Thomson Reuters Foundation | 11 February 2019
DHAKA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Bangladesh is planning to sideline unscrupulous recruitment brokers who dupe or exploit workers they send abroad by compiling a list of certified agents as record numbers of its citizens spend large sums of money to secure jobs overseas.
The scheme could lower the cost of going abroad for work – which can cost thousands of dollars in fees – and curb the abuse and trafficking of Bangladeshi migrant workers, said the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment (EWOE).
More than 7.5 million Bangladeshis live outside the country, and at least 1 million secured jobs abroad in 2017 – the highest number ever recorded – according to official data.