Workers from Balochistan, Punjab and rural Sindh are not going abroad for jobs as much as their brethren in other parts of the country, according to Dr Sabur Ghayyur, Chairman Planning Cell, Labour Ministry.
He was speaking at a briefing session held on the Significance and Issues of Overseas Pakistani Workers organised on Thursday by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat). Ghayyur is also writing a new comprehensive policy to govern the terms and conditions on Pakistani immigrants going abroad.
The Pildat executive director Bilal Mahboob gave examples of questions filed by lawmakers both in the National Assembly and the Senate on the issue. He pointed out instances of Pakistani workers dying during their search for employment abroad or being accused of illegal entry and then deported. He also mentioned illegal recruiting agencies that exploit immigrant workers during recruitment.
Pildat also invited MNA Farzana Raja and Senator Tariq Azeem to give their input on the ramification of these problems. Also discussing the problem were Dr Ghayyur, Dr GM Arif the dean for Development Studies, at Quaid i Azam University, Zia Awan, the president of Lawyers for Human Rights, Zaigham Khan, and Ellie Larson the executive director of the American Centre for International Labour Solidarity.
They discussed appropriate terms and conditions for workers going abroad. They felt the need for effective legislation to get rid of abuses in the recruitment trade.
It was disclosed that four million Pakistani's are abroad and roughly 300,000 workers go abroad, annually. They usually go to Saudi Arabia, other Gulf Countries, and the USA to seek better fortunes and send remittances worth US $6 billion.
In addition to Azad Kashmir, Pakistani workers who are able to secure overseas jobs are generally from Karachi and upper Punjab with a small complement of workers from the NWFP as well. Very few workers go from the rest of the nation. To reduce poverty, there must be better geographical equality, to include substantial numbers of people from those regions
A need was felt by the discussants to gather an accurate database of emigrant populations. Some Pakistanis settle down in the UK and the USA without the Pakistani government being aware, showing the need for better record keeping.
With the prospect of intensive labour markets opening up in Japan, Korea and Malaysia, for Pakistanis - particularly in the construction sector - the need was also stressed to garner data about educational qualifications as well.
Lawyer Zia Awan painted a macabre picture of Pakistani immigrants, and said that desperation caused unskilled Pakistani workers to break immigration. Even those who enter a country legally become illegal by overstaying their visas he added.
He said Pakistan had bad image for trafficking because a number of illegal traffickers pass through it. In this context, he referred to the thousands of Bengali girls brought to Pakistan and forced to work as sex workers.
He also drew attention to the UN Convention on Rights of Immigrant Workers which must be followed by the government at home, particularly in regard to HIV, and a check should be done on workers when they leave the country and when they returned.
Zafar Khan, a participant in the briefing session from Swabi, expressed his dissatisfaction with the work of the Overseas Employment Corporation as well as the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation who were tasked with the welfare of Pakistani immigrant workers. He said that not one skill training centre or a POF School was in existence in his district.
Ellie Larson said all parties, including workers, employers and governments sending and receiving workers must keep channels of communication open and also undertake positive approaches to adopt transparency and openness, improving condition of migrant workers. She advocated that every country should implement international rules and convention as a means for reducing conflicts. "Each country has an obligation to build good environment because the host country receives advantages from guest workers," Larson observed.
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