Workshop shares experiences of preventing trafficking and ensuring safe migration

Organizations working to ensure safe migration and prevent labour trafficking met in Dhaka 16-17 June 2015 to share knowledge and experiences of their work.
The groups are working as part of the “ILO-DFID Partnership Programme on Fair Recruitment and Decent Work for Women Migrant Workers in South Asia and the Middle East” project which is funded by the United Kingdom.

This initiative, better known as the Work in Freedom project, focuses on the prevention of human trafficking through community outreach and skill development programs for women migrant workers.

Under Work in Freedom community empowerment work is underway in partnership with three local NGOs. By working at community level, the initiative helps sensitize the population about migrants’ rights as well as the causes and consequences of trafficking of women migrant workers.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Gagan Rajbhandari, Deputy Country Director, ILO Country Office for Bangladesh said, “Today’s workshop is an opportunity to share knowledge and experiences between implementing partners about grassroots activities. It gives us the chance to coordinate with constituents to ensure better cooperation. Our discussions will help us better understand the links between migration and trafficking and how we should seek to combat this from community to policy levels. We will furthermore be able to share ideas about how to better coordinate and collaborate with the government to ensure safe migration and prevent labor trafficking.”

Taking part were representatives of BRAC, Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP), Association for Community Development (ACD), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Bangladeshi Ovhibashi Mohila Sramik Association (BOMSA), WARBE Development Foundation. Besides, representatives from Domestic Workers Rights Network (DWRN) and National Domestic Women Workers Union (NDWWU) also participated.

Also speaking at the event were Honorable Secretary to the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Mr. Khondaker Md Iftekhar Haider, Chairperson of the National Coordination Committee for Workers Education Mr. Abdul Mukit Khan and Work in Freedom Chief Technical Advisor Mr. Igor Bosc.

The Work in Freedom program, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) takes a targeted approach to prevent and reduce the incidence of trafficking of women and girls from three source countries – Bangladesh, India and Nepal through their economic, social and legal empowerment in order to promote safe migration and decent work. It is also working in three destination countries – Jordan, Lebanon and UAE to make coordination and raising of collective voice against labor exploitation and trafficking to promote legal and social justice for the female migrant workers.

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