Labour Trafficking: Migrant workers denied justice, says study

The legal system for the migrant workers denies justice although they are constantly cheated and exploited in the overseas recruitment process, says an action research.

"Under the guise of recruitment agencies, traffickers use deception, fraud, and other means to extract huge sums of money from the poor and vulnerable. Yet the survivors are persistently denied justice", it said, and suggested reform of the Emigration Ordinance.

Shikkha Shastha Unnayan Karzakram (Shishuk), an NGO, conducted the research on 150 identical cases of labour trafficking under a programme of Winrock International funded by the USAID.

Shishuk Executive Director Sakiul Millat Morshed presented the research paper "Legal redress for victims and survivors in the process of migration: Framework and realities" at Biam auditorium in the city.

Morshed said traffickers obtain huge amounts of money as "migration fee" from the overseas jobseekers avoiding banking channels, which leads the deceived migrants, upon their return, to fail to produce any proofs required to prosecute the agencies. "This way the culprits escape just punishment".

Though traffickers allure jobseekers by producing false information and tampering documents, the government agencies are unable to prevent such fraud or take actions to stop it, he said.

Morshed said there are evidences that the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) issued emigration clearances to "fake recruiting agencies", but it took no responsibility to address the victims' complaints.

He also said the compensation is much less than the amount charged by the brokers or recruiting agent. The compensation does not include physical, psychological or social losses and there is no punishment for the perpetrators, he said.

Chairman of the parliamentary body on expatriates' welfare ministry Anisul Islam Mahmud, Expatriates' Welfare Secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan, Winrock International's Chief of Party Sara Piazzano, Assistant Inspector General Mahfuzur Rahman, BMET Additional Director General Hazrat Ali, and USAID official Alexious Butler also spoke.

Source : The Daily Star