Govt plans observing days for migrants, expatriates

The government contemplates observing separate days for Bangladeshi migrant and expatriate workers as Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment held an inter-ministerial meeting on Thursday to plan the proper observance of 'International Migrants' Day' and 'National Expatriates' Day', reads a statement issued by the ministry.

The meeting, held at the ministry's conference room, was chaired by State Minister Md Nurul Haque, who outlined several decisions related to the observance of the two occasions.

During the meeting, the state minister highlighted instances of honesty and humanity shown by expatriate workers that have been reported in the media over the years, including returning money found on the street, saving colleagues or local residents from danger, and donating blood to the sick.

He called for formally recognising not only commercially important persons (CIPs), but also ordinary migrant workers for such commendable acts on the two occasions.

The state minister also directed that, in addition to the national level, the two days be observed with due solemnity at the district and upazila levels, as well as at Bangladesh missions abroad.

In addition, the state minister placed special emphasis on the swift introduction of a performance-based "grading system" for recruiting agencies to reduce fraud and ensure transparency.

The inter-ministerial meeting was attended by the ministry's secretary, Md Mokhtar Ahmed; Additional Secretary Ahmadul Haque; representatives of civil society; and officials from various related ministries.

International Migrants' Day is observed worldwide on December 18 each year, as designated by the United Nations. Separately, the Bangladesh government declared December 30 as 'National Expatriates' Day' in recognition of the contributions of overseas workers, which was first observed in 2023.