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Migrant household workers need more awareness about their rights and probable threat to be abused and skill training to get better wages from employers, said rights group--Bangladeshi Ovhibashi Mohila Sramik Association (BOMSA).
They came up with the remarks at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) on Monday.
BOMSA placed a series of proposals, including the signing of the ILO Convention and the amendment of the “Domestic Workers Protection and Welfare Policy 2015,” aimed at ensuring a secure working environment for household workers both domestically and abroad.
They were also addressing the issue of landlord-inflicted torture and exploitation.
Aminul Haque Tushar, Advisor of BOMSA said a written speech, “The rapid growth of urbanization, coupled with the expansion of city-centric trade and employment prospects, has led to a substantial surge in the demand for domestic workers in urban areas.
While precise statistics are unavailable, an estimated figure suggests that there are over 1.4 million domestic workers in urban centers, with a significant majority being women.”
According to the data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, it is approximated that around 120,000 children are involved in domestic labor across the country.
The count of female workers migrating from Bangladesh for household employment is also considerable. According to BMET statistics, the number of women who have migrated abroad for such work has surpassed 42,000 as of June 2023.
Mentionable, over 80 per cent of women from Bangladesh choose to migrate to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, and Jordan as contractual household workers, with the majority, around 80 per cent, being unskilled or possessing limited skills for these roles.
Tushar said unfortunately this workforce remains unrecognized within the scope of mainstream labor practices and national standards. Consequently, domestic workers in the country have fallen prey to routine occurrences of wage discrimination, exploitation, and even torture.
In addition to the household workers within the country, Bangladeshi women working abroad as household employees also endure various forms of harassment inflicted by their landlords, he added.
According to BRAC data, the mortality figures of expatriate Bangladeshi women workers were as follows: 117 in 2022, 122 in 2021, 80 in 2020, and 139 in 2019. It is noteworthy that the majority of these unfortunate deaths involved household workers.
The causes of their deaths followed traditional patterns, with the most common being natural causes (37 per cent), followed by brain strokes (19 per cent), suicide (16 per cent), accidents (15 per cent), and other reasons (13 per cent). Among the countries, the highest number of worker deaths occurred in Saudi Arabia, followed by Jordan, Lebanon, and Oman.
Fouzia Shahnaz, Principal of Bangladesh German Technical training Centre, Ishrat Parveen Ema, Deputy Programme Manager of Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), workers’ leader Abul Hossain, BOMSA’s Chairman Lily, General Secretary Romana Aktar spoke at the event.
They said the foreign landlords invest money in hiring household workers, expecting higher productivity, while the household workers’ pay brokers to secure overseas employment, resulting in their reluctance to undertake extra tasks. Consequently, conflicts often arise between these two parties.
However, it is essential to note that accepting money to facilitate domestic workers' migration abroad is illegal. Household workers should be better informed and vigilant about this issue.
Unfortunately, many domestic workers fail to read their contracts thoroughly before departing, which stands as one of the primary problems in this context, they added.
Proposals:
They strongly urged for the prompt ratification/signing of ILO Convention 189 and 190, accompanied by the formulation and implementation of precise laws to safeguard the well-being of all household workers, particularly women, both within the country and abroad.
These measures should aim to put an end to all forms of discrimination, harassment, and oppression faced by these workers.
We advocate for a comprehensive protocol that ensures proper handling in the unfortunate event of a worker's death abroad.
This includes conducting one post-mortem in the respective country with the assistance of our embassy, and another post-mortem in our country at the government's expense to ascertain the actual cause of death and take appropriate actions accordingly, speakers said.
Furthermore, it is essential to take necessary steps to enhance training in financial literacy and promote financial inclusion through various means like training programs and awareness campaigns.
This will empower all domestic workers, whether working within or outside the country, to make significant financial contributions to the country's economy.
They added that it is imperative to engage in comprehensive lawmaking and policy formulation by relevant ministries. Furthermore, strategic planning and actionable measures, taken collectively by institutions and individuals, are essential to ensure effective implementation of these policies.
