The plight of female migrant workers

We are apalled at the scale of brutality that a female migrant worker has endured in the hands of traffickers in Malaysia. She was raped and forced into sex labour before she was rescued. And all this in the hands of her fellow countrymen.  

Bangladeshi migrant workers, particularly women, face an array of abuse abroad. According to UN's International Organisation for Migration, seven out of ten female migrant workers suffer torture while abroad.   Unscrupulous recruiting agencies and brokers run a syndicate that puts a large number of female workers abroad in conditions tantamount to modern-day slavery. Deprived of any rights and without much education, they resign to their fate.

The number of women migrant workers has shot up significantly in recent years, and along with it have spread the tentacles of human trafficking syndicates. In this light, it is of vital importance to formalise the sector. We urge the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment to blacklist agents involved in cheating and exploiting female workers. 

Every female migrant worker needs to be provided with a local SIM card with a provision for emergency dialing to a dedicated hotline at the Bangladesh embassy in the concerned country. Repeated violations of human rights should be taken up with host countries. Also, it is incumbent upon the concerned officials to put emphasis on skills development programmes so as to diversify our labour market abroad. On top of it all, it is crucial to sensitise female migrant workers regarding the dangers of unofficial channels to work abroad. Also, the cases of abuse need to be followed through and the traffickers must be given exemplary punishment.