Some 95 percent migrant workers, who returned recently from Libya, are burdened with debt, and almost half the returnees remain jobless, according to a survey report.
The debt size keeps around below Tk 50,000 to over Tk 3.5 lakh, said the report of Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), Dhaka University.
The organisation prepared the report by interviewing about 6,000 Libya returnees over phone from June 15. More than 36,000 Bangladeshis retuned from Libya over the last five months, escaping the ongoing unrest in the North African country.
The report said 48 percent of the interviewees remain unemployed upon return while significant others are working as construction workers, day labourers, and farmers.
About 90 percent of the returnees reported to RMMRU that they had to borrow money to get migrated to Libya, and 45 percent of them borrowed at high interest rates.
The organisation disclosed the report at a dialogue titled “Implementation of compensation programme of returnee migrants from Libya” at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, DU, yesterday.
Addressing the dialogue, Rabab Fatema, regional representative of International Organisation for Migration (IMO) for South Asia, emphasised creation of jobs at home and abroad and recommended providing soft loan to the returnees for self-employment.
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Eng Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said the government has already taken initiative to compensate the returnees and will move further to solve their problems.
RMMRU Chair Dr Tasneem Siddique disclosed the report while Secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan and Director General of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training Khurshed Alam Chowdhury also spoke.
-With The Daily Star input
