THE insurance scheme that the government has set up for injured, deceased or unsuccessful migrant workers do not reach its intended beneficiaries because of negligent implementation. In December 2019, the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, along with the Bangladesh Life Insurance Corporation, started the group insurance facility against a one-time premium of Tk 1,000 from workers during migration clearance….the agency collects the mandatory insurance premium from each aspirant migrant, but it does not properly inform the migrants about benefits of the scheme. According to the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board, only 1,677 migrant workers or their relatives have received insurance benefits…The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit’s study, however, estimates that around 50,000 migrants, eligible for insurance benefits in the category of untimely return in 2023, did not receive them simply because they were unaware of the benefits. The negligent attitude towards the migrants is cheating workers out of their entitled benefits which is unacceptable.

Death, injury, and an untimely return of migrant workers are common occurrences. Official records suggest that more than 500,000 Bangladeshis have returned home with out-passes from different countries since 2020. In 2008–2022, at least 45,301 migrant arrived in Bangladesh dead from the Middle East…