Fri 20 Jun 2008
Around 90,000 Bangladeshi migrant workers live and work in Bahrain, 10 per cent of the total population of that country. In the year 2006-07, these migrants sent $80 million in remittances home. But the recent murder of a Bahraini man by a Bangladeshi worker has sparked angry reactions from government officials and politicians. The Bahrain government has put an embargo on recruitment of any further ‘unskilled’ workers from Bangladesh. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Malaysia had already put restrictions on Bangladeshi labourers, sparked by earlier incidents. As often highlighted at conferences and seminars, foreign remittance is the second highest foreign currency earner for Bangladesh. But apathy from our embassies, corrupt middlemen, flawed immigration policies, lack of a robust government response and disparities in labour laws have placed hard-working men and women in international news headlines for the wrong reasons. Read The Report
June 20th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Good report. Unfortunately, many similar reports over 20 years have recommended changes to the way embassies and the GOB work. Very little happens.
I met the minister (Qamrul)for Expatriate Welfare a few years back. To a friend (not me!), he actually said he was disappointed with Khaleda for putting him in such a backwater job. What motivation.
When he got his feet under the desk, he was regarded as representing the interests of manpower agencies only.
He achieved next to nothing for the worker, though that’s not unusual.
Let’s be brutally honest. It’s about class.
All Regimes since the seventies have seen the ‘export’ of labour as a safety valve (no jobs at home, go and work in the desert) and a source of foreign exchange. Period. No one in power gives a hoot about their welfare.
Forget about embassies helping - London NRBs, with much more awareness and clout, haven’t succeeded in changing behaviour. How are the vulnerable migrants going to do it?
And the Dhanmondi-Banani talking class is not interested. They hardly ever talk about it in seminars. Even the Left are exercised much more about export of gas and coal, and have spent very little time on the migrant issue.
Clouding any rare attempt at bettering the lives and conditions of migrants is the whispered fear of upsetting the callous regimes of Saudi Arabia or the Gulf States. A useful excuse for inactivity.
So the abuse will go on for several more years, until a crisis/war results in the infrastructure projects drying up (like Iraq 1990).
I would be more optimistic if I saw political parties convincing us they have real programmes to follow the recommendations.
They prefer to limit the debate to elections.
June 20th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Perhaps getting the voting rights is the first step on getting a semblance of accountibility. I have tried to do a campaign around it but personally i have found it hard to gather enough collective interest to focus on this issue. The work needs to happen on the ground. Currently what happens now is nothing but human slavery and trafficking.
I find it amusing to see how the BGMEA president claims so much subsidy from the country because they are bringing in 6 billions in revenue (ignoring how many billions they spend on importing the textile). They get prime coverage in the media. They get to use the VIP terminal in the airport. But when it comes to the migrant workers who brought in 7 billion dollars last year alone, there is no voice to make their case and you can always see how they are treated in the airports.
Yes, its a class issue, after all!
June 20th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
[...] discussion on the state of Bangladeshi workers in Bahrain at Unheard Voices. Posted by Neha Viswanathan Share [...]
June 26th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Labour row
Jun 23rd 2008
From The Economist Intelligence Unit ViewsWire
A move to expel thousands of Bangladeshi workers from Bahrain
Moves by the Ministry of the Interior to expel thousands of Bangladeshi workers are being resisted by the business community, with the presumed backing of a powerful economic development body. The row is symptomatic of the broader tensions in the Gulf over the treatment of immigrant labour, on which the region’s economies depend for continued expansion.
The controversy follows the alleged murder by a Bangladeshi mechanic of his Bahraini supervisor on May 23rd. The incident prompted a swift reaction by the interior ministry, which announced three days later (and before any trial had taken place) that it would no longer grant visas to Bangladeshis. Moreover, it said, Bangladeshis working in the country would not have their visas renewed. The ministry has since modified its stance, announcing on June 1st that the ban on visas for Bangladeshis will not apply to those who already reside in the country, nor to “businessmen and top professionals”, according to the official Bahrain News Agency.
The reaction of the interior ministry appeared to be at odds with the broader policy of the Economic Development Board (EDB), the main economic policy authority, which wants to make Bahrain’s labour market more flexible. The interior ministry has traditionally been a sphere of prime ministerial influence, whereas the EDB is chaired by the crown prince, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al‑Khalifa. Earlier this year, Sheikh Salman complained in an open letter to the king that some ministries were not fully co-operating in implementing economic policy, and the king reaffirmed the EDB’s overarching authority for economic policy.
Keep out
Despite the exemption for “professional” Bangladeshis, the ban on new visas for “lower-skilled” Bangladeshis came into force in June. The government is likely to come under pressure to lift it, particularly from subcontractors in the construction sector, who rely heavily on this very low paid segment of the workforce. The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry has criticised the move, as have local and international human rights groups. The ban has also worried other non-nationals. Al-Asala, a seven-member conservative Sunni bloc in parliament, said it plans to submit a proposal when parliament reopens in October to expel all Bangladeshis by the end of the year. While highly unlikely to become a reality, the suggestion highlights the social tensions over the influx of foreign nationals to Bahrain, where expatriates have taken up most of the new jobs created by the recent economic boom.
Earlier this year the government raised its estimate for the population of Bahrain to just over 1 million, from less than 750,000 previously. The new estimates also suggest that nationals are just over 50% of the population. Bahrain’s 90,000 Bangladeshi residents tend to be among the lowest-paid foreign workers and often live in very poor conditions. After the killing, the press was full of reports stereotyping Bangladeshis as more violent and unhygienic than other nationals. Foreign workers are often scapegoated for unemployment among Bahraini citizens and there have been several attacks on low-paid immigrants in recent months. Furthermore, the government has announced that it will designate special zones for foreign labourers to live in as part of a long-term “masterplan” for Bahrain through to 2020.