Highlights-

• A Migrant paying $4,500 to $6,000, the 'highest recruitment fee globally' 
• Four UN independent experts issued the letter on March 28
• Government of Malaysia, Bangladesh yet to respond 
• The letter urge both governments to ensure that the migrants under consideration do not face reprisals from employers, brokers or government officials for claiming their rights
• Independent researchers say between one lakh to two lakh Bangladeshis are now jobless, unpaid, underpaid and indebted in Malaysia

The recruitment process of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia reportedly begins with bribery within the human resources and home affairs ministries of Malaysia to obtain "fake quotas for bogus employers", according to a letter sent by four UN independent experts.

"Subsequently, bribery extends to the Bangladeshi High Commission in Malaysia and Bangladeshi syndicated agents to facilitate recruitment approval. Workers pay fees which go far beyond the actual recruitment costs, in addition to airfare, passport and visa costs, to the syndicate for migration," it says.

According to a letter sent to Bangladesh and Malaysia, migrants are being deceived and charged recruitment fees ranging from $4,500 to $6,000 per person. This goes against the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries in 2021, which allowed charges to be capped at $720.

"Bangladeshi migrants intending to work in Malaysia pay the highest recruitment fees globally, reportedly much beyond market rate," the letter reads.

Read more

A hostel of nightmares

The letter issued on March 28 this year was made public by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on May 26 as neither of the governments responded to the communication in 60 days.

The UN experts who wrote the letter include Tomoya Obokata, Robert McCorquodale, Gehad Madi and Siobhán Mullally mandated to the issues including slavery, human rights and transnational corporation, migrant rights and human trafficking.

The communication and any response received from the governments after 60 days will also be presented to the Human Rights Council.

An official of Bangladesh's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva yesterday told this correspondent the Mission was awaiting feedback from Dhaka for responding to the letter.

Since August 2022, some 422,000 Bangladeshis have gone to Malaysia for jobs under a syndicate of 100 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies selected by the Malaysian government, joining some 400,000 other Bangladeshis who had gone there earlier.

Independent researchers say between one lakh to two lakh Bangladeshis are now jobless, unpaid, underpaid and indebted in Malaysia.

The UN experts say criminal networks operate in the recruitment process of Bangladeshi workers who are deceived and recruited by fake companies and obliged to pay exorbitant recruitment fees which pushes them into debt bondage.

"There is a lack of accountability of employers, recruitment actors and government officials involved in the exploitative recruitment of migrants.

"Many migrants find on arrival in Malaysia that they do not have a job as promised and are forced into overstaying their visa. Consequently, they risk arrest, detention, ill-treatment and deportation."

They also risk further exploitation. Many have become destitute, facing an alarming humanitarian crisis, said the UN experts adding that the situation requires urgent attention before it escalates further or before lives are further put at risk.

They also urged both governments to ensure that the migrants under consideration do not face reprisals from employers, brokers or government officials for claiming their rights.

The UN experts asked both governments for details on investigations, prosecution of criminals, and policies for ethical recruitment.