Manpower import moves in the Middle East

THERE have been quite a few encouraging moves for Bangladesh's manpower export sector in the last couple of weeks. The Saudi ambassador has been speaking of making matters easier for Bangladeshi migrant workers in his country; and Bahrain, where Bangladeshi workers came under a cloud because of a recent crime incident, with a consequent ban imposed on fresh manpower recruitment from Bangladesh, is taking new steps to ensure that our workers can continue to go and work there. We are happy that the Bangladesh authorities, so rudely awakened to the sad realities around them regarding the manpower sector, have been taking the necessary measures to keep the things going.

Meanwhile, some new ideas about a promotion of the manpower export sector, as we notice, will clearly keep attention focused on the issue. The Gulf countries have appreciably decided to do away with the sponsorship system of recruiting workers from abroad. The system has so long been regarded as not only unfair but also downright questionable because of its very nature. Its chief flaw has been in employers' retaining foreign workers' passports and often using them to deport employees whenever problems between the two sides have arisen. The fact that such a way of keeping workers rooted to their workplaces renders them hostage to employers' whims and is a violation of human rights has long been pointed to. If now the sponsorship system is to be scrapped, nothing could be better. The Gulf nations should move speedily on the matter and so create a precedent for other countries to emulate. And then comes the Saudi government's move to set up companies that will recruit, supply and manage foreign workers. With existing recruitment conditions having already led to a host of problems, one cannot be sure that this new step will ease the situation. But, as the Saudi National Society for Human Rights suggests, let a government body take charge of the migrant labour issue and thus do away with the middlemen-influenced circumstances that have arisen.

With countries like Bangladesh greatly reliant for economic progress on the remittances of their workers abroad, as also the dependence of the host countries on them to keep their industries and service sectors going, it makes sense for the rules of the game to be transformed for the better in the recruiting countries. And among those countries should be Malaysia and South Korea as well. In the end, let us remember, it is the dignity of the migrant workers that must be ensured in the countries where they find employment.

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