Steps needed to ensure safety of overseas female workers

SUFFERINGS of Bangladeshi female domestic workers in Saudi Arabia continue as safe homes of Bangladesh missions there have already been overcrowded by victims of torture, abuse and other problems at their employers’ houses. Although Bangladeshi labour wing officials there have claimed that 350 housemaids are now in the two safe homes at Riyadh and Jeddah, a local migrant rights group leader is quoted by New Age on Sunday to have put the figure at 2,500. Worse still, the housemaids are often reported to have been subjected to torture in isolated rooms there. Meanwhile, as Bangladesh labour wings informed the expatriates’ welfare ministry, at least 1,248 housemaids, sheltered in safe homes, were sent back home this year. There are, therefore, little reasons to brush aside the allegations levelled by migrant rights organisations ever since Saudi Arabia started hiring Bangladeshi female workers in 2015. Almost all the victims are highly exposed to poverty back home and went to Saudi Arabia generally regarded as a land of fortune.
Although the workers officially did not require to pay for the migration, they are reported to have paid between Tk 15,000 and Tk 50,000 to the agents who helped them to earn the jobs. The workers who returned home without completing the job tenure and empty-handed, in cases, would not do so unless they were forced to do it. Saudi Arabia is not the only destination where Bangladeshi female workers face humiliation and sufferings. We have discussed in these columns similar problems that Bangladeshi housemaids faced in Lebanon, Jordan, etc. We have repeatedly called for effective actions on part of the Bangladesh government to address the issue, actions that may include efforts to make authorities in host countries comply with internationally recognised labour rules and sensitise Bangladesh embassy officials there to worker interest.
Regrettably, however, other than appointing some more officials to the labour wings in countries that are major destinations for Bangladeshi workers and establishing some safe homes in West Asian countries to provide shelter for Bangladeshi workers facing crisis, the government has so far failed to be serious about resolving the issue once and for all. The government, thus, immediately needs to improve the situation as it is crucial not only for empowering poor women but also tackling the declining remittance inflow.  - See more at: http://www.newagebd.net/article/2376/steps-needed-to-ensure-safety-of-overseas-female-workers#sthash.AFxV3rLZ.dpuf