Legalise irregular Bangladeshi workers to ensure rights

Bangladeshi migrants' rights organisations yesterday urged the South Korean government to legalise the irregular workers who have been living in South Korea for 10 to 15 years in a bid to ensure their rights to work.

South Korea has long been ignoring the issue of human rights of the foreign workers, though the foreign workers are playing immense role in the South Korea's economy, they said.

They also demanded to give registration to Migrant Trade Union (MTU), a union of foreign workers, by Industry of Labour in South Korea and immediate release of MTU leaders who were arrested recently.

They raised the demands at a press conference organised jointly by Mutual Welfare Society, International Migrants Foundation and Welfare Association for the Rights of Bangladeshi Emigrants (WARBE) at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity auditorium in the city.

Moniruzzaman Masum, a migrant leader, said according to the estimate of the Bangladesh government, over 12,000 workers are now working in South Korea. Of them, 6000-7000 workers are irregular.

He also said it is a matter of regret that the Bangladesh government does not have any accurate information about the workers who have been contributing a lot to the country's national economy by their uphill struggle.

He also said 80 percent of the workers are forced to work irregularly due to the government mismanagement.

He urged the government to do something for legalisation of Bangladeshi workers in South Korea immediately.

In a written statement, International Migrants Foundation President G M Rabbani said, “Formed in 2005, MTU has been working for establishing rights of the foreign workers in South Korea. Korean Confederation of Trade Union approved the MTU. Though the High Court of South Korea in its verdict directed the ministry of labour to give registration to MTU, the ministry is yet to give registration to MTU.”

He also said people of 103 countries are working in South Korea and about 2.4 lakh foreign workers out of 4.5 lakh are working there on irregular basis.

Rabbani also said MTU has been facing repression by the government of South Korea since its inception and now three MTU leaders, including its Vice President Abdus Sabur, were arrested on May 2 as they raised their voice for the rights of foreign workers. They will submit a memorandum to Korean Embassy in Bangladesh, hold meeting with foreign adviser, send letters to the United Nations (UN) office in Bangladesh and International Labour Organisation (ILO), stage a human chain and conduct a mass signature campaign, they announced.

Mutual Welfare Society Executive Director Md Shamim, Faruque Ahmed of WARBE, Khademul Islam, Syed Shamim Ahsan and Abdul Dulal also spoke.

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