The Rising Deaths of our Expatriates

The rising deaths of our expatriates
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M Serajul Islam

Published in Dhaka Courier, May 22, 2009.
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In recent days, a depressing news item has made its round in the newspapers on the number of our expatriates dying abroad, particularly in the Middle East. Leading English daily has mentioned 1,402 deaths in 2006; 1,673 in 2007 and 2,098 in 2008. In the first 4 months this year, the figure is 834 and if the current trend continues, the 2009 figure might be around 2,400. It means the death figure is rising disconcertingly.

A country-wise breakdown of dying Bangladesh expatriates is not available outside the Government. In most cases, families of the victims are informed that the dead suffered heart attacks or died of accidents. On first hand analysis, one can reach a number of sad conclusions. First, the victims are overwhelmingly from the ME and Southeast Asia, regions from where Bangladesh also receives the major portion of its much needed remittance. Second, the working conditions in these regions are harsh where our workers live in intolerable conditions. Third, although comprehensive comparative figures of deaths of expatriates from other countries working in ME are not readily available; one figure available from Indians in Qatar could provide some idea on where we stand. Last year, 208 Indians died in Qatar; 113 from heart attacks; 32 from road accidents and 17 committed suicides. The statistics suggest that deaths in ME among Indian expatriates is also high and that most of them also die of heart attacks as is the case with our expatriates pointing no doubt to the fact that working conditions in ME are inhospitable.

A report based on an ILO survey aired on CNN recently revealed a few facts on migrant labour in ME that are relevant in explaining the large number of untimely deaths. The facts are: first, forced labour is part of life among the expatriate labour force in the ME who comprises 2/3rd of the region's entire labour market. Second, as a consequence of forced labour, US $ 20 billion of their income annually is lost to the violators. Third, middle men in the sending countries takes away a large part of the earnings of these unfortunate expatriates, often up to one year of their earnings; in specific area of trade as construction and domestic work, up to 2 years' income. The CNN Report identifies the middle men as the "black area" in the international labour market. Added to these misfortunes, expatriates have their passports impounded and subjected to other forms of cruelty. The only bright spot in this otherwise bleak scenario is the awareness among some of the receiving countries to legislate to counter the abuses. Bahrain has taken the lead by the creating a Labour Market Regulatory Force recently.

The public awareness surrounding the deaths should motivate our Government to look into the issue of our manpower export seriously. There are encouraging signs. The Minister of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment (MEWOE) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) have shown that they are proactive in addressing the twin issues of manpower export and welfare of our expatriates. The Prime Minister visited Saudi Arabia on her first overseas trip after assuming office that helped resolve the problem of 200,000 Bangladeshi expatriates there who feared deportation.
These efforts notwithstanding, much more must be done. Our expatriates toil under inhuman circumstances to send home foreign remittance that is now a major resource in our economic development. Last year, they remitted US$ 9 billion in foreign exchange although a similar amount was lost to the illegal Hundi trade. Despite the fear of a temporary slowdown in the remittance business due to the world economic meltdown, its potentials of future growth are unlimited. Although Bangladesh is unique among the manpower exporting countries as it is has a separate Ministry to deal with the expatriates, Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare & Overseas Employment (MEWOE) is not adequately staffed to deal with the affairs of nearly 6.5 million Bangladeshis who live abroad. In the context of fair treatment of our expatriates, our major problem is in the "black area" that the CNN Report has identified. We have 700 manpower agents in Bangladesh. Going by newspapers reports, our expatriates do not get a fair deal from majority of them. As part of the agreement, all expatriates are required to undergo some training at home that is usually paid for by the recruiting agencies/receiving countries. Our workers however are sent abroad with little or no training at all. We have all seen how new recruits behave at the ZIA. They also go abroad with little or no knowledge of the legal framework or the contract of their employment. Many find that they have been promised a pay package and get an inferior one. They leave the country with dreams for which many sell almost everything and on arrival, they find that they have been cheated and condemned to a nightmare.

On arrival at their work places, they are subjected to harsh conditions that are well known. In the ME, they work under a sponsorship system that compromises many of their fundamental rights. These sponsors impound their passports and prohibit them to change their jobs. (The Saudis have recently enacted a new law that permits expatriates to change jobs). The expatriates have little or no legal recourse when they are cheated on their pay and other privileges. They also find that workers from other countries are paid higher for the type of work they do; they are discriminated against.

Bangladeshi expatriates thus suffer at the hands of all the stakeholders. Given the fact that they dedicate their heart and soul for the country, it is both a legal and moral obligation of the Government to look after their welfare. To do this, a major focus should be to strengthen the Government's mechanism of supervision and control of the manpower business. The way we see our workers cheated by the manpower agents regularly, it may not be unfair to assume that there is a nexus of corruption in the system involving the government officials and the manpower agents. One way to deal with it could be to make a few things mandatory. First, the MEWOE must have a legal division strong and adequately staffed enough to scrutinize contracts of the expatriates to determine that they are genuine. Second, the Ministry must bear the responsibility to hold the concerned manpower agents responsible when expatriates find they have been cheated on landing in the destination country. Third, the Ministry should ensure that the expatriates are not sent abroad without undergoing training to learn about the country they would go to, together with other basic facts that would help them adjust better in their workplace. Fourth, as MOWOE is over-burdened and susceptible to corruption, the government could think of creating a powerful independent commission for monitoring and bringing to justice those who cheat the system and the expatriates. Finally, MOWOE should re-evaluate its work and find out whether the public perception of corruption in the Ministry is correct. In this context, it could be useful to inquire into the fate of an agreement between Bangladesh and Japan named the Japan International Training and Cooperation Agreement (JITCO) signed in 2005. Under the agreement, an unlimited number of people can go to Japan for 3 years to 60 small and medium scale industries for training and apprenticeship without paying anything at all and come back with Taka 15-20 lakhs in the bargain! To date, we have sent less than 2 scores of workers under the JITCO agreement because there is no money for the MOWOE officials or middlemen in it.

Our Government must focus at the destination countries equally seriously. In this context, we must do the following. First, through the diplomatic channels, we must follow up on the wind of change in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia so that we can achieve similar changes in other ME countries. Second, the MEWOE and MFA must coordinate their work intensely for the welfare of the expatriates. Third, the Embassies must be strengthened for consular related work. The present system of posting uninitiated officers from services other than BCS (FA) must be discontinued keeping in mind that such an officer in our High Commisison in Malaysia had almost ended our manpower export there. Officers posted in the Consular and Labour Wings of the Embassies must have diplomatic training and in case of postings in the ME, must speak Arabic fluently.

International concern for the inhuman conditions among expatriate workers will no doubt bring positive changes in the destination countries where our role is limited to diplomatic initiatives and strengthening our Embassies. Our main effort therefore must be at our end where we would need to work much harder than we have done. The Prime Minister's call for a Bank for Expatriates is a positive idea that must be implemented for this will allow the expatriates to get loans without falling into the hands of loan sharks to whom they lose most of their possessions for going abroad. One just hopes this is not rhetoric and implemented on a priority basis for such a bank will help both the expatriates and the country in other ways as well. The main task, however, will be regulating and controlling the 700 manpower agents where there is a very bad mix of few responsible ones with just too many irresponsible ones. Only a combination of the above-mentioned initiatives can ensure that our expatriates will not die pre-mature and in conditions that are just too cruel and unacceptable.

The writer is a former Ambassador to Japan and can be reached on www.ambassadorseraj.blogspot.com.