The government must introduce worker-friendly rules to make labour migration easier and smoother, NHRC chief Prof Mizanur Rahman has said.
Illegal migration only takes place because the state has made it difficult for people to move from one country to another, the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission told a seminar on safe migration at the capital’s Brac Centre Inn yesterday.
Mizanur said if the government arranged affordable migration opportunities, people would not fall victim to human trafficking through the lure of cheap offers from brokers.
“A poor man has no ability to spend Tk4-5 lakh [for migration]. So if somebody gives them an offer of Tk2 lakh, they would prefer it more,” he said.
Terming human resource as the country’s main capital, the NHRC chief said different kind of restrictions have been imposed to stop this capital from being exported.
The state needs to ensure simple and easy natural movement of humans, and think about protecting the interests of migrant workers, he added.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is poor-friendly, but the bureaucracy and administration are rich-friendly,” Mizanur said.
He further criticised the way migrant workers are treated at airports while leaving or returning to the country.
Migrants are often kept in isolation at airports, their passports are held, and their visas questioned, the NHRC chief said.
He also pointed out that in contrast with the migrants’ situation, anyone with a suit and a tie would easily cruise through airport immigration.
Sarat Dash, chief of mission for International Organisation for Migration, said all countries should consider how safe the process of migration was.
Former FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed also questioned why migration cannot be bettered the same way education, health and other sectors have undergone improvements.
