Bangladesh News

Kuwait warned companies employing Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait of punitive actions if they fail to pay the workers the government-fixed minimum 40 Kuwaiti Dinar.

Kuwaiti authorities also directed its law enforcement agencies not to arrest any more workers provided they do not go on strikes or take part in illegal activities, a handout of Bangladesh Press Information Department (PID) yesterday said.

Bangladesh government also requested Kuwait to handover the outstanding dues and personal belongings of the deported workers through the Bangladesh mission in Kuwait.

Six human rights bodies and FBCCI also expressed their concerns over the issue.

Around 80,000 Bangladeshi workers under 23 companies withdrew their strikes in Kuwait and joined work, the handout said.

It said 850 Bangladeshi workers were arrested for their involvement in activities that violated Kuwaiti laws and Kuwaiti cabinet decided to deport them.

Yesterday afternoon an official of the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training’s welfare desk, stationed at Zia International Airport, said 597 workers were deported during the last five days.

However, Arab Times quoting security sources in Kuwait reported yesterday that a total of 1,000 Bangladeshis were deported.

“Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait is keeping continuous contact with Kuwait’s labour department to ensure minimum wages of workers and their rejoining work,” the PID handout said.

Bangladesh Embassy charge d’ affaires and an official of the foreign ministry of Kuwait held a meeting Saturday where the latter assured him of taking effective actions to look into the workers’ welfare issues. The official said the actions would be taken after discussing with interior and labour ministries of Kuwait.

Acting Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmud, meanwhile, wrote a letter to Kuwaiti foreign ministry urging an end to the problem. He requested Kuwait not to arrest any innocent Bangladeshis and release those already arrested so that they could rejoin work.

CRITICISM FROM HUMAN RIGHTS BODIES
Six human rights bodies yesterday criticised torture and deportation of Bangladeshi workers by Kuwait and demanded the United Nations and international community intervene to stop Kuwaiti authorities’ abuses of expatriate workers.

Deprived of their just wages for years, workers demonstrated to realise their demands but Kuwaiti authorities refused to meet their demands and deported them, a violation of basic human and labour rights, human rights bodies said in a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity.

Demanding an immediate probe by a committee comprised of justice and labour representatives, the migrant workers’ rights activists said Bangladesh Embassy in Kuwait has also not played its due role to ensure workers’ rights in a clear display of “Bangladesh’s servile foreign policy”.

Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait are contributing hugely to the economy of that country and that they do not want anything more than they are entitled to, they said adding, Kuwait’s maltreatment of foreign workers is unacceptable.

Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), WARBE Development Foundation, IMA Research Foundation, Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), Brac Advocacy and Human Rights Unit, Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme (OKUP) and Migrant Welfare Organisation (MWO) jointly held the press conference.

“It is said that Kuwait is a friendly nation to Bangladesh. Bangladesh during the Iraqi war in Kuwait fought with Kuwaiti soldiers. But Kuwait today is torturing and deporting Bangladeshis. This is not acceptable,” said WARBE Development Foundation Chairman Syed Saiful Haque.

The government claims sending lakhs of workers with overseas jobs and a reserve of billions of dollars earned in remittance but it does not really care for the people who are sending this money and helping the national economy, he lamented. He said the deported workers should be provided full compensation and their due wages.

“Actually, in the name of sending workers, agencies are trading visas and laundering money,” Saiful Haque said, adding that Bangladesh should take a strong position to protect its people. “If needed, it should declare that it would bring back the workers from Kuwait, if that country cannot respect our people.”

Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Programme Chairman Shakirul Islam in a statement said a Kuwaiti minister admitted abuse of workers by Kuwaiti companies. “So, why is this deportation of workers?”

Shakirul said Kuwait police arrested workers of other Asian countries too but the embassy officials of those countries immediately made arrangements for their release. Officials of Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait played a silent role which is very unfortunate, he said.

Even when these deported workers arrived in Dhaka, the government did not take any measure to take care of them. Many of them are injured and broke, he said.

Recruiting agencies, middlemen and employers are eating up the hard-earned money of the workers but the government has not taken any strong effective measures to save workers from these people, he added.

“To avoid such incidents in future, the government should set the minimum wage, ensure good working conditions, health and other facilities by signing bilateral agreements with the countries concerned,” said WARBE Development Foundation General Secretary Anisur Rahman Khan.

The government also must stop trading workers’ visas, take punitive measures against corrupt recruiting agencies and strengthen the Bangladesh missions overseas, he said.

Brac Advocacy and Human Rights Unit’s Mujibul Huq, ASK official Shah Alam Farooq, OKUP General Secretary Omar Faruque, IMA Research Foundation Programme Officer Radyan Rahave, MWO Secretary General Mohammad Ali and MJF Programme Manager Rezwanul Karim also spoke.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Human Rights Committee of Kuwait’s Parliament Waleed Al-Tabtabaei criticised the absence of an effective monitoring system to address the problems of expatriate workers in Kuwait. He said most of the workers resorted to violence because they could no longer bear the inhuman treatment by their employers, reported Arab Times.

FBCCI’S CONCERN
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) expressed its deep concern over the deportation of Bangladeshi workers from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Since most remittance earnings of the country are from the Middle East and more specifically from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, this would affect foreign currency inflow resulting in a negative impact on the overall economy, an FBCCI press release said.

In the last financial year, Bangladesh received over $7.91 billion as remittance of which around $4.98 billion came from eight Middle East countries and $3.19 billion from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

FBCCI President Annisul Huq expressed his concern over the blanket arrest, inhuman behaviour and deportation of Bangladeshi expatriates in those two countries.

In Kuwait, a number of the workers were being paid less than eight Kuwaiti Dinars a month, equivalent to $30 or Tk 2,000, and this is the main cause for the demonstration since the workers sold their land and other properties to gather the money to go there, the release said.

It said, “We do not support the act of taking the law into one’s hand but we guess there might have been many incidents of hardship and exploitation that forced the workers to demonstrate.”

“We are observing with deep concern that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Bangladeshi Embassy in Kuwait are not taking proper pro-active measures to tackle the situation,” it said.

The trade body also felt it necessary to investigate whether Bangladeshi recruiting agencies were involved in the fixing of low wages for our workers in Kuwait.

The statement said on May 8, 2008 the FBCCI sent a letter to the foreign ministry narrating the miserable condition of Bangladeshi expatriates there and predicted the possibility of such an incident. The letter was sent based on FBCCI vice-president’s visit to Kuwait.

The trade body feared that in future such grievance could spread among Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia. It urged the government to talk to Middle Eastern countries to resolve the problem.