Rights campaigners on Sunday called for declaring the 2021- 2030 period as a decade of migration with objective to address the migration-related problems and ensure safe, orderly and regular migration from Bangladesh.
They were speaking at the concluding season of a two-day conference on 'Transforming Challenges of Migration into Opportunity: Call for Declaration of 2021-2030 as the Decade of Migration in Bangladesh' at the city's BRAC Centre Inn.
Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) organised the event.
Returnee migrants, both male and female, were coming back home with positive and negative experiences from the destination countries, they observed.
RMMRU executive director CR Abrar and its founding chair Tasneem Siddiqui demanded declaration of decade of migration and suggested taking short, mid and long term plans to protect the rights of male and female migrants of Bangladesh.
Speaking as the chief guest, former adviser to a caretaker government and chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre Hossain Zillur Rahman said Bangladesh is transforming itself from a poverty-driven country to a middle-income nation.
The country is receiving annual remittance of $ 15 billion, which is the main force of development, he said.
He suggested skill enhancement strategies for the outbound migrants.
Economist Hossain Zillur also suggested linking the climate induced migrants with the economic activities apart from considering their humanitarian issue.
Manusher Jonno Foundation executive director Shaheen Anam said labour migration has become more organised than it was 20 years ago.
RMMRU and other civil society organisations have played significant roles in this regard, she added.
She said declaring a decade for migration would make the policymakers and others time bound to take the section ahead.
Meanwhile, right campaigners also found so many challenges including lack of returning workers' data in the way of ensuring reintegration supports to Bangladeshi migrants.
They also stressed the need for taking necessary policy to introduce the supports to returning workers.
The session: Reintegration of the Returnee Migrants was moderated by CR Selva, advocate and solicitor, High Court of Malaysia and member of the migrants, refugees and immigration committee of Malaysian Bar Council.
He said reintegration support is very essential for returning workers and it should be sustainable for them.
Referring to findings, Marina Sultana, director (programmes) of RMMRU, said they have seen that on average 27 per cent of total migrant workers returned home each year.
But there is no national policy on reintegration for them. So they cannot make successful their migration, she added.
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