Migrant workers need to know risks and scope of overseas jobs

Overseas employment has a great socio-economic impact through the earning of remittance. It has become a part of the government’s development alternatives and improves the livelihood status of migrant workers.

Management of the migration process is an important issue for Bangladesh and it is also a great concern globally. Scarcity of jobs, non availability of preferred work, low wages to maintain the basic needs of a family, and different relevant issues are mainly responsible for the inclination towards the overseas employment.

Every year about 2 million youth are entering the labour force in Bangladesh. Formal employment is around 1,00,000 annually. The informal sectors absorb about half a million. The rest of the young workforce becomes desperate for income earning ventures, specifically overseas employment.

Apart from that, the burgeoning population and the demographic dividends, rapid changes in social patterns and creation of demand in society, geo-political changes and retaining jobs as well as the ups and down of wages are also responsible for migration. Undoubtedly push and pull factors can also influences migration.

In Bangladesh, overseas employment started in 1976 but the common aspirant migrant workers still have to go through a few complexities. In most cases, multiple stakeholders are involved in the process of migration starting from visa procurement, completing the migration formalities up to final departure. Detailed information regarding jobs, wages, scopes, risks, vulnerability and other essential elements involved in the whole process are the main factors which need to be understood by an aspirant migrant worker.

Despite of various attempts taken by the government, potential migrant workers are yet to understand the whole process. If the process is carefully examined, the statistics of overseas employment shows that most of the workers got jobs with the assistance of their friends and family members working abroad or some intermediaries in the country.

Whenever a person decides to get a job abroad, he or she contacts a local middleman, popularly known as ‘dalal’, or takes the assistance of friends or family members working abroad. Unfortunately, only a small number of workers directly contacts recruiting agents or even the District Manpower and Employment Office (DEMO) of BMET. In the recent years, a significant number of workers have gone abroad for overseas employment and as a result Bangladesh received a good amount of remittance. Having said that, the sad incidence regarding migration attempt in Italy through Libya creates an extremely sad experience in the flow of migration.

Nearly 26 Bangladeshis were brutally killed by the Libyan human traffickers. With the assistance of a ‘dalal,’ 38 Bangladeshis were divided into two groups and left Bangladesh in December 2019 for India and then went to UAE and later to Egypt. Each of them spent Tk 700,000 to Tk 800,000 to reach Libya and was supposed to pay Tk 400,000 to Tk 500,000 to reach Italy. They finally reached Benghazi, Libya. Human traffickers dumped them in different parts of Benghazi and they started their journey to Juiara through Tripoli. They had a plan to cross the Mediterranean Sea within 4 to 5 hours and reach the coast of Italy. This is the peak time to cross the sea, as the sea remains calm this time.

They used a risky route in the desert and were kidnapped twice by the rebel gangsters. Once they paid the ransom, but second time they could not manage the money. There were Sudanese nationals with them. The gangsters beat them up for failing to pay the ransom. During the beating, one Sudanese national snatched the arms from the traffickers and shot two of the gangsters. The news was fabricated in a way that Bangladeshi national killed the member of traffickers. The relatives of gangsters took revenge and brutally shot dead the Bangladeshi and Sudanese people.

This sort of deadly journey is nothing new. People drowned in the sea several times when boats capsized. It is astonishing that some relatives of these ill-fated Bangladeshi nationals may also take risk and will try to migrate to Italy in the coming days through the same route. But, the question arises, why is this happening again and again? The instant answer is that people have a dream to migrate to Europe with a hope to earn more money and finally to become a citizen to that country. But, is it that easy to earn money with an illegal status in Europe and so they really become citizens of a European country? It is very important to understand whether the aspirant migrant worker really knows the risks, the opportunities and vulnerability of the whole journey.

The questions arises, what legal action has been taken against the human traffickers as per the prevailing legal instruments? There was no significant and remarkable punishment given to the traffickers so far. Maybe this is one of the reasons that human traffickers continue this heinous business.

The Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act, 2012 is the main legal instrument against the human trafficking in Bangladesh. According to this act, maximum punishment of a human trafficker is death penalty. As per the Bangladesh Country Report, 2016 on Combating Human Trafficking, only 3 persons had been punished in 2016. There was no record of capital punishment pronounced yet against any trafficker so far. This may be one of the reasons that the human traffickers are least fearful of getting involved in such activities.

Bangladesh has successfully handled the acid throwing offence by introducing death penalty for the offender and this crime has been reduced significantly. So, proper investigation and prosecution can ensure the punishment of the traffickers. In this regard, the victim himself and the witness should come forward with proper evidence to assist the law enforcement agencies. The government must also provide protection for the victims and the witnesses. Significant punishment can be the tool to prevent such criminal activities by the traffickers.

Now it can be analysed why people migrate and look for overseas employment? A rosy picture is normally portrayed in front of them about the destination country like a lot of earning, excellent lifestyle and so on. But in reality it is not true. Before migration, the migration candidate should definitely be aware of the real working situation in the destination country. He needs to contact a licensed recruiting agency who can help to get a job abroad. The next question is, how much money should he spend to get that job? If the wage of the proposed job is cost-effective against the migration costs, only then aspirant migrant workers can go for it. So, financial literacy is one of the important aspects to be learnt by the worker. In the recent incident of the Libya case, workers spent nearly Tk 1.2 million to Tk 1.3 million to reach Italy and that too by a risky route. If they are financially literate, they could easily start a small business with that money.

Awareness regarding migration is one of the important options to educate aspirant migrant workers. In this regard, BMET can start a ‘Pre-decision briefing’ for the aspirant migrant workers in 64 districts through the Technical Training Centers and the District Employment and Manpower Offices (DEMO). This sort of briefing session will make them aware on the prospects, risks and vulnerabilities of the migration including better understanding of financial literacy particularly for the European countries.

It is the high time to resolve all those burning issues and to restrain them from such risky ventures with the appropriate awareness campaigns and by briefing them properly. Only then it would be possible to ensure safe, orderly, regular and responsible migration which can prevent illegal migration and human trafficking.

Kazi Abul Kalam is joint secretary to the government of Bangladesh and Md. Nurul Islam, former director of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET)