Hosts want Dhaka to take back labourers

The country is set to face serious financial and humanitarian crisis as Bangladeshi migrants' host countries have asked the government to take measure immediately to bring back Bangladeshi migrants amid COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Foreign Ministry sources, some Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait and Asian countries Malaysia and Maldives have repeatedly sent letters to the Bangladesh's missions in this regard.
"In January, they (Middle Eastern countries) continued to release Bangladeshi migrants from jails and asked Bangladesh missions to take them back home amid COVID-19 pandemic but since the last two weeks they have been saying to take back all Bangladeshis from their countries," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told the Daily Observer on Wednesday.
According to Bureau of Manpower, Employment
    and Training (BMET) there were 1 crore and 20 lakh documented Bangladeshi in 170 countries, however, the number of undocumented migrant is almost same, a senior official of BMET said.
In a fresh statement on Tuesday, the UAE embassy in Dhaka said their Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation is considering several options to restructure its cooperation and labour relations with countries refusing to receive their nationals working in the UAE private sector.
The options include imposing strict future restrictions on the recruitment of workers from these countries and activating the "quota" system in recruitment operations, although the high ups of both the government discussed the issued and assured Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina (during her visit in UAE) that they (migrant) will continue their work in UAE.
Following the outbreak of COVID-19, four international rights organisations including Migrant Forum in Asia, Cross Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants, Pacificwin Pacific, and Solidarity Center urged the governments in Middle East to stop immediate deportation of migrant workers, but the Middle Eastern countries did not pay any heed to the appeal.
 "The Premier is likely to talk with some leaders of the Middle Eastern Countries in this regard," according to the Prime Minister Office.
"Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait are top of the list in this regard, Malaysia and Maldives is also putting huge pressure upon us," official said. It was learnt that about 30 lakh Bangladeshi migrants are now in Saudi Arabia and 15 Lakh migrant are working in UAE.
 Official said, in recent time, over 800 Bangladeshi migrants were released from jail by the authorities in the Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. Oman government was considering releasing several hundred more Bangladeshis from jails, they said.
At least 124 Bangladeshi migrants serving various jail terms in Kuwait were released for deportation.
 "Migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are facing serious problems and the iqamas, resident cards and work permits of one third of them have expired. About 7.5 lakh Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia are now in fear of getting deported from the country as their Iqamas have expired," a Foreign Ministry official said.
 The workers could not renew their work permits due to the Saudization of jobs and the increased fees for renewal of job permits.
 According a report 50 per cent of more than 15 lakh Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia lost their jobs on the expiry of their job permits till February 2020. Knowing the issue, the Prime Minister Office asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas employment (EWOE) to take necessary actions.
 However, On February 5, 2020, the EWOE ministry's employment wing put up the report titled 'The current sad plight of Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia and their repatriation to Bangladesh' and forwarded it to all other relevant officials of the ministry, but failed to address it.
 As a result they also became undocumented in Saudi Arabia.
Under the new Saudi rules, each worker was required to pay 200 Saudi Riyal in 2018 for each month to get their work permit renewed and 300 Riyal in 2019. The fee for 2020 is 400 Riyal.