Workers' rights will not be protected if ethical recruitment is not ensured.

— Shakirul Islam Chairperson of Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program

Despite a surge in labour migration, many Bangladeshi migrant workers encounter challenges in host countries, including job loss due to fraud, leading to economic loss and psychological stress.

Amid this, Bangladesh will observe International Migrants Day today.

In 2000, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed December 18 as International Migrants Day, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants worldwide.

In the 2022-2023 fiscal, Bangladeshis sent home $21.6 billion in remittance, which accounted for 4.76 percent of the country's GDP, according to the Bangladesh Bank.

Shakirul Islam, chairperson of Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program, said workers face exploitation mainly because of their low skills.

"If we want development in our labour migration sector, we should redesign our skills training programme based on demand of destination countries," he said.

He called on the government to critically review its various bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with host countries to alleviate the plight of workers.

"Workers' rights will not be protected if ethical recruitment is not ensured," he added.

A telephone survey conducted by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) on 218 returnee migrants, including 42 females, revealed that 64 percent of respondents experienced some form of rights violation in the destination country.

The survey, conducted in October-November this year, shows 15 percent migrants returned in less than 30 days of migration, 14 percent within one to three months, and another 29 percent within three to six months.

The key reasons behind their untimely return include arrest and deportation (in 34 cases), not getting any job (33 cases), not getting promised job and wage (44), employer's misconduct (17), not having valid visa (23), and low wage (31).

Of the respondents, 116 migrants went to Saudi Arabia and 51 percent of them returned within six months.

Due to their untimely return, 161 migrants counted financial loss and 32 suffered psychological pressure, shows the survey, which interviewed individuals who had returned home after the pandemic.

The "Labour Force Survey 2022" by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics shows that the average recruitment cost for a Bangladeshi migrant worker is Tk 3.81 lakh, requiring 14.6 months of income for cost recovery.

This year, out of approximately 12.1 lakh workers departing for foreign countries by November, Malaysia received  3.29 lakh  workers, as per data from the Bureau of Manpower, Employment Training. However, Malaysian media has frequently reported instances where Bangladeshi migrant workers experienced fraud and unemployment.

On November 5, Free Malaysia Today reported that the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources would undertake nationwide operations in response to a letter from a migrant rights activist to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) addressing the challenges faced by Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia.

Besides, UNHCR data shows 10,152 Bangladeshis reached Italian shores between January and October this year, making them the fifth largest nationalities after Guineans, Tunisians, Ivorians and Egyptians.

On their way of irregular migration to reach Italy by sea, 9,681 Bangladeshis started their journey from North African country Libya.

Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of Warbe Development Foundation, said there is a need for bilateral engagement to address migrant workers' challenges abroad.

If discussion does not bear fruit, then issues should be raised in multilateral forums, he said, adding, the foreign ministry can play an important role in this regard.