A Bangladeshi woman who went to the African nation Mauritius last year through a recruiting agency has filed a case  accusing the company of human trafficking. According to the case statement, the woman was taken to Fire Mount Textile Company in Mauritius after she reached there on February 5, 2020.  From then she started working as a helper there although the company didn’t pay her wages regularly. Md Shah Alam,43, a Bangladeshi man who used to run the worker’s canteen and his assistants Furkan, Siddique and Aslam used to threaten her as she refused the indecent proposal of the company’s owner through them. One day they took her to the owner Anil Kohli’s house saying he had complained against her. She was raped there by Anil Kohli and they captured footage of her. Later they raped her many times and forced her to have physical relationships with others, threatening to spread the video footage on social media. Also read: Trafficking Report: Bangladesh still on Tier 2 They even made her abort a child as she became pregnant at one point, she claimed in her statement. On December 28, 2020, the woman was sent back to Bangladesh with the condition of not filing any complaint against them and before that in November they recruited her father in her  place. Since she filed the complaint her father is being threatened by the perpetrators now, she said. According to her more than 600 Bangladeshi women work in that factory where Shah Alam, Furkan, Siddique, Aslam forcefully engage them in prostitution and the owner Anil Kohli oppresses them. After the news was broadcast in Bangladeshi and Mauritius news media the culprits are trying to convince her to solve the matter outside the court through different ways. Also read: Trafficking of 26 Bangladeshis killed in Libya: Bail of 4 accused suspended The woman filed the case with the help of the BRAC Migration program that helped her to recover from the traumatizing incident that happened with her. Head of the BRAC Migration program Shariful Hasan said the description the victim gave was grim. Sexually oppressing and engaging in forceful prostitution in the name of recruitment in a foreign country falls under human trafficking, he said. The Government of Mauritius and Bangladesh should jointly investigate the matter, if any other Bangladeshi immigrant worker is being oppressed like this, said Shariful Hasan.

Around 77% of the returnee migrants in Bangladesh were struggling to find jobs between April and November last year because of Covid-19 pandemic, says a study. Among the migrant households with returnees, 61% had at least one member who lost a job or earning opportunity during the pandemic. More than three-fourth (77%) of the marriages that took place in households during surveyed period had brides who were under the age of 18, which is 26% higher than the national rate of child marriage (51%) in 2018. Child marriages were found to be more prevalent in rural areas (81%) than in urban locations (70%). Read Bahrain urged to take back Bangladeshi expats These are the outcomes of a research jointly conducted by BRAC, UN WOMEN Bangladesh and the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. The research looks into the changes in demographic, economic, and social environments in secondary towns, peri-urban (upazila), and rural areas brought on by the reverse migrations during the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings of the research titled “Demographic and socio-economic changes induced by the Covid-19 pandemic: Challenges of new circumstances” was unveiled at a virtual policy dialogue on Saturday. A panel of distinguished experts, academics, policymakers, and development professionals shared their valuable insights at the dialogue. Also read: 70pc Bangladeshi returnee migrants struggling to find jobs: IOM They also discussed the policy priority areas identified by the study findings and way forward. Dr. Shamsul Alam, Member (Senior Secretary), General Economics Division, Planning Commission, attended the dialogue as the chief guest. Representatives from the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM), Dhaka University, the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, UN Women Bangladesh Office, UNDP Bangladesh, and BRAC joined as discussants. A survey was conducted with 6,370 households during 10-25 December 2020 as part of the study that applied both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Read Also: IOM supports Bangladesh's efforts at entry points to fight COVID-19 The survey considered April-November 2020 as a reference period. The study calls attention specifically to the impact of the Covid-19 on internal and international migration, including returnee migrants who were forced to return to their places of origin due to various circumstances during the pandemic. One-fourth (25%) of returnee migrant households are concerned over repaying their outstanding migration loans, which amount to an average of BDT 76,000 (around USD 900), and a maximum of BDT 700,000 (around USD 8300), the study found. Around 44% reported that they could not find any income-generating work and some of them are managing expenses by withdrawing from savings or using rent from assets. Read Govt to expats: Don't come during lockdown, except for emergencies