Protection of Migrant Workers’ Rights: A Bangladesh Perspective

Cross border mobility of people remains a defining feature of globalization, and migrant workers are a crucial part of this mobility. This chapter emphasizes that migrant workers, especially irregular or undocumented migrant workers, are often exposed to a vulnerable situation in their host states, not only because of precarious working conditions and lack of legal regulation, but also because they fall prey to organized criminal groups and become victims of human trafficking. Strict control of borders to prevent population movement across national boundaries remains a fundamental contradiction of contemporary globalization. The stringent migration rules of developed countries have resulted in illegal cross-border movement of a large of undocumented migrants who are often deprived of labor rights. Although migrant workers’ rights are firmly in both international labor law and human rights law, the plight of irregular migrant workers is exacerbated by their exclusion from the protection offered by international instruments on migrant workers. Bangladesh is a significant source of migrant workers in the Middle East and other countries. However, the lack of legal support for migrant workers in destination countries often pushes them into precarious working conditions. This has been compounded by non-ratification of key ILO conventions and human rights treaty on migrant workers by many host states. This chapter also evaluates the legal framework of migration of Bangladeshi workers and highlights the structural gaps in such a legal framework.