Move to limit KSA female manpower export

downloadThe government is set to take a move to limit the number of female workers being sent to Saudi Arabia in a bid to reduce harassment at the hands of their employers, officials concerned said.

A senior official of the expatriates’ welfare ministry said from now on they will send those workers who have proper training and competency in doing their jobs efficiently. In this regard, they will arrange training programmes for female jobseekers, he added.

“We will not stop sending workers to the Arab country. But from now on only capable and well-trained female workers will be sent to that country as domestic help,” said Jabed Ahmed, additional secretary of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment.

The authority is going to take such a move based on the findings revealed by an official team who visited Saudi Arabia recently. The team found that a good number of Bangladeshi housemaids were rejected by their employers due to lack of proper training and competency.

Besides, domestic workers were subjected to sexual abuse, excessive workload and torture while many were feeling homesick and could not adjust to food habit.

The visiting team, led by Mr Jabed Ahmed, comprised representatives from home and foreign ministries, PMO, Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) and Wage Earner Welfare Board.
Mr Ahmed said they have visited safe homes in Jeddah and Riyadh where some 156 domestic workers have been waiting to return home. Some 200 have also been brought to the deportation camp in Saudi Arabia.

So far 1,000 Bangladeshi domestic helps were rejected by their employers due to lack of proper training and efficiency, he said, adding that domestic workers have been facing such types of problems as they are sent without ensuring their quality and skills.

As per the demand from the Saudi employers’ sides, private recruiters sent domestic helps randomly last year. Now many female workers are facing different problems there, he said.
Mr Ahmed added: “It was a mistake to send domestic helps randomly to the labour receiving country.”

So far 64,000 domestic workers were sent to Saudi Arabia under a new deal signed in February 2015. Over 96,000 female workers went to Saudi Arabia between 1991 and July 2016.

আরও খবর
আপনার কমেন্ট লিখুন

Your email address will not be published.