Source: The Daily Star

The government and the host countries should identify the real causes behind the deaths of Bangladeshi migrant workers who die at young ages, speakers said today.

“More than 3,500 bodies of Bangladeshi migrant workers are reached home every year from different countries, but the causes of their deaths are not identified properly,” said Faruque Ahmed, secretary general of Welfare Association for the Rights of Bangladeshi Emigrants (WARBE) Development Foundation.

The causes of their deaths should be identified through autopsies, he said at a programme jointly organised by WARBE Development Foundation and The Daily Star in association with British Council at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka.

Unnatural deaths, sexual abuses of female migrant workers, misbehaviour and wage issues are also needed to be highlighted in the upcoming 9th Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) to be held on December 8-12 in Dhaka, he said.

Representatives of more than 150 countries are scheduled to participate in the forum where they will discuss issues including migration development and human rights.

WARBE Chairman Syed Saiful Haque said the migrant workers are not treated well by the host countries which should also be addressed at the upcoming forum.

Jabed Ahmed, additional secretary at the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry, however, blamed that visa trading is responsible for increasing migration costs which need to be addressed as well at the upcoming GFMD.

Speaking as the chief guest, MP Roksana Yasmin Suty said, media have an important role to focus on the migrants’ right issue.

Shabarinath Nair, an advisor of migration and development at Switzerland Embassy in Bangladesh, said the government has to take necessary steps on the issue according to the recommendations to come out from the GFMD.

Syed Istiaq Reza, director of news and operation at 71 TV, said along with the issues, change of mindset is also necessary to treat the migrants properly.

Mohammad Monirul Islam, director general of Multilateral Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Selim Shamsul Huda Chowdhury, general manager of The Daily Star, Rahnuma Salam Khan, national programme officer of ILO in Bangladesh, Catherine Cecil, team leader of PROKAS at British Council, among other also spoke at the programme.