Remittances versus coffins: The tales of migrant workers
Last year, Bangladesh received a total of $27 billion as remittances from its overseas workers. For Bangladesh, this figure represents the second largest export earnings, next only to $38 billion earning from garment exports. Last month, the country saw a record high $3.29 billion remittance earning. The question that looms large is: Should we pursue remittances at the cost of lives?
The numbers are simply mind boggling. Between 2015 and 2022, every year, on average, more than 3,500 bodies of Bangladeshi migrant workers, who died in the Middle-East, were brought back home. In 2023 and 2024, that number surpassed 4,500. In fact, over the past 10 years, the number of dead Bangladeshi migrant workers abroad has nearly doubled and during the same period, a total of nearly 38,000 bodies of Bangladeshi migrant workers in the Middle-East have been repatriated.
The whole picture becomes shocking when we juxtapose these numbers against the fact that last year, Bangladesh received a total of $27 billion as remittances from its overseas workers. For Bangladesh, this figure represents the second largest export earnings, next only to $38 billion earning from garment exports. Last month, the country saw a record high $3.29 billion remittance earning.
The question that looms large is: Should we pursue remittances at the cost of lives?
A few issues need to be highlighted upfront. First, it has been reported that over the past four decades, at least 57,216 bodies of Bangladeshi migrant workers were brought back to Bangladesh. But the corresponding figure for the past decade is 38,000. It clearly shows that the deaths of Bangladeshi migrant workers abroad are on the increase over time. It begs the question as to what the pertinent causes of increased deaths are. Or, is it due to better reporting of demises? Second, the reported numbers do not reflect the totality of the picture, as many more are buried overseas, with families choosing not to bring the bodies back home. When the dead body of a migrant worker is repatriated home, the Welfare Board provides Tk35,000 for transport costs and burial. Is this amount adequate? Third, most of the Bangladeshi migrant workers' deaths occur in the Gulf States. Are these deaths linked to extreme heat of the region and gruelling work conditions, especially in construction sites? In fact, a 2023 study highlighted the link between excessive heat and poor health conditions among workers in the Gulf region.
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It is an imperative that answers to these questions are found. The deaths of migrant workers have been suggested to be either health-conditions related, including mental health or work-conditions related. The official data suggests that most of the migrant deaths are due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like stroke, heart failures, or brain haemorrhage. Suicides and homicides are related to mental health conditions. These have been referred to as deaths due to natural causes.
On the other hand, the work-conditions related deaths are due to road crashes, working conditions safety, workplace accidents etc. On the issue of deaths due to natural causes, it has been reported that most of the deceased are in the age range of 38 to 42 years. Is it natural for these people to die from heart attacks, strokes or brain haemorrhage? Or is it possible that their deaths are to do with dangerous working conditions like excessive heat, heat waves, extreme desert climate, or the absence of necessary protection? Are there adequate provisions for ensuring workplace safety as well as workers' health and well-being?
The last issue is pertinent as some workers work for 12 to 18 hours, without adequate rest and sleep. And their living environments are often cramped and unhygienic. Why does the Gulf region have a higher death rate? Is it to do with extreme desert climate conditions, which may lead to organ failure, respiratory, heart and kidney diseases, and brain-related disorders? Questions should be raised as to whether some of the deaths are related to workers' abuses by the employers.
All these issues need to be investigated further. And the investigation must be disaggregated to the source as well the probable cause of migrant workers' deaths. It seems that the labour-receiving country authorities are more leaned towards eye-washing the concerns.
In order to know more about these alarming trends, the Government of Bangladesh needs to conduct in-depth investigative reports to determine why some of the migrant workers are dying in increasing number. The government must probe further and it needs to take these concerns with the labour-receiving countries – the working conditions, including working hours, the workplace safety, workers' protection, probable abuses. In short, the labour standards must be pursued.
At the same time, the government itself must address some specific issues from its side. As high temperature-induced health issues require lifelong medical treatment, the workers who have become victims of those problems, should receive support from the government. The government should also prioritise the mental health of the migrant workers, as mental stress and prolonged separation from families back home also contribute to situations of suicides and homicides.
In some cases, scars or injury marks are found on the corpses. Further investigations are needed to determine whether these deaths were related to abuses.
The bottom line is that the government must investigate the actual causes of migrant deaths and verify the versions given by the labour-receiving host countries. This is required as sometimes, there is no registry of heat related fatalities, lumping everything under heart attacks. Autopsies are needed to determine the actual cause of deaths.
The Government of Bangladesh must also be more mindful while signing Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with the labour-receiving countries. It should be ensured that migrant workers receive all necessary support, including treatment and insurance. At the other end, the families of the dead workers suffer a lot of traumas with a series of unanswered questions on the death of their earning members. Emotional and financial support to them is a must.
In the ultimate analysis, we must remember that migrant workers of Bangladesh are not mere foreign exchange earning machines for the country. They are human beings. Therefore, while taking pride in the huge remittances that they send home, we should not fail them while it comes to their protection, safety and dignity, and well-being, both at home and abroad.
Dr Selim Jahan is the Former Director of the Human Development Report Office and Poverty Division at the United Nations Development Programme, New York, US.
