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Migrant workers find employment abroad against many odds and in many countries, they are seldom treated well. No matter if they find jobs through government or private channels, their labour is considered hardly better than slavery. All because, these workers are mostly engaged in menial works and working conditions are harsh and living spaces too are mostly inhospitable. Yet they endure the ignominy and ordeals simply because of their pressing need. It is an area that has received little attention from the international community. Rights activists working for the welfare of such migrants have thankfully focused on this issue. They are in favour of taking up the issue very seriously at the 9th summit of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) to be held in Dhaka in December next. It is no secret that maltreatment of workers at both ends -- by sections of dishonest recruitment agencies at home and also of employers in the countries of their destination -- has led to death of hundreds of them. Bodies of young workers have been sent home for some years now from some of the Middle East countries in an outrageous number. In most cases, the cause of their death was mentioned as heart failure. How ludicrous! In case of female migrants, sexual abuse has been a common complaint. Both are simply forms of slavery. Had there been well-defined rules and regulations in the government-to-government agreements on protection of workers' rights and the required monitoring and supervision to ensure that those rights were not violated, such casualties and maltreatment could be avoided. In advanced countries of the West, workers' rights cannot be ignored like this. So the GFMD has a task in its hand to bring uniformity in the working codes for migrant workers all across the world. Illegal migration poses the greatest challenge to this task of improving the working and living conditions of workers from poor countries employed in some Middle East and African countries. Waves of refugees from some Arabian countries, Syria in particular, either already arrived in or still on their way to European countries have posed the biggest challenge to the protection of human rights, let alone workers' rights. Dhaka as the host to this important event will need to do the homework well so that the refugee issues and migrant workers' issues do not get mixed up. The important thing here is to recognise the contribution to development in the host countries and to the economy of the countries of the workers' origin. It surely is to the mutual benefit of both. So, both countries should seriously take up the matter in order to keep the process of migration, wage fixation and work place environment and living quarters out of middlemen's reach. In case of private recruitment, the employers' credentials should be placed under rigorous scrutiny so that no violation of workers' rights takes place at any stage. If the host and source countries agree to streamline the matter, there is no reason why working conditions will not improve upholding the dignity of labour every worker deserves.
Keywords
migrant workers, employment, jobs, government, private, labour, working conditions, living spaces, rights, workers, GFMD, Dhaka
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