Headlines
Bangladesh may punish illegal migrants repatriated from SE Asia
Dhaka, May 25
Bangladesh Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina has called for strict punishment to migrants, who
illegally leave Bangladesh and set out towards Southeast Asia by sea,
and the human-traffickers who assist them, media reported on Monday.
"They
are tainting the image of our country on the international stage, and
putting their own lives in danger," Hasina told a meeting with senior
officials of the labour and employment ministry on Sunday, according to
reports by national news agencies.
"I think such an unlawful
trend might be stopped if the fortune-seekers who are leaving the
country illegally are punished side-by-side with the middlemen," she
said.
Hasina directed the ministry to conduct public information
campaigns targeting potential illegal immigrants, "so they don't feel
the need to give money to the middlemen to go abroad illegally seeking
work, so they don't fall into this trap".
The Bangladeshi prime
minister claimed that her government has implemented several initiatives
to improve the well-being of potential illegal immigrants and regretted
that, despite this, some still opt for an "uncertain journey".
"Why
are they going? It is not correct that all of them are doing this
because of poverty. It seems as though they are running after the golden
deer, they think a lot of money can be earned abroad. This is a sort of
mental illness. They could have led a comfortable life and found better
jobs here," she added.
Some 3,000 illegal migrants, including
Rohingyas -- a Muslim minority fleeing persecution in Myanmar -- and
Bangladeshis, fleeing poverty at home, have landed in Malaysia,
Indonesia and Thailand in the past two weeks.
A crisis was
triggered in early May when Thailand, the first stop for illegal
migrants on their way to Southeast Asia, launched a campaign to
undermine human-trafficking there.
Hasina's statements are the
strongest made by Bangladesh, source of many of the illegal migrants,
since the beginning of the crisis.
Around 30,000 Rohingya
refugees reside in Bangladesh, as do tens of thousands of others who do
not have refugee status there and are thus not legally permitted to seek
work, nor access education or the justice system.