Govt support eludes Saudi returnees

Returned women domestic helps from Saudi Arabia are not getting support from the government, though they went there through the official channel, said victims and rights activists.

According to workers and rights activists, since January this year, at least 1,500 Bangladeshi house maids have returned home from the Arab country because of abuse at their employers' houses.

But the ministry of expatriates' welfare does not acknowledge the sufferings of the workers in Saudi Arabia.

Nor does it disclose the actual number of returnees.

The workers faced different types of exploitation such as excessive work, denial of wages, and sexual and physical assaults.

The society in general and the families in particular have not accepted many of the returnees easily.

Sick and mentally traumatised, they are now residing in the homes of their kith and kin.

Without long-term support, the women will not be able to rebuild their lives, they said.

Talking to the FE, several women claimed that they did not get any assistance from the government.

Even no representatives from the government offices concerned have communicated with them since they left the oil-rich Arab nation.

Because of extreme level of tortures many of them became traumatised.

At least 20 women faced severe psychological trauma and took treatment at National Institute of Mental Health upon return home, a representative of BRAC migration programme said.

No official came at the hospital to see them firsthand, said the BRAC representative who looks after some mentally-shocked women.

Momena Begum, mother of Shamima (not real name), said no one from the government communicated with them.

"My daughter is still very weak and mentally-shocked as her master maltreated her," she said.

She underwent treatment at a city hospital.

But it is necessary to receive long-term treatment to get back to normal, she added.

Bilkis (not her real name), another Saudi returnee, said she did not get cooperation even from a union parishad member.

She begged help from the union parishad member when her husband warned that he would divorce her.

"Instead of providing support, the union member suggested her husband divorce her," she added.

In the past six months, an average 250 women workers have returned from Saudi Arabia each month, said Shariful Islam, head of BRAC Migration Programme.

Women returned home with broken-legs, burned bodies as they were faced physical tortures.

Sexual assault is a common complaint of the women, he said.

"The government should take the responsibility of the women as they migrated in regular channel," he added.

"Unfortunately, so far the government has provided no visible support," he added.

Contacted, officials at the ministry of expatriates welfare and overseas employment (MoEWOE) said they have no reintegration scheme for the KSA-returned women.

They also don't believe that most of the returnee women are victim of abuse.

Many times, women concocted stories in favour of their returning home, as they are homesick, said officials who wished to remain unidentified.

However, minister Nurul Islam at a parliament session on June 18 said a total of 369 women workers returned home from abroad this year.

Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP) chair Shakirul Islam said at first, the authorities concerned have to admit that workers were exploited there.

Then they should bring the women under a psycho-social and financial reintegration support programme, he added.

There is no way to avoid the sufferings of workers as they are building the nation, he said.

Some NGOs and the private sector are providing support, which alone cannot bring all victim women under their programme, he added.

Aminul Islam, additional secretary of the ministry of EWOE, said they have no reintegration programme.

"It is a vast issue. So if we want to introduce it we have to consider many things," he added.

More than 0.2 million women have gone to the KSA since the signing of the recruitment deal in 2015.

Some 5,000 women have returned home in the last three years on allegations of workplace exploitation.

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