Speakers at a conference here on Saturday expressed concern over the high migration cost of workers, saying that there is hardly any notable progress about the much-talked issue in last one decade.
They stressed the need for more focus on social cost of migration as the left-behind families face different types of obstacles after migration of the head of families.
Rights activists, officials and migrant workers participated in the two-day conference on 'Transforming Challenges of Migration into Opportunity: Call for Declaration of 2021-2030 as the Decade of Migration in Bangladesh' at the city's BRAC Centre Inn.
Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) organised the event.
Shahzada M Akram, senior manager (Research and Policy) of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) said that the migration cost increases because of different factors including syndication and irregularities in the process of sending workers abroad.
He said the migration cost increased significantly for the outbound workers to Malaysia due to syndication by a section of manpower recruiters.
Besides, workers also face extra charge to get passport, immigration clearance, pre-departure training, visa stamping etc., he added.
Referring to a TIB study, Mr Akram said they have seen that recruiting agencies obtain 90 per cent of the total migration cost of Tk 500,000 to send a worker to Saudi Arabia.
He suggested addressing the migration cost issue properly in the announcement of the migration decade.
Shariful Islam, programme head of BRAC migration, said high migration cost is a much-talked issue over the last one decade, but no visible outcome to rationalise the cost is seen as of now. He stressed the need for a proper policy regarding the issue.
RMMRU executive director CR Abrar emphasised on discussing about the migration cost issue in the international forum. The worker sending countries could approach the destination countries to bear the cost of migration, he added.
Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) director Md Nurul Islam moderated the season on 'Financial Cost of Migration', saying that visa trading is the key reason behind the increased migration cost.
He emphasised on creating public awareness for bringing down the cost as people are giving money without being informed about the officially-fixed migration cost.
Mr. Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, moderated the season titled 'Social Cost of Migration' and said that the left-behind families and children are vulnerable in many ways. So, the existing policies should be updated properly to address the issues, he added.
Jamila Akhtar, child protection specialist of UNICEF, recommended the government to spend a portion of the remittances in social protection of the migrant workers.
Gazi Mohammad Julhas, director general of Wage Earners' Welfare Board (WEWB), said they were considering to increase the number of scholarship for the children of migrant workers.
They also will raise the amount of stipends for the children, he said, adding that the board is working actively for the wellbeing of the migrant workers.
The inaugural season of the conference was chaired by Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, additional secretary at the Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, while Tasneem Siddiqui, founding chair of RMMRU, among others, was present at the event.
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