Every year, tens of thousands of Bangladeshi people head for foreign lands for economic opportunities and a better life. However, many of them return home with depressing stories of despair, dejection and horror.
But life for most of the returnees, even for those who do not have an unfortunate narrative, is not always smooth when they are back home as a vast majority of them wrestle to adjust to work and life.
Over the past 11 years and a half from 2008 through 2019, about 5.85 lakh labor migrants were deported from foreign countries to Bangladesh.
It was mostly because they lost their legal immigration status and thus became undocumented in the countries where they had been employed, said Shariful Islam Hasan, head of Brac Migration Program, while presenting a keynote speech at a program in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The event, “Safe return and sustainable reintegration,” was organized jointly by International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Brac in Dhaka. The two agencies are currently implementing the project 'Bangladesh: Sustainable Reintegration and improved Migration Governance- Prottasha'.
"They had to return through obtaining travel passes," Shariful added.
He said facts and figures had been collected, based on statistics from the Prabashi Kalyan Desk at different airports by the Wage Earners Welfare Board, and relevant government agencies.
The government of Bangladesh, BRAC and International Organization of Migration (IOM) Bangladesh are jointly implementing the project, funded by the European Union (EU).
Addressing the event, Shariful cited a number of reasons, notably expiry of visas, unavailability of jobs, physical and mental abuse, strenuous jobs, ailments, closure of factory or industry, and inability to adapt to foreign conditions, as triggering the return home of the migrants.
The migration expert underscored the need for a coordinated effort to serve migrant workers in their re-integration for their psychosocial well-being, economic stability, acceptance in family and skills utilization.
Currently, the government does not have any programs in place to facilitate the psycho-social health of migrants who have returned, although some who had been deported received assistance through Prottasha – a reintegration program for returning migrants implemented by IOM and BRAC.
Shariful emphasized mental health support and financial opportunities for returnee migrant workers in an effort to help them regain confidence and support in skill development and job placement for proper reintegration in society.
Emphasizing the effective reintegration of returnee workers, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment (MOEWOE) Ahmed Munirus Saleheen said re-integration of returnees was a vital part of the migration process.
Head of the monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning department at the IOM Phineas Jasi noted that re-integration was key to the migration process.
"About 10.2 million Bangladeshis are living abroad, but those who fail to work or face problems overseas fall prey to psychological, social and financial problems. Re-integration for those who return home early from abroad because of myriad problems is essential," he said.
Shariful Hasan of Brac identified eight challenges of the re-integration process. They are absence of integrated database, inadequate employment opportunities, inadequate psycho-social counseling and legal support to address injustice, lack of awareness among communities to support returnees, absence of an integrated National Reintegration Policy and a lack of a comprehensive Reintegration scheme for all returnees.
He recommended developing a returnee database, creating skill based job opportunities, generating knowledge on the use of remittance at the community level by initiating financial literacy programs, access to psycho-social counseling & legal support, and developing integrated National Reintegration Policy for all returnee to address the issue.
Toll-free hotline for migrant workers launched
Meanwhile, the government has launched a toll-free hotline to provide necessary information services with regard to the migration process for workers and their families.
Prospective migrants, migrant workers and their families can avail any information free of cost by dialing the hotline at 08000102030.
Another number +9610102030 was also launched to offer information services for labor migrants living abroad. The hotlines will be open from 7am to 11pm every day.
Additional Secretary Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, in his speech as the chief guest at the event, said if people could get information accurately, they could make better decisions.
"Those who went abroad or are prospective migrants mostly take decisions without learning much of the information required. As many as 95% of them do not know which agencies are sending them abroad," he said.
A senior ministry official, noting that reports of abuse of female workers working abroad reached the authorities in Bangladesh, also admitted an apparent lack of sincerity in addressing the issue.
"The government has a zero tolerance policy on abuse of female workers. There are problems, and the government alone cannot solve everything," he added.
