BANGLADESH: Bangladeshi workers who had been illegally smuggled into Iraq return home

Record ID: 262429

  • Title: BANGLADESH: Bangladeshi workers who had been illegally smuggled into Iraq return home
  • Date: 24th April 2008
  • Summary: CLOSE OF ELDERLY MAN LOOKING THROUGH IRON BARS (SOUNDBITE) (Bengali) MUSTAFA MIAH, RELATIVE, SAYING: "I have come here to receive my brother who went to Iraq to work through a recruiting agency. But when he arrived he did not get any job and was stranded without food or shelter. He later surrendered to the police and yesterday he telephoned me to come here to the airport to pick him up." CLOSE OF ELDERLY MAN LOOKING THROUGH IRON BARS MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM) WAITING TO RECEIVE THE STRANDED WORKERS SIGN FEATURING IOM LOGO STRANDED WORKERS COMING OUT OF THE AIRPORT (SOUNDBITE) (Bengali) SOHAG AHMED, RETURNING WORKER, SAYING: "I am ashamed to say that in Kurdistan, inside Iraq, we were begging for food to survive. We were hungry. The people of Kurdistan were very kind to us. They fed us as much they could afford do. They are very good people. Otherwise we would have died. It is because of the kindness of the people of Kurdistan that we were able to return alive." (SOUNDBITE) (Bengali) MOHAMMAD ASHRAFUL, RETURNING WORKER, SAYING: "Only because the people of Kurdistan were very kind and helped us a lot. They fed us and gave us shelter." WORKER COMING OUT OF AIRPORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) UTTAM KUMAR DAS, INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR MIGRATION (IOM) REPRESENTATIVE, SAYING: "Today we have received 42 individuals. They are Bangladeshi nationals and we have assisted them. We have a programme, its name is "Assisted Voluntary Return". That means if someone is stranded somewhere and is willing to return to his country of his own will, then IOM has a programme to support the person." RETURNING WORKERS STANDING OUTSIDE THE AIRPORT
  • Embargoed: 9th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bangladesh
  • Country: Bangladesh
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9EOKZHMWKOTMR8BSPOJ6FB0T2
  • Story Text: Bangladesh has begun evacuating thousands of stranded workers who were trafficked into war-ravaged Iraq by illegal manpower traders, officials said on Wednesday (April 23).
    An Emirates Airlines flight carrying 42 Bangladeshis arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday as part of the evacuation process under the initiative of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
    The Bangladeshis were promised jobs in Dubai and other Middle Eastern countries but sent to Iraq instead, they said.
    "I am ashamed to say that in Kurdistan, inside Iraq, we were begging for food to survive. We were hungry. The people of Kurdistan were very kind to us. They fed us as much they could afford do. They are very good people. Otherwise we would have died. It is because of the kindness of the people of Kurdistan that we were able to return alive," Soheg Ahmed told Reuters upon his return.
    Mohammad Ashraful, 36, was promised a job as a caterer in Dubai but his passport was seized upon arrival and he was forced to go to Iraq.
    Ashraful paid 249,000 taka (3,630 USD) to his agent by selling family land and gold in his attempt to find a job but returned with nothing more than a plastic bag filled with his clothes.
    "Only because the people of Kurdistan were very kind and helped us a lot. They fed us and gave us shelter," Ashraful said.
    Bangladesh has banned sending workers to Iraq since the 2003 war for security reasons, but thousands of job seekers were sent to the Gulf country by illegal recruiters.
    The workers, many of whom said they had spent huge sums of money in their search for work, were put through several hours of interrogation by customs officials and detectives on their arrival at Dhaka airport.
    Nearly 5 million Bangladeshis now work all over the world, mostly in the Middle East, and send home nearly 6 billion USD annually.
    In recent months, Bangladeshi workers reported facing problems of abuse abroad, especially in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
    "Today we have received 42 individuals. They are Bangladeshi nationals and we have assisted them. We have a programme, its name is "Assisted Voluntary Return". That means if someone is stranded somewhere and is willing to return to his country of his own will, then IOM has a programme to support the person," said IOM representative Uttam Kumar Das in Dhaka.
    Those evacuated on Wednesday estimated that about 10,000 more Bangladeshis were still in Iraq, facing a hard time without jobs and proper documents.
    As Bangladesh closed its embassy in Iraq in 2003, the undocumented Bangladeshi workers could not collect duplicate passports to return home.
    "We are working closely with the Bangladesh government to ensure (their) safe migration," Uttam said.
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