"We can't lose our prospective markets due to illegal migrant workers," he said while speaking at a consultation on 'Reflection on Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration," held in the capital.
Mentioning that a large number of Bangladeshi workers go abroad every year, he said the government is committed for ensuring their rights.
The consultation was organised by the Parliamentarians Caucus on Migration and Development.
Israfil Alam MP also the Chairman of the Caucus, said they are putting emphasis on skill migration to help ensure more wages and benefits for Bangladeshi expatriate workers and their protection.
However, the speakers alleged that Bangladeshi women outbound workers are forced to pay migration cost due to involvement of middlemen in different stages of recruitment process.
They mentioned that many women overseas job seekers are spending up to Tk 80,000 to get employed abroad, despite the government's announcement of zero migration cost for all traditional job markets for women workers.
They also urged the government to make sure that the workers get necessary services at home and abroad.
Brushing aside the allegation, Salim Reza, Director General of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) said currently no woman is going abroad with migration cost.
They used to pay the recruiters to get jobs before the zero migration cost policy was announced by the government, he claimed.
Advocate Hosne Ara Lutfa Dalia and Roksana Yasmin Suty, members of the Parliamentarians Caucus, and Syed Siful Haque, Chairman of WARBE Development Foundation, were also present at the meeting, among others.
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