Returning with children, women migrants suffer unbearably

A returned female migrant has handed over her six-month-old infant on condition that she won't be able to see the child anymore.

The ill-fated woman said, "What can I do other than giving up my child? After separating from my husband, I went abroad leaving two sons with my mother. Now I have returned with a child of my Saudi employer's son. This cannot be shared with anybody."

The woman handed over the child to another family through a court. Being the mother, she naturally developed love for the child born through rape. She did not get justice for the rape and torture. Now she is going through a lot of hardship.

After returning home on 8 June 2021, the woman along with the child was sitting at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital. The child was handed over to the non-government organisation BRAC through the Armed Police Battalion of the airport. She went to Saudi Arabia in November 2020.

Concealing the matter that she gave birth to the child in a Saudi jail and handing over the child, she returned home on 11 June. If she did not hide it, she won't be accepted in the family or the community.

Over some years now, several women like her went abroad for work and were allegedly raped and had to return home with children. BRAC has been providing various support for 12 such women. The Wage Earners Welfare Board is also going to rehabilitate 15 women who returned home with children. But there are no statistics as to how many women returned home with children after going abroad for work.

Some women, who go abroad including Saudi Arabia for domestic and other works, are compelled to return after becoming pregnant or with children. After returning home, these children are being brought up without the identity of their fathers or in most of the cases, without mothers either.

Airport Armed Police Battalion former additional police super Md Alamgir Hossain was recently transferred after promotion.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said there is no arrangement to record he statistics of the female migrants who return home with children. The matter comes up whenever a woman leaves a child or unwilling to take it with her to the family.

In three years of experience, he handed over more than one hundred female migrants to non-government organisations as they returned home mentally imbalanced due to various reasons.

According to BRAC, Around 10,000 to 12,000 female migrants returned from Saudi Arabia alone in last five years. Statistics of Expatriates' Welfare Desk at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport shows some 2,336 female migrants returned home facing various problems through 'outpass', meaning permission for return this year. In 2020, as many as 50,614 female migrants returned home with outpass.

Who is responsible for rehabilitating returnees with children?

APBN members recovered an eight-month baby girl from the arrival belt area of the airport on 2 April. The woman with the baby returned in a flight of Saudi Airlines at night. The mother was not found in the morning. The child was handed over to the government's Chotomoni Home.

A woman, who returned from Jordan in 2017, left her child at the airport. That child got new parents through a court.

A girl from Manikganj fell into a trap of a Bangladeshi middleman in Jordan. Later she was forced into prostitution. This girl became pregnant for six months and returned home after losing her mental balance. Later she gave birth to a baby. While visiting the woman recently, it was found the child is three years old. The ill-fate woman said, "I had no benefit going abroad, rather my life has been finished."

These returned female migrants went abroad maintaining all formalities. Neither the government nor the recruiting agencies are now taking the liabilities of their problems. The non-government organisations are talking about their limitations. After returning home, some women have tried to commit suicide. After their condition was revealed, some were compelled to change their houses.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, a woman, who returned home with a child, said she could not share with the parents that their son had been raping her. The son hinted he would kill her if the matter was disclosed to his parents. At one stage there was no way but to disclose it to them. After sharing the matter with the parents, she had to suffer torture in various ways including drinking pineapple juice to kill the baby in the womb.

At last the employer sent her to jail. She had to stay in jail for two months and gave birth to a baby in the jail. This ill-fate woman was handcuffed while taken to the court or physicians. Still the woman is haunted by the unbearable torture in the destination county.

Non-government organisation BRAC's head of migration programme Shariful Islam said sending women abroad should not be stopped. However, their security has to be ensured.

During the stay in the destination country, with the assistance of the embassy, DNA tests have to be conducted on the women who are allegedly tortured and raped, to ascertain the identity of father of the baby, he added.

Allegations of rape are found against employers or their sons, Bangladeshi middlemen and even embassy officials. Whoever the accused are, they have to be brought to book.

A woman, who returned home with a baby, at Prothom Alo office said at the two jails of Saudi Arabia where she stayed there were more Bangladeshi women with children and they want to return.

Deputy director of Wage Earners' Welfare Board under the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment, Jahid Anwar, said, "Steps are being taken to rehabilitate 15 such women under a special consideration. Under the initiative, letters will be sent to the embassies of respective countries to realise compensation."

Non-government organisation Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP) in a report titled 'Access to Justice for Bangladeshi Migrant Workers: Opportunities and Challenges' published in April this year said as many as 262 female migrants returned to Faridpur, Narsigdi, Munshiganj and Narayanganj. Some 60 per cent of them are victims of various tortures while 16 per cent of them are victims of sexually assaulted.

National Human Rights Commission member Nomita Halder said the government has to take the liability of returning female migrants. The Saudi government has also to be brought under the accountability.

Inhuman lives

An unmarried woman of Narsingdi returned home with a child from Saudi Arabia after losing her mental balance on 26 March this year.

While talking to her elder sister over phone on 23 June, her elder sister said her sister gave away the child to other just after returning home.

She said they had to chained her sister for long and her legs swelled. Now they unchained, but she hurled abuse at people of surrounding areas and the people are irritated by her.

The elder sister said, "We forbade her to go abroad. But she did not listen. She went with sound mind but she returned mad. The government should stop sending women abroad."

The mother of this ill-fated woman died. Her father is old. Other family members are busy with their own families. None can take care of this woman.

While visiting a Saudi returnee woman at her Manikganj home recently, it was found the woman, her parents and children were sharing their home with her grandmother (maternal). Her father works as a earth digger. He, however, is not finding work during the coronavirus pandemic.

The father said, "We did not imagine my daughter would return in this situation. She returned fully mad and even I cannot understand her speech. The child she returned with is growing. How can I feed the child of another when I cannot feed my own children? At the beginning many would show concern, but now everyone has forgotten."

He said he is unable to get her daughter married. "The future of my daughter is finished and our future is also ruined," he lamented.

An unmarried woman went to Mauritius to work in a garment factory in February 2020. She was forced to return in December the same year.

Several Bangladeshi middlemen joined hands with the garment owner where she would work. The owner raped her making her unconscious and the Bangladeshi middlemen filmed it.

Showing video footage, they threatened her and raped. This ill-fated woman alleged she was forced to abort the child at a clinic as she conceived.

Speaking to Prothom Alo over mobile phone, the woman said she submitted an application to the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment minister on 20 June seeking justice. In the application, she described in details through which recruiting agency she went abroad. She also mentioned the name of the owner, the names and identities of the middlemen.

A father of a returned woman with child said after returning of her daughter a number of non-government organisation stood by them. After the publication of report in the media, the local administration became active. Some financial assistance was given. But later there was no financial assistance any more. There was no talk in the media.

He said women from the poor families go abroad for work. When a woman returns with a child, she had nowhere to go. The daughter has no work whereas had another mouth to feed.

*This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Rabiul Islam.