Most of the Bangladeshi women who go abroad to find employment opportunities and in search of a better life, fall victim to sexual abuse and exploitation by their employers.
Thousands of such victims who return home every year shared their ordeals of sexual harassment, abuse and torture. Many of these women are now mentally ill experiencing horrific torture or carrying children and some even return as corpses.
According to Brac, government data say that around 49,924 female migrant workers returned home from 21 countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Besides, corpses of 487 female migrant workers arrived home in the last five years since 2016.
Dr Tasneem Siddiqui, founding Chair of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) told Bangladesh Post that the countries where women go to find employment opportunities provide no scope for exercising human (legal) rights.
“They are also excluded from labor rights as most of them work there as domestic helpers. However, the laws are very strict in these countries in terms of incidents of torture or abuse,” she added.
She said that keeping a mobile phone with them inside the houses where they work, calling the embassy in case of an emergency, and getting a response from embassies during their emergency plays a vital role in this kind of situation.
“These incidents surface after the workers have endured for a long time as they don’t have any way to act on these incidents. Awareness campaigns and enabling them to access this help are also very important. These directions regarding where they can get immediate help or what they can do in these situations should be repeatedly broadcast through media outlets,” she went on to describe.
As the embassies overseas lack manpower, she suggested involving the expatriates of Bengali communities as volunteers so that it becomes possible to communicate with the female migrant workers once every month.
Emphasizing on establishing direct communication she said that the workers go abroad after acquiring knowledge about these things, but the system to prevent the incidents is not accessible to them.
Shakirul Islam, Chairman of grassroots migrant rights organisation Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP) also expressed the same view regarding the manpower of embassies in different countries and said that they should play a more active role.
He said that the embassies lack manpower and they also don’t take necessary initiatives when needed. Most of the time they try to blame the workers instead of taking a strict position against the incidents.
“Many women want to go abroad to earn money despite reports of abuse as fewer opportunities are available here,” he added.
He emphasized on creating more livelihood options in the country for women.
Farida Yeasmin, Director of Bangladeshi Ovibashi Mohila Sramik Association (BOMSA) told Bangladesh Post that most of the women don’t know the appropriate procedure of safe migration; they follow the instructions of agents.
She said that the one-month training received by the workers prior to their departure is not enough. A two-month residential training is necessary to prepare them.
She further said that to ensure the safety of female migrant workers, awareness of the workers and sincerity of the embassies are required.
“The workers who go abroad through agencies or their relatives don’t report at the respective embassies, making it difficult for the employees of embassies to check on them. Although we address them as remittance warriors, they don’t get the desired respect anywhere. Sincerity from the employees of embassies is also required to ensure the access of workers to the services of embassies,” she added.