It is the government which should take responsibility to ensure legal rights of the female migrant workers abroad and realise appropriate compensation for them in case of any victimisation there, speakers observed at a national discussion on Thursday. The government should stay conscious about their interests as the state is being benefited from the money remitted by them. The state should also take immediate measures to stop fraudulence by the unscrupulous recruiting agents  and unauthorised middlemen in the migration process of the female workers, speakers told the discussion jointly organised by Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme (OKUP) and IMA Research Foundation at CIRDAP auditorium.
Titled “Legal Protection and Arbitration for Victimised Women Migrant Workers”, the discussion was supported by CARAM Asia and the UN Trust Fund to stop violence against women.
Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, secretary of the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, and Naheed Ahmed, national programme manager of UN Women, spoke at the discussion with Dr Nurul Islam, director of BMET, in the chair.
Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan said it is unfortunate that Lebanon and Saudi Arabia are yet to ratify the International Migrant Law.
The speakers demanded setting up an embassy in Lebanon immediately as female migrant workers are victimised rampantly in the country.
There is no political commitment in the country on this issue, said human rights activist Advocate Atiqur Rahman, adding, “I request enacting a law in this regard on behalf of the workers.”
The speakers also demanded introducing  a system of post mortem in the domestic airports with the help of post Bangladesh Welfare Fund to ascertain actual reason of death of workers.
They also stressed the need for forming a board with government officials, recruiting agency representatives, workers (who are supposed to go abroad) and representatives of the organisations that work for workers as most of the cases workers are not aware of the process.
They also urged the Information Ministry to give advertisement on print and electronic media making it public that the government has selected 14 agencies to send female workers abroad.
Safe and systematic migration can reap more benefit for the country’s socio-economic development and that is why the government should consider the ground reality of it, they opined.
OKUP chairman Shakirul Islam who acted as moderator emphasised necessity of a law to ensure legal remedy of the victimised women migrant workers.
Dr Nurul Islam urged the media to extend their cooperation to the government and NGOs and focus more on awareness about women migrant workers’ rights.