BANGLADESH - MIGRATION IN 1999

Migration from Bangladesh in 1999 experienced some adjustments due to changes in the traditional regions of destination. After the repatriations of 1998 from Malaysia because of the crisis, labor export toward that country was resumed in 1999, with more emphasis on skilled labor. Migration toward Pakistan lost attractiveness because of the devaluation of the Pakistani currency. Migrants leaving Pakistan sought employment in the Middle East, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, where Bengalis are dominating the vegetable, fruit and fish markets. After the imposition of a ban in 1998 on the recruitment of domestic workers to foreign countries, the government adopted new rules to close some loopholes in the directives. Single women must produce evidence of their employment status in addition to a letter of consent from their guardians before being allowed to leave the country. Bangladeshi nurses have been in demand in Saudi Arabia. An agreement was reached with India concerning activities on the 400 kilometers shared border, including irregular migration.

New attention was given to the trafficking of migrants, particularly young girls, to work as prostitutes in India, Pakistan, Dubai and Kuwait. Agents scout for girls in poor villages, offering respectable factory jobs and then delivering them to brothels, after providing forged travel documents and bribing border guards. According to the Bangladeshi National Women Lawyers Association, some 40,000 Bangladeshi child prostitutes are in Pakistan and 12,000 in India.