It is a fact that migrant workers remain one of the biggest assets to the Bangladesh economy. Just last month, our expatriates sent home a record $2.06 billion in remittance, once again proving just how invaluable they are.
However, it is unfortunate that, despite these migrant workers sacrificing so much to help our economy, they oftentimes are only offered hollow words of encouragement, with little in the way of actions to support them. Migrant workers are often mistreated both physically and sexually, and as their passports are taken away, they often have no way of contacting the government, of both their homeland’s and the countries they work in.
There remain unethical agents at play in the industry, who prey on the migrant workers’ innocence and continue to exploit them. This is not only heartbreaking, but sets a bad precedence, and our government simply must do a better job of setting up proper safety channels to bring the whole migrant worker network under.
To this view, the government must take some steps. The first step is to crack down on unethical agents and eliminate them from the system and then, in conjunction with the government of the countries in which our workers go to, create an official channel under which all migrant workers will operate, and under which all of them will get the necessary safety and security.
The government has taken several successful initiatives to increase the flow of remittance, and the same care must be implemented for the safety and security of migrant workers. Our expats have given the country so much, and it is about time more is done for them, not only through words, but through actions as well.
