Ensure access to justice for Bangladeshi migrant workers

Bangladesh is one of the top labour sending countries of the world. In the last decade, the number of Bangladeshis migrating abroad for employment has increased almost 100 times since the mid-1970s, when labour migration to the Gulf region commenced. Migrant workers have not only been contributing to the country's foreign exchange reserves, they alleviate the pressure to create local employment opportunities for the tens of thousands of people that enter the job market in Bangladesh each year. A number of studies have highlighted how migration not only contributes to the economic wellbeing of the members of migrant households, it also develops their human potential through access to nutrition, healthcare and education. With increases in purchasing power, migrant households also generate demand for goods and services at the local market. Therefore, migration triggers a range of positive outcomes for migrant households, local communities and the nation at large.

The complex process of migration involves a range of actors, including government agencies and the private sector of both origin and destination countries. Being a state party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families 1990, Bangladesh had already enacted a law—the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act in 2013—and later framed the Overseas Employment Policy and Rule in 2016 and 2017 subsequently.

The major objectives of those instruments are to uphold the dignity and protect the rights of migrants and the members of their families. The Overseas Employment and Migrants Act, 2013 contains some important provisions that accord migrants the right to file criminal and civil suits for compensation simultaneously. The aggrieved migrants are given further right to lodge written complaints to relevant government authorities. The scope for lodging written complaints with the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) appears to be more convenient for migrants who have been cheated, as it is less time and money consuming than taking recourse to courts. Moreover, often migrants do not preserve or cannot retain necessary documents that are deemed essential for criminal prosecution. Absence of documents is a major hindrance in proving a criminal offence beyond reasonable doubt.

The number of cases lodged in the courts for violation of the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act, 2013 is minimal, while a total of 905 complaints were registered with the BMET in 2020. Among the latter, 481 complaints were solved, which led to the recovery of around Tk 24 million for migrant workers, who in a majority of cases are cheated by recruiting agencies. Therefore, securing redress through institutional mechanisms other than formal courts appears to be a viable and affordable redress method for migrant workers. However, despite the resolution of a number of complaints, 47 percent of complaints remained unsolved last year. The law stipulates that investigations must be completed within 30 days and complaints should be disposed of within three months following the investigation. The process sometimes gets delayed due to the unwillingness of the recruiting agencies to timely respond to the notices issued by BMET. Needless to say, delay in dispensing justice only increases the suffering of the migrants and their families. For example, Jashim Uddin, along with eight others, lodged a complaint with BMET against one registered recruiting agency that took Tk 24,00,000 in total from them to facilitate their migration to different countries but failed to deliver in facilitating their migration. Although in 2017, the High Court Division ordered the cancellation of the license of the recruiting agency and instructed the authorities to distribute the deposit money of the agency as compensation, Jashim Uddin and his associates are yet to receive it.

The existing arbitration cell of BMET is comprised of officials who have other responsibilities to perform. This creates a major workload on them and delays the process. To dispose of the complaints within the stipulated time frame, BMET needs to have a separate Arbitration Cell that would be tasked with resolving the grievances. In addition to the officials, the proposed Arbitration Cell may be composed of persons who have necessary expertise in arbitration, legal matters and migration issues. Information on the availability of online complaint mechanisms at BMET and the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment needs to be widely distributed. The mechanisms also need to be made more functional. Its remit should be enhanced, from complaint submission and tracking the updates to holding of online complaint hearing sessions with the opportunity for the respondents to attend those from a distance. This will ensure participation of migrants currently staying abroad and also those staying outside the capital. It will also facilitate female migrants' active engagement with the arbitration process, who often fail to attend in-person hearings due to other obstacles.

One of the major drawbacks of the grievance management mechanism is that the middlemen, the X-factor of migration, remain unrecognised. Non-recognition of the role of this important actor makes it extremely difficult to ensure the accountability of the middlemen for offences they commit. Since 2001, the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) of the University of Dhaka has been advocating for regularisation of the middlemen to ensure a transparent and accountable recruitment process. Over the last few months, some positive developments have taken place, with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the concerned ministry making strong recommendations for setting up procedures for regularising the middlemen, with the Prime Minister giving instructions for the issuance of identity cards to the middlemen and with the concerned ministry announcing the setting up of a committee to bring middlemen within legal frameworks. The Parliamentary Caucus on Migration and Development has also called for regularising the middlemen.

It is also time to determine the responsibilities and liabilities of recruiting agencies, particularly their relationship with the middlemen. RMMRU has suggested three methods for registration of middlemen—with BMET, with the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) and with individual recruiting agencies. The matter requires detailed deliberation among migration stakeholders, including government, the private sector, NGOs, intermediaries and migrant workers.

Despite the severity of Covid-19, it is Bangladesh's migrants who kept the national economy stable. It is time that we pay due respect and value the contribution of remittance earners by ensuring their access to justice and minimising the problems they encounter during recruitment. Regularising intermediaries, making the recruiting agencies accountable and strengthening the arbitration mechanism of BMET are essential elements of that process.

Advocate Hossain Mohammad Fazle Jahid is a Senior Programme Officer (Legal) of RMMRU.