13 Bangladeshi migrants sent back from Romania

by Rashad Ahamad

Thirteen Bangladeshis, sent to Romania on work visas by a government-approved recruiting agency, returned on Thursday as they were denied entry by the European country due to travelling with fake documents.

Upon their arrival at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the workers, who had intended to work in a shipyard, lodged a complaint with the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training against their recruiting agency, seeking compensation and justice.

According to the complaint, the workers were recruited by Asia Continental Group (BD), bearing the recruiting licence number 523, and were sent to Romania with fake documents to work at a Romanian company, Santierul Naval Constanta Sa, a shipyard.

Victims said that the recruiting agent informed them that a representative of the Romanian company would receive them at the airport on their arrival. But nobody received them there for several hours after their arrival, and at one point they sought help from local police.

‘When the police called the company about our arrival, the company denied hiring any workers from Bangladesh,’ said one of the 13 returnees on condition of anonymity.

While frustrated workers were crying at the Bucharest airport, the duty police cordoned them off, beat them up, seized their passports and cancelled visas, suspecting them as criminals, a couple of workers said.

Recruiting agent and Asia Continental Group proprietor Lokman Shah claimed that the Romanian shipyard company had in fact hired the workers.

He blamed the 13 workers for the situation, saying that the workers drew suspicion from the Romanian immigration police after one of them talked about fleeing to Italy from Romania.

Workers rejected the recruiting agency’s explanation of the incident and said that they never said anything about fleeing to Italy.

The victims said that they spent between Tk 6.30 lakh and Tk 7.44 lakh each for a job in the shipyard company, for which they received training on trades such as welders or fitters for months before leaving Bangladesh.

‘We had been promised overtime payment in addition to our monthly salary of Tk 70,000,’ said a returnee migrant.

Lokman Shah claimed he took Tk 4.90 lakh from each worker and promised to send them to another country now if they wished.

BMET director Mohammad Mizanur Rahman Bhuyan said that they had received the complaint from the migrants on Thursday.

‘We will collect information and take necessary action,’ he said.

Labour migration from Bangladesh to Romania has been increasing in recent years due to favourable conditions and high demand.

BMET statistics show that in the past two and a half years, over 18,000 Bangladeshis have gone to Romania.

In 2022, a total of 5,174 people migrated to the country.

However, many foreign workers, including Bangladeshis, Indians, and Pakistanis, allegedly flee the country to Western European countries, mainly Italy, leaving the market vulnerable.

Romania reported the issue to Bangladeshi authorities, prompting the BMET to charge a security deposit of Tk one lakh for travel to Romania.

The worker will be repaid the money upon his return, upon successful contract completion.

Published on New Age

Anti-tobacco law falls flat in Bangladesh as smokers swap cigarette for vapes

by Rashad Ahamad

The government’s move to make Bangladesh free from tobacco by 2040 is unlikely to achieve the target due to the availability of e-cigarettes that lure youngsters into tasting the new products.

From small street corner shops to e-commerce sites, the alternative source of nicotine is mostly targeted at youths, with its use being on the rise against the backdrop of the existing tobacco products control act that has no provision for heated tobacco.

‘We are working towards amending the prevailing tobacco control act to incorporate and ban electronic nicotine delivery system or vaping,’ said National Tobacco Control Cell coordinator Hossain Ali Khondoker.

Bangladesh has ‘Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) Act, 2005,’ amended in 2013. Under the law, the government controls the use of tobacco but there is no provision for heated tobacco.

‘The drafted copy in this regard is now at the cabinet division for final remarks. In the drafted law e-cigarette has been proposed to be banned,’ said Hossain.

Public health campaigners said that e-cigarette spread fast in the country misguiding youths that it was not harmful to health while many others promoted it for quitting smoking.

According to Bangladesh Medical Association’s former president and public health expert Rashid E Mahbub, nicotine can be in any form and all of them are harmful.

Tobacco companies spread disinformation to satisfy their own interests and the government tolerates it for revenue, he pointed out.

Sector insiders said that different forms of nicotine were introduced to Bangladesh in 2012 when it was like a fashion among the rich section of society.

Later the tobacco companies had run attractive campaigns for tobacco products since 2016 and its popularity spiked, they observed.

ABM Zubair, executive director of PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress), a Bangladesh-based anti-tobacco research and advocacy organisation, said that they demanded that the government control the heated tobacco since it was getting popular.

According to the anti-tobacco activists, the government made a move in 2019 finally; four years went by since then, but it failed to finalise any mechanism to address the issue.

A recent study titled ‘Bangladesh Tobacco Industry Tactics for Novel Product Expansion’ revealed that 78 percent vaping shops opened in the capital in the past five years.

A Dhaka University PhD student Ehsanul Haque and green activist Syed Saiful Alam conducted the study and found that 32 e-cigarette brands are from multinational tobacco companies.

The World Health Organisation has already declared e-cigarettes harmful and many countries including India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Singapore have banned vaping.

An expatriate Ashraful Islam, 40, used to smoke since he was 18. After he returned home from South Arica in 2019 he started vaping to quit smoking.

‘I am now addicted to vaping,’ he admitted.

Like him, many started e-cigarette and became addicted to it.

Public health campaigners said that it could be similar or worse than conventional cigarettes.

According to physicians, the electronic nicotine delivery system is harmful to public health that causes lung disease, stroke, COPD and heart diseases directly apart from the risk of many other diseases including 20 types of cancers.

Association for Prevention of Drug Abuse founding president professor Arup Ratan Choudhury said that vaping had become a gateway to drug addiction.

‘Many youths who come to drug rehabilitation centres were found to be using e-cigarettes first,’ he added.

‘Those using vape for quitting cigarettes are smoking doubly and are getting addicted.’

Bangladesh Cancer Society professor Golam Mohiuddin Faruque argued that e-cigarette was undoubtedly injurious to health which contained dangerous chemicals.

The Bangladesh Cancer Society study on the economic cost of tobacco found that tobacco caused the early death of nearly 1,26,000 people in Bangladesh in 2018, accounting for 13.5 percent of all deaths in the country.

In 2018, the total economic cost of tobacco-related death and disease in Bangladesh was Tk 305.6 billion, or 1.4 percent of the nation’s GDP of that year, according to the study.

There are currently about 1.5 million adults suffering from tobacco-attributable illnesses.

More than 61,000 children below 15 are suffering from diseases caused by exposure to secondhand smoke.

Compared to never users, tobacco users have a 57 percent higher risk of developing a tobacco-related disease, as per the study report.

Published on New Age

394 plant species in Bangladesh face extinction threat

by Rashad Ahamad

A total of 394 plant species in Bangladesh are facing the threat of extinction, a study has found after examining 1,000 plants out of a total 5,000 available in nature.

Of the species under ‘Red List’, researchers found five are critically endangered, 127 are endangered and the rest 262 are vulnerable.

Bangladesh National Herbarium and the Department of Forest came up with the findings following a study between August 2020 and May 2023 with the support of the IUCN Bangladesh under the World Bank-funded SUFAL Project.

The researchers shared their findings at a workshop on Monday. The final report to this end will be published soon.

They said that 69 plant species were found to be nearly threatened while 271 are under the category of least concern and 258 data deficient.

‘We found seven plant species are regionally extinct and one became extinct in the wild,’ said Dhaka University botany department professor Md Oliur Rahman who led the research work.

The seven are Magnolia griffithii locally known as Udaypadma, Memecylon ovatum locally known as Kayampoo, Archidendron jiringa known as djenkol, jengkol or jering and Myrica nagi Thunb known as Kaiphal and Syzygium thumri, Syzygium venustum, Drypetes venusta.

The study also finds Corypha taliera locally known as Talipalm extinct in the wild.

The five critically endangered species are Podocarpus neriifolius locally known as Bashpata, Hydnocarpus kurzii locally known as Chalmugra, Phoenix acaulis locally known as Bonkhejur and two types of orchid one known as Bulbophyllum oblongum and another Bulbophyllum roxburghii.

The list of 1,000 plant species from the group of five plants – Pteridophyte, Gymnosperm, Early Angiosperm, Monocot and Eudicot – were assessed following the IUCN Red List Guidelines and Criteria.

Green activists say that the condition of the plant species gives them a critical indicator of the health of biodiversity.

Researcher and Society for Environment and Human Development director Philip Gain said that destruction in the forest started in 1865 during the British colonial period.

They introduced planting Segun plant in the forest that endangered many other native species, he said.

Philip stated that ‘Recently rubber plantation, coastal shrimp cultivation and social forest projects mostly funded by the international donors destroyed forest as well as plant species.’

Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon general secretary Sharif Jamil said that plant species faced threats because of forest loss.

He believed that unplanned and imprudent activities by the government were destroying forests as well as plants.

‘Still, the government fails to realise the importance of forest, environment, plant, species and biodiversity, and is taking the destructive project to kill invaluable natural resources,’ he allegedly said.

Jamil demanded that the officials patronising development projects ignoring biodiversity be held accountable and suggested public involvement in any steps relating to forest-related activities.

‘We have prepared the Red List to conserve endangered plant species,’ said environment and forest minister Md Shahab Uddin who was present as the chief guest at the report launching event held in the capital.

He added that the results of this research would play an important role in protecting the environment and the biodiversity of Bangladesh; besides, the Red List would help achieve the country’s Sustainable Development Goals and formulate national policies for the protection of endangered plant species.

‘It will also help in reporting on Convention on Biological Diversity, and on CITES – a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of international trade,’ said the minister.

Md Shahab Uddin directed the forest department officials to take urgent steps to conserve the critically endangered species of the country.

Besides maintaining the balance of Bangladesh’s ecosystem and protecting the existence of other endangered plants, conservation activities should be taken on a priority basis, he pointed out.

The first Red List of threatened animals was prepared back in 2000. In 2020, the list was updated with the inclusion of 390 threatened species.

Published on New Age

Migration from Bangladesh on fake promises continues to affect workers

by Rashad Ahamad

Numerous Bangladeshis are living horrible lives abroad since they did not receive the promised jobs and wages, migration experts said.

Abdur Razzak was a madrassah teacher in Dhaka earning monthly Tk 30,000 before he migrated to Saudi Arabia for a wage of half his salary as he was offered to serve Masjid al-Harām, the grand mosque of Mecca.

Razzak, a Dawra-e-Hadith degree holder, which is recognised as equivalent to a master’s degree, was appointed as a road sweeper in Dammam instead of the promised job.

‘I have to work continuously for nine hours from 3:00am to 12:00pm,’ Razzak said over the phone from Damman, as he appealed to the government to take him back home immediately.

Razaak said that his life was not bad in Dhaka as he was a teacher at Darul Quran Adarsha Madrasha, but his neighbour Yasin Arafat, an agent of a recruiting agency, lured him to migrate to KSA to serve the holy place.

Razzak said that recruiting agency Al-Monir Enterprise Ltd (RL No 1742) processed his papers as Arafat was working with its managing director, Sheikh Mohd Monir Hossain.

After a complaint from his family, the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training found that his migration was processed by Dhanshiri Overseas Ltd (RL No 2088).

Sheikh Mohd Monir Hossain said that Razzak’s recruitment demand was placed by NAC International, but he was finally recruited through Dhanshiri.

Razzak’s mother, Hazera Begum, filed a complaint with BMET on May 3, seeking the repatriation of her son, compensation, and justice for the fraud.

Razzak was not the lone Bangladeshi migrant duped by recruiters with false promises.

Brahmanbaria’s Abul Kashem was promised a job in a paper mill for a monthly wage of Tk 40,000 when he migrated to Malaysia in 2018, but he was later employed in a tree plantation with a wage of Tk 25,000.

Kashem returned home after six months and is now doing a fish business in Mirpur-2, Dhaka.

Sohel Rana, who lives in the United Arab Emirates, said that the sub-agent assured him of a salesman’s job at a super shop, but he ended up as a sweeper in the Middle Eastern country.

‘I had no choice but to go back at my own expense or endure the pain of working as a sweeper. I chose the second option, thinking of my family. My life is now inhumane here,’ he said.

The victims said they found many Bangladeshi co-workers similarly cheated by recruiters.

‘It is now an open secret. But there was no study as the victims rarely complained,’ said Syed Saiful Haque, the chairman of WARBE Development Foundation, a non-profit working on migration issues.

He said that very often migrants are not given a money receipt against the payment of migration costs or any written document specifying their job to cheat them.

Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program, a community-based migrants organisation, conducted a study in 2021 on 264 returnee female migrants and found that 90 per cent of them were given their job contact at the airport just before their departure.

OKUP chairman Shakirul Islam said that in the migration system, fraud was a common problem that harms the sector’s growth as well as impacts remittances.

‘The government must ensure all migration-related activities are documented at the start of the process,’ he said.

Shariful Hasan, head of BRAC’s migration programme, said that workers became shocked when they see the difference between their promise and reality after joining overseas jobs.

Some, who can afford it, return, and the rest accept their fate, he said.

A study conducted in 2017 jointly by BRAC and the University of California, Berkeley, found one-third of workers felt cheated.

‘We must ensure good governance in migration,’ said Shariful, urging workers to be oriented before they leave.

The government fixed the maximum migration cost to Saudi Arabia at Tk 1.65 lakh. However, Yasin Arafat admitted that he charged Razzak Tk 5.5 lakh, promising a job in Haram Sharif.

‘The company cannot give him the job there now, what I can do,’ said Arafat.

BMET director Mizanur Rahman said that deceiving a migrant with a false promise is punishable.

Anyone feeling aggrieved can always complain to BMET for a remedy, he said.

BMET data showed that between 2020 and 2022, a total of 2,713 migrants or their families filed complaints.

Most complaints, however, are about abuse, sexual exploitation, or torture.

Migration rights activists said that in most cases, expatriates resign to their fate.

In many cases, migrants have to return at their own expense and are never repaid.

‘Migrants only complain when they face extreme situations,’ said WARBE’s Saiful Haque.

Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies senior vice-president Reaz-ul-Islam admitted the problem and blamed sub-agents for the unethical practice.

He said that sub-agents, in most cases, give false information to would-be-migrants to lure them.

‘If recruiting agents can select workers from the government database, the problem will go,’ he said.

Bangladesh is one of the top migrant worker source countries in the world. Since the beginning of overseas migration in 1976, Bangladesh has sent approximately 15 million people abroad.

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Labour migration from Bangladesh to Mauritius drops sharply

by Rashad Ahamad

Labour migration from Bangladesh to Mauritius has dropped drastically in recent months as the African country is hardly allowing new Bangladeshi workers to enter its territory following repeated incidents of workers fleeing designated workplaces.

The sector insiders urged the government to take a diplomatic move immediately to negotiate the matter with the country and develop a mechanism to check the illegal practice of fleeing parent companies for sustainable migration there.

Bangladesh remains the top supplier of workers to the island country, with many employed in the country’s garment, construction, agriculture, and service sectors, as well as in food and beverage factories.

According to the Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training, labour migration to Mauritius started in 1992, and till March this year, a total of 78,028 Bangladeshis secured jobs in the country.

Data shows that labour migration to the country has increased gradually over the years, as in 2016 a total of 4,679 workers migrated there, while it increased to 5,942 in 2017, 6,602 in 2018, and 7,570 in 2019.

In 2020, a total of 2,014 Bangladeshis migrated to the country. In 2021, due to flight restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, 215 migrated to the country.

With the pandemic situation easing, 5,484 Bangladeshi workers migrated to Mauritius in 2022 and 839 migrated in the first three months of 2023.

BMET officials said that labour migration to Mauritius saw a gradual fall since March this year. Instead of the average of 457 regular migrants in 2022, only 162 workers left the country in March and 98 in April.

In January, 308 workers migrated to the country, and in February, 369.

Recruiting agents said that the Mauritius labour department had not issued almost no new orders since January, resulting in a sharp decline in recruitment from Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh High Commissioner to Mauritius, Rezina Ahmed, said that Mauritius was a sustainable regular destination for Bangladeshi workers, as over 50 per cent of total foreign workers in the country were from Bangladesh.

Mauritius also hires some workers from Madagascar, India, and Sri Lanka.

‘Covid-19 first disrupted the market and then the Ukraine-Russia war, while the cases of the fleeing of parent companies finally affected it adversely,’ she said.

She said that they were warning workers against fleeing their parent company amid an increase in such incidents recently.

‘We are working to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding over labour migration that would hopefully solve the crisis soon,’ she added.

Some 22,000 documented and several thousand undocumented Bangladeshi workers are currently working in the small country with a population of only 1.3 million, she added.

The Indian Ocean island, spanning 2,040 square kilometres, is known for its beaches, lagoons, and reefs and is a popular tourist destination.

Farah Anjum Bari, managing director of Bay Eastern Ltd, one of the 10 Bangladeshi recruiting agencies that send workers to Mauritius, said that labour migration from Bangladesh was very smooth and regular until the Covid-19 outbreak.

‘Companies in Mauritius want workers, but their labour department is not issuing clearances or taking huge time without explaining anything,’ said Farah, who is dealing with female workers in the fishing sector for over a decade.

Akter Hossain, the proprietor of Gulam Rabbi International, a recruiting agency sending workers to Mauritius, said that the government must find a way to stop the illegal practice.

Migrant rights campaigner and Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program chairman Shakirul Islam said that if workers flee the designated company, it harms the company as well as the reputation of the country.

‘Not only workers but the government and recruiting agents must take liabilities,’ he said.

He suggested the government work for free migration and give incentives to law-abiding workers.

Bangladesh High Commission’s first secretary (labour) Sumon Acharjee, said that some workers were even fleeing from the airport after their arrival.

He said that there was no scope to flee the country, but the workers could flee the company and secure jobs at another company in the country with a higher wage.

Migrant workers in Mauritius said that many Mauritius companies bear the full migration cost of workers, but recruiting agencies charge Tk 200,000 to Tk 400,000 as migration costs for workers.

A hiring company used to pay Tk 25,000 as minimum wage according to the labour law, but it was not enough for a worker, who had to spend a large amount of money on migration costs. It leads workers to flee the parent company in search of better wages, which can be double the normal rate, they said.

‘If free migration can be ensured, the problem will no longer exist,’ said Ali Hossain, a migrant rights activist in Mauritius.

Officials suspected an unholy nexus between secondary companies and recruiting agents was behind the situation.

They said that a worker earns Tk 35,000 monthly on average in Mauritius. The workers could also earn more by working overtime. But the workers are fleeing the parent company to earn more in the secondary workplace.

BMET director general Shahidul Alam also blamed recruiters and employers for the situation.

‘We must stop this illegal practice,’ he said, adding that wage discrimination and the ethical value of workers must be addressed.

Published on New Age