Simplification of overseas labour recruitment stressed

DHAKA, Bangladesh, July 16 (BSS)- Regional and local migration and labour experts today recommended simplified recruitment process of the overseas workers by reducing layers between employers and workers
to check ill practice of the recruiting agencies.

They also suggested developing a code of conduct for
recruiting agencies in the SAARC countries as well as reviewing
policies, laws and regulation in the light of evolving
developments in the global labour market to protect the rights of
migrant workers abroad.

The recommendations came at the end of the two-day symposium
organized by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in
collaboration with the Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and
Overseas Employment and supported by Swiss Agency for Development
and Cooperation at a city hotel.

The symposium was participated by representatives from
India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines,
Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka and host Bangladesh.

After holding three plenary sessions and three parallel
technical sessions, the experts presented a set of
recommendations and directions for actions at the concluding
session of the symposium.

Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Abdul
Matin Chowdhury gave the closing remarks while chief technical
advisor of ILO/EU Asian programme on the governance of labour
migration Manolo Abella presented the summary and
recommendations.

The symposium was organized to address various constraints
and hindrances that impede the safety, security and dignity of
migrant people worldwide, especially in Asian region.

The experts recommended promoting dialogue between origin and
destination countries to identify weakness and gaps in
governance, build confidence and goodwill and strengthen
cooperation.

With a view to minimizing the cost of migration to the
migrants, current approaches to licensing should be reviewed and
assessment of financial and market capability of recruitment
agencies need to carry out, they said.

They also suggested developing gender sensitive labour
migration policies as well as removing discriminatory barriers to
labour migration of women to check women trafficking.


The migration experts suggested inclusion of the labour
migration issue in the agenda of the forthcoming SAARC summit as
remittance to South Asia totaled US $ 43 billion in 2007, of
these, US$ 27 billion went to India, US $ 6.4 billion to
Bangladesh, US$ 6.1 billion to Pakistan, US$ 2.7 billion to Sri
Lanka and US$ 1.6 billion to Nepal.

The 'direction for action', formulated during the symposium,
proposed strengthening capacity of diplomatic missions in terms
of personnel, funds and logistics to look after the well-being of
migrant workers.

It also suggested committed professionalism for recruitment
service providers through training and certification as well as
promoting standardization and certification of skills across
borders.

The 'direction for action' included setting up migrant
resource centers in countries of origin, ensuring private sector
participation in the global forum on migration to promote equal
and fair treatment of migrant workers.

Abdul Matin Chowdhury said the government took various steps
including strengthening the embassies abroad, providing skill
development training to the prospective workers and carrying out
mass awareness campaign to ensure the rights of the Bangladeshi
migrant workers.

He underlined the need for close and effective cooperation
between the sending and receiving countries to resolve
constraints in the migration process. The country sent 8.32 lakh
workers to various countries for jobs and earned US$ 6.57 billion
in 2007. The government has set a target to send a record one
million workers abroad this year.

Nearly 60 experts, including 29 from foreign countries,
participated in the workshop.