714 BD female migrant workers dead abroad

Writ files seeking compensation

Court Correspondent: A writ petition has been filed with the High Court seeking directives to provide adequate compensation to the family members of the 714 deceased migrant female workers who died in different countries.
Anjuman Ara Lima, a Supreme Court lawyer, filed the writ petition yesterday after taking approval from the HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Ahmed Sohel.
The writ also sought investigation into the deaths of the female workers and wanted security and safety of the women workers.
A report on the title of ‘714 women workers return dead’ published in a daily newspaper was attached to the writ petition.
Twelve people including the secretaries to the Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Law Ministry, Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Director General and Director of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) were made respondents to the petition.
The petition also sought to stop torture on the women workers working abroad, to ensure their security and safety at work and safe returns of them to their homeland.
It also sought directives from the authorities concerned to ensure accountability of the owners who hired workers. According to the report of the Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry, the bodies of 404 female workers landed in Bangladesh from 2020 to 2022. Of them, 227 died normally.
As per the report of BRAC, a private development organisation, said 714 women workers returned dead from 2016 to 2022.
Of them, 262 died for natural reasons.
The report also said that of the deceased 138 died of stroke, 116 committed suicide, 108 in different accidents and 16 were murdered.
The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) reported that 69 percent female workers died normally while the deaths of 31 percent were found unnatural.