On 21 July 2020, a panel discussion was conducted by Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism [GRFDT] on the topic, “Transitional Justice: Towards Building Back Better”. Mr. Shahidu lHaque, former foreign secretary of Bangladesh and currently a senior fellow at North South University in Dhaka and a senior advisor of IOM Bangladesh, was one of the speakers.
Injustices are more glaring due to pandemic
Mr. Shahidul Haque began by stressing that the issue of migration governance has been more focused upon at the expense of conversations on justice in migration. This makes it difficult to talk about the issue of rights of the migrants.
About 500,000 migrant workers have returned to Bangladesh, most of whom are from Middle-Eastern countries. “Most of them have been working there for about fifteen to twenty years and yet they have been forced to return without the assets they have accumulated over the years. Also, their contracts were terminated without any compensation”, said Haque.
He also pointed to another significant obstacle which the migrants are facing. They are not being able to leave their country for work even after paying the agents and completing all the formalities due to the ongoing pandemic.
Crisis can also be an opportunity
Despite the harsh conditions brought about by the pandemic, Haque is optimistic about turning the crisis into an opportunity to improve the lives of the migrants.
He said that though people assume that the corporate organizations don’t care about the well being of the migrant workers, the World Economic Forum has been discussing the ways in which migration will be affected by the pandemic and how that will create difficulties for carrying out business.
A survey was also carried out by them to determine factors which can impact businesses significantly and migration related issues was fifth on the list.
“The corporates are open to all kinds of ideas and suggestions”.
Another area where we can push forward the agenda of justice is in the policies. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 focuses on inequality. According to Haque, this is where we need to bring in the concept of justice.
“We should include the issue of entitlement and justice in governance”, he concluded.
Report by: Angel Valancia, she is a B.A. student and is currently pursuing PGDM in LIBA Chennai. She adores new technologies and techniques and is fond of playing shuttle.