After suffering torture in different ways at the hands of their employers, as many as 259 Bangladeshi women workers are suffering at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while waiting to return home.
They are currently in a safe home operated by the Bangladesh Embassy at Riyadh, said the embassy’s First Secretary (Labour) Md Shofikul Islam.
He said the local Labour Court has finished giving its verdicts regarding every female worker. “We are now waiting for the exit order from the Saudi authorities. After the procedure is complete, we will send them back to Bangladesh.”
“The embassy will manage everything necessary for their safe return,” he ensured.
According to sources, the female workers have experienced various forms of abuse, including less or no wage, physical, psychological and even sexual abuse, by their employers in Saudi Arabia.
Many of them have also complained about various forms of torture.
Shariful Hasan, head of Brac’s Migration Program, said: “Female workers are returning home due to one or several of four reasons: irregular wage, lack of adaptation ability, physical torture and sexual abuse.
“We have seen some major injuries on previous returnees. If our embassy had documented these injuries and submitted them to Saudi authorities or police, then these returnees would have gotten some justice. But our embassy is not taking such steps,” he said.
On August 27, another 110 female workers returned home after suffering various forms of abuse at the hands of their employers in Saudi Arabia.
According to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET), a total of 68,286 female workers went to Saudi Arabia in 2016. The number went up to 83,354 the next year.
Then number then went down to 73,713 in 2018, and until July this year, 44,002 female workers have gone to Saudi Arabia pursuing a better life.
However, this year alone, around 800 women have returned to Bangladesh. Last year, Brac had provided emergency services for the safe return of 1,365 female migrants.
Search for a solution
Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, secretary general of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA), said: “The number of female workers who returned home is 10% of the total who went to Saudi Arabia, according to media reports.
“We should properly investigate the reasons behind their return to address the issues in the system.”
He said: “We must also develop our training facility as some female workers return due to lack of skill. But about the others forms of abuse, the Saudi authorities must come forward.
“We can take action in our country, but it will not solve the problem. The Saudi authorities must be made aware of this. These issues can be solved in a coordinated way with all stakeholders coming together.” he said.
Shameem added: “We have talked to the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister about this. We will meet at the Saudi Embassy in Dhaka on September 15 over these issues.”
Dr Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, additional secretary of the said ministry, also told Dhaka Tribune that the government helps the women workers who want to return home under unfavourable circumstances, which include physical and sexual abuse.
“However, not all of them suffer from physical or sexual abuse. There are a number of reasons behind their decision to come back,” he said.
Saleheen said they were also developing a software to create a database with information of all the returnees which will help them to plan future moves.
