MIGRANT workers by way of their remittances hugely contribute to the national economy, which is evident in that Bangladesh has received more than $4.5 billion in remittances in the first quarter of the current financial year. But there has for some times now been a recent significant increase in the number of workers being sent back from more than one destination countries, especially Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. In the light of the situation, a call for concerted efforts to implement the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration by experts is worth heeding. Representatives from different ministries and agencies at a workshop in Dhaka on Tuesday emphasised the need for implementing the inter-governmental agreement to ensure and protect migrant worker rights. It is not legally-binding, but it can still act as a device for effective talks between labour-exporting countries and stakeholders. As more overseas workers are now sent back almost every day for a number of reasons, it is high time that the government addressed the issue urgently.

Bangladesh is said to be sending workers to 165 countries, having legally-binding agreements with only two of them and non-binding memorandums of understanding with 11 of them. Workers, therefore, migrate to other countries mostly without any agreement having been in place between the origin and the destination country. The absence of agreements between the two countries involved leaves migrant workers largely vulnerable and subjects them to exploitation and abuse. The government needs to remedy this situation immediately by bringing the process of migration under legally-binding protocols. It needs to take steps to secure such agreements to protect workers in destination countries. A proper implementation of the GCM, prepared under the United Nations, can be an effective tool. On the home front, the government and the authorities concerned have also mostly failed to bring the migration process under a legal framework. Errant recruiting agencies and middlemen, irregularities and corruption in the migration process and the non-adherence to standard protocols often put prospective migrant workers into trouble even well before they leave for overseas job. The government should, therefore, immediately attend to these concerns to protect people willing to go abroad on jobs from ill treatment at home and ensure fair and legal migration for them.

The government must, under the circumstances, shore up all the issues on the home front to provide migrant workers with a fair migration process through a regulated system. The government and the authorities concerned must also frame all the necessary policies and ensure their stringent implementation. The government must also immediately engage in discussions with all the destination countries to secure legally-binding protocols to safeguard migrant worker rights and ensure their well-being.