Kamaluddin Shabuj
For more than 10 million Bangladeshi migrant workers who are exposed to a palpable air of financial woes and job cuts amid the coronavirus catastrophe, it has been an agonizing time.
No one needs any further reminding that overseas job seekers’ longing for access to global labour markets has come to a staggering halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic over the last four months.
Pain of odds blocking their way to attaining self-reliance pervades as many could not go to their job destinations despite having required work permits and papers.
A few days back, Osman Gani, a small trader in Malaysia who was compelled to return home recently, said, “I was a vegetable shop owner in Malaysia and it was the only source of my income. I am having miserable time here in Bangladesh like many other returnees,”
The statement of Osman Gani as published in an English newspaper here some days ago depicted a grim account of the overseas Bangladeshi trader, speaking more of frustration and bleak future than his dream coming true.
Similar stories of migrant workers have been unfolding across the Middle East and Europe, leaving authorities concerned scrambling to address the complex situation.
The incidents that involved recent entry refusal to more than 100 Bangladeshis in Italy and a step not to allow citizens of Bangladesh to enter Italy till October 5 are the serious issues to be dealt with to offset such acts of host countries. In addition to these moves, 125 Bangladeshis were also recently barred from disembarking from plane at an Italy airport.
Media have reported the puzzling event of finding 211 migrants, including 144 Bangladeshis, packed into a truck, by authorities of North Macedonia near the country’s southern border with Greece. In Vietnam, 27 trapped Bangladeshi nationals’ outcry for safety and 15 others crying for rescue from the country are manifestations of notoriety of human traffickers.
In these troubled times, the Kuwaiti authorities have approved a bill that has cropped the fear of forcing about two lakh Bangladeshi migrant workers out of the oil-rich Gulf state. An estimate says around 3.5 lakh Bangladeshis are now employed in different sectors of the country. If the bill is passed, only 1.5 lakh Bangladeshis will be allowed to stay there.
Another media report suggests that migrant workers are also not in comfortable situation in Libya as they have been hit hard by the civil war that is going on in the African country. Libya, once a formidable overseas market for Bangladeshis, has been marked by a sharp decline of migration since the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
In fact, these are only some harrowing examples of dozens of similar cases of the country’s manpower export that portrayed how the fallouts of the Covid-19 situation and wrongdoings of unlawful human traffickers deal a severe blow to Bangladesh’s overseas labour markets.
When it comes to the manpower export, Bangladesh has come a long way since 1980, but the fact remains that several thousand migrants have returned home in the last four months. Most strikingly, the shrinking labour market due to the corona pandemic, threat to declining foreign remittances and overcrowding of the local labour market have compounded the whammy that has taken different forms.
The migrant workers’ problems have exposed lack of sensibility and shortcomings of Bangladeshi diplomats staying in different countries, especially in those states where key overseas markets for Bangladeshi workforce have originated.
Wrong handling of the situation and dearth of close engagement with the Bangladeshi migrants in the host countries force Bangladesh to witness a sharp fall in remittance inflow.
The country saw many migrants to the Gulf facing lay-offs and limited prospects for employment. Moreover, the return of unemployed migrants could cast a dismal impact on the country’s economy.
Key markets for the Bangladeshi citizens originate in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK and the USA. These countries together account for half the remittance inflows to Bangladesh, a survey says.
Surely, the COVID-19 pandemic is severely affecting the Bangladeshi migrants abroad as the World Bank estimates have shown that total remittances by migrant workers from Bangladesh will fall to $14 billion for 2020, around a 25 per cent decrease from the previous year.
According to Bangladesh Bank, the country earned $18.32 billion in the last fiscal year, the second biggest foreign income after exports from the garment industry.
Another aspect to be brought to the fore is that human smugglers are continuing their desperate attempts to put hundreds of Bangladeshis at risk.
This is not beyond anyone’s knowledge that the human smuggling trade in the Mediterranean is going on unabatedly with many global organisations voicing concern at the sight of the migrant boats and their passengers. Alarmingly many Bangladeshis are often seen embracing death in boat and trawler capsizes in the seas.
While the imperfect world is heading towards uncertain future scenarios, and countries try to redirect it towards sustainability, towards a new way of doing things for better environment in all fields, given the intricate problems in the migrant labour markets, Bangladesh will have to mobilize its diplomatic corps.
They are to pursue result-yielding migration cooperation to absolve migrant heroes’ outcry during the current Covid-19 phase and also beyond that.
With the Middle East grappling with downward trend in oil prices, many suggest, besides the Middle East, the country should look for European countries and beyond to explore new markets for workers, as post-coronavirus period could evolve new opportunities, including those in the agriculture and medical sectors.
To add to this measure, cracking down on the human smugglers and busting their illegal syndicate could be effective means to lessen the worries of would-be migrant heroes.
The government should take all the necessary steps in this regard to live up to the migrant workers’ expectations so that our economy remains robust when the crisis ends.
Kamaluddin Shabuj is a senior journalist.