Rights body wants protection of female migrants abroad


FE REPORT | Published: March 08, 2022 09:16:10 | Updated: March 08, 2022 16:47:19


Rights body wants protection of female migrants abroad

Rights activists have called for due protection and honour of and support for women migrant workers both at home and in the workplace abroad.

They suggest recognising and highlighting contributions of women migrant workers properly in the country.

Although they play a crucial role with their hard-earned remittance in developing their families and society notably, they are not receiving due respect and support upon their return home.

Even, they are vulnerable to human rights abuses in different ways in their job destination countries.

The rights activists were addressing a discussion styled 'Towards Gender Equality: Contribution of Bangladeshi Women Migrant Workers'.

BRAC Migration Programme hosted the event at Brac Centre in the city on Monday on the occasion of International Women's Day.

Mahjabeen Khaled, secretary general of Bangladesh Parliamentarians' Caucus on Migration and Development, was the chief guest at the programme.

She said overseas job-seekers were not getting migration-related information at grass-roots level properly.

"We all need to work together to create awareness," Ms Mahjabeen observed.

BRAC Migration Programme head Shariful Hasan moderated the programme where officials and representatives of different organisations were present.

Mr Hasan said a combined effort was needed to effectively ensure safety for women migrant workers.

"If migrant workers don't receive due respect and security in their home countries, how they can get such support in the foreign land?" he questioned.

Bangladesh Nari Sramik Kendra executive director Sumaiya Islam says proper orientation is needed at pre-departure and pre-decision stages of migration for women migrant workers.

Tapati Saha, programme analyst at the UN Women, says Bangladesh has been sending mainly domestic helps since the past 10 years.

Job diversification is crucial for the development of women migration, she adds.

Jasiya Khatoon, director of WARBE Development Foundation, suggests introducing a new loan scheme for female migrants by Probashi Kallyan Bank.

Zannatul Ferdous, assistant director of DEMO (Dhaka), recommended effective training programmes for women migrant workers.

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