A two-member delegation of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) has found Bangladeshi female domestic workers being mistreated by their employers in Hong Kong.
Struggle to get accustomed to foreign language, unfamiliar food habit and inability to manage dogs of the employers have added to their woes.
The delegation led by Additional Director General of (BMET) Jabed Ahmed visited Hong Kong from November 5 and November 9 to inspect the condition of female workers over there.
Seven female migrants who were compelled to return home after losing jobs in Hong Kong, brought allegation of maltreatment against their employers.
They claimed that they were provided with insufficient food, put up with excessive pressure of work and frequently were terminated from jobs.
Following their allegations, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment sent the delegation.
The officials said they had found the workers having a tough time to adjust with a new environment where food habit and language were largely different from that of the native ones.
The delegation visited a dormitory of Technic Employment Service Centre Ltd, a Hong Kong-based recruiting agency.
A member of the delegation said: “While visiting the dormitory we found a female migrant burnt by her employer who poured hot water on her neck. The employer was now languishing in jail.”
He said the victim would be compensated.
“We have seen our female migrant workers struggling to get habituated to the foreign language and food habits. They are also unable to manage dogs,” Jabed Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune at his office yesterday.
The official said: “We hold a meeting with the Hong Kong labour department and discussed the issue of our expatriate workers being ill-treated by their employers”.
Quoting Hong Kong labour department officials, Javed said: “There are branches of labour department offices in different districts in Hong Kong where the victims can go if they need any kind of assistance. They would take actions accordingly.”
However, they did not know how to approach these offices, he added.
Officials of Bangladesh Consulate office in Dhaka claimed that many times the migrants come to them with complaints over trivial issues.
We suggest them to try to get accustomed to the new environment if they want to earn livelihood over there, they said.