Bangladesh owes a lot to its overseas workers. After all, remittance sent in by our workers abroad is the second biggest source of foreign currency for our country, second only to the ready-made garments industry.
But, in terms of ensuring that these hardworking men and women get the kind of protection that individuals who choose to go far away from their homes in order to make a living and send their earnings back home deserve, the administration has failed miserably in the past and keeps doing so even now.
Which is why it is hard to celebrate the fact that Bangladesh received $1.96 billion in remittance through the legal channel in January alone, when we realize what the true cost of these earnings have been thus far.
In most of our discussions on labour rights, the horrifying treatment of Bangladeshi domestic workers abroad often goes unaddressed, given that the predominant destination for these workers are Gulf nations with less-than-savoury track records of upholding basic human rights and even abusing their workers, and there are innumerable accounts of our overseas workers being subjected to horrible working conditions, unpaid wages, and even outright abuse, both physical and mental.
It is also worth bearing in mind that, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the victims of domestic worker abuse are women.
This is unacceptable, to say the least.
Given the contributions they make to our economy, our foreign workers deserve a lot better and, to that end, our embassies are failing them miserably by not holding host nations accountable for their unscrupulous employers.
Another big part of the problem is the very system through which workers find such opportunities, who often have to rely on unscrupulous middlemen. Even though the use of legal channels has increased greatly over the years, needless to say, these back channels need to be clamped down on.
Our migrant workers abroad are the backbone of our economy, and we have a solemn responsibility to protect them from exploitation.
