Our migrants are suffering. What can we do to help?

International migration plays a significantly large role in our economy. One in 10 Bangladeshi workers is currently migrant, and at least a quarter of the country's population indirectly depends on migrants' income. The sector is also responsible for absorbing a lion's share of new entrants into the workforce: 1.6 million youths enter the labour market each year; meanwhile, the annual number of outbound migrants has been upwards of 500,000 since 2016.

The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered severe disruptions in the migration sector. The onset of the pandemic in 2020 caused economic activities across the world to come to a halt. As a result, more than 400,000 Bangladeshi migrants were forced to return home in 2020, according to the International Organization of Migration (IOM) estimates. Given that migrants are often the sole breadwinners and that their households are dependent on remittances, this abrupt termination has disrupted their economic stability, with long-term ramifications for their families. Curiously, while the other key sector of our economy, the RMG industry, has received major limelight during the Covid-induced crises, the plight of returnee migrants has gotten scant attention in popular discourse and policy response.

Migrant households usually fare better economically than others, but a research commissioned by the UN found that, during the initial Covid lockdown, consumption and expenditure in migrant households across the country were comparatively lower than their non-migrant counterparts—a direct repercussion of the overreliance on remittances to meet household needs. Surveys conducted by Brac indicate that over half of the returnees remained unemployed and in urgent need of work even 14 months after the initial influx.

Besides the economic fallout, the pandemic had deep psychosocial impacts on the returnee migrants and their families, too.

Employment overseas, particularly for poor families, is often deemed a ticket to a prosperous future. Individuals invest a considerable amount of fortune to migrate abroad. However, the cost of migration in Bangladesh is steep, compared to countries like India, Nepal, and Pakistan, due to a host of governance failures along the recruitment chain. Migration, therefore, frequently entails liquidating generational assets like land or depleting lifetime family savings. Given that most overseas workers end up in unskilled jobs with relatively low wages, it takes a considerable number of years to recoup the large upfront investment.

We can only imagine the failure of such high-risk endeavours on the aspirations and hopes of individuals and the anxiety it likely ensues. This trouble was only compounded with the added layer of pandemic-induced complexity. In the initial panic of Covid, migrants were often regarded as "Covid-carriers," ostracised by their communities and shunned by their friends and families.

This unprecedented influx of migrants and the consequent crisis resulted in some emergency measures by both NGOs and the government. The central thrust of such initiatives was to reintegrate migrants to the domestic economy. Most prominent of these initiatives is a Tk-700-crore investment scheme established by the government to provide collateral-free soft loans to the returnee migrants. Additionally, with funding from the World Bank, the government is providing Tk 13,500 each to 200,000 migrants. Brac has also been proactive in assisting returnees via cash transfers, skills training, and psychosocial counselling. While such measures are laudable and urgently required for emergency relief, a sustainable reintegration strategy is pivotal for the long-term rehabilitation of returnees.

It has been two years since hundreds of thousands of migrants returned home due to the pandemic. As the onslaught of return ebbs, perhaps it's time to take stock not only to optimise the present response, but also to equip for the future in the event that such an influx reoccurs.

In discussions with experts, several themes repeatedly emerged.

First, given our resource constraints, it is not practical to provide continuous assistance to all returnees. Nonetheless, we can be more efficient with our existing resources. This includes improved targeting of beneficiaries, as well as providing assistance tailored to individual profiles. Establishment of a returnee database is critical to this end—which should not be a challenge, since migrants register at the ports of entry during exit and arrival. The challenge here is one of data governance at airports and coordination across relevant ministries and departments.

Second, the pandemic is likely to have worsened the already challenging situation of labour rights violations that are ubiquitous to migrants in gulf countries—from unpaid wages to abrupt termination of contracts. A proper grievance mechanism to mediate labour disputes is long overdue. The government's unilateral actions, e.g. strengthening the labour attaches, would go only so far in resolving this issue. The daunting challenge of labour rights would require a multilateral and transnational approach, not only between migrants' home and host countries, but also between major global powers. This agenda needs to be linked with the broader global agenda on preventing modern-day slavery and human trafficking.

The silver lining to every crisis is that it gives an opportunity to learn and radically rethink conventional approaches. Until now, the focus of overseas employment in Bangladesh has been a relentless search for new labour markets and higher remittances. Perhaps now the time is ripe to seriously contemplate repatriation and reintegration as a strategic pillar for the migration sector. This applies not only to those involuntarily deported due to Covid, but also to those who have completed the natural cycle of migration and returned home. We have been sending workers overseas for over two decades now. Our nation is no longer a new entrant to the international labour market. As the migration sector in Bangladesh ages, a structural and comprehensive national reintegration plan becomes all the more pressing. Until now, our predominant focus has been on only half the story—sending migrants away. But it's high time we focused on the other half—making migrants feel at home when they're back.

Md Rakib Hossain and Afsana Binte Khaleque are research associates and Sakib Mahmood is a research fellow at Brac Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD).