With the recent announcement of Malaysia’s pledge to ensure entry for 18,000 additional Bangladeshi workers, provided all conditions are met, it is high time for us to begin a conversation surrounding the rights of our overseas workers.
While as a country Malaysia has a much better track record when it comes to upholding worker rights, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s statement, during his recent trip to Dhaka, about making the process as transparent and accountable as possible so that workers are not treated as modern slaves, is nevertheless welcome.
One of the unfortunate realities of migrating abroad for work, especially from countries such as Bangladesh, is that it leaves workers exposed to the clutches of what is known as modern slavery and even human trafficking, the latter of which Bangladesh has, unfortunately, been considered a key strategic point.
It is incredibly important, then, that any and all agreements we have with other countries when it comes to sending Bangladeshi workers are absolutely above board and leave absolutely zero scope for any mistreatment and abuse.
As we have seen countless times, certain nations, especially those in the Gulf, have next to no provisions for worker rights, or even basic human rights for that matter, as anecdotes of rampant abuse and torture at the hands of their employers are rife among Bangladeshi workers who have managed to return home.
Our embassies have not been the most pro-active they can be when it comes to advocating for proper compensation due to the treatment and rehabilitation of migrant workers at the hands of their employers, let alone advocating for such abuses to stop. This has been a failure of the past government for more than a decade, the interim government has a chance to finally make it right.
Bangladesh’s migrant workers are an important pillar of our economy, as was made evident by the remittance strike during the student movement. Failure to protect our hard working men and women abroad is not something we should be comfortable with.
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
