Gulf Social Protection Reforms Present New Opportunities for Bangladeshi Migrant Workers

Labour migration is crucial for Bangladesh’s economic development, being a significant source of employment and the second most important source of foreign exchange for the country.

Recent reforms in social protection systems in the Gulf following COVID-19 are creating new opportunities for worker-sending countries like Bangladesh to enhance social protection for migrant workers.

“The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are increasingly moving away from employer-funded social protection to the use of social insurance funds. Reforms such as the one recently adopted by Oman are revolutionary and offer a new window of opportunity for sending countries to engage on better social protection on behalf of their workers,” said Luca Pellerano, Senior Social Protection Specialist for the ILO in the Arab States.

Pellerano presented research findings at a workshop organized by the ILO Country Office in Dhaka, highlighting that several Gulf countries are reforming their social protection regimes. This shift provides opportunities for South Asian countries to negotiate better protections for their workers. The workshop focused on exploring social protection options for Bangladeshi migrant workers both at home and abroad.

Participants discussed leveraging national schemes like pensions and social assistance to support returnees and negotiating with destination countries to provide social security coverage for health, maternity, and employment injury for migrant workers.

“Social protection for migrant workers is one of the least discussed issues when we speak about labour migration and re-integration governance. Quality employment comes with social protection,” said Tuomo Poutiainen, ILO Country Director for Bangladesh. He called for the inclusion of migrant workers in the social security strategy that the Bangladeshi government will soon start revising.

Labour migration is crucial for Bangladesh’s economic development, being a significant source of employment and the second most important source of foreign exchange for the country.

Vulnerable in "3-D" Jobs

“Social protection is a human right enshrined in various international human and labour rights conventions that should be extended to migrant workers,” said Pankaj Nath MP, a member of the Bangladesh Parliamentary Caucus on Migration and Development. “We are keen to learn about existing options for improving social protection for migrant workers.”

ILO experts emphasized the potential of Bangladesh’s bilateral agreements with various destination countries to provide social protection benefits such as health and maternity, employment injury, and unemployment insurance for migrant workers. Currently, Bangladesh has at least 18 bilateral labour migration agreements, but none include provisions for social protection.

With support from Switzerland, the ILO will develop a new program to extend social protection to migrant workers across the GCC-South Asian migration corridor in line with international labour standards. In Bangladesh, the project will support the inclusion of migrant workers in existing national social protection schemes, consolidate social protection schemes for migrant workers, and enhance dialogue with destination countries to improve access to legally established social protection entitlements.

“Migrant workers are extremely vulnerable to exploitation as they often find themselves working in what we call the 3-D jobs: dirty, demeaning, and dangerous jobs, making social protection extremely important,” said Nazia Haider, Programme Manager at the Embassy of Switzerland in Dhaka.

Switzerland is committed to ensuring that social protection becomes a reality for all migrant workers, especially through cross-boundary collaboration and initiatives.

The dialogue was organized by the ILO in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh under the ‘Reintegration for Migrant Workers Project,’ supported by Switzerland.