Irregular migration from Bangladesh, especially to European countries, the Middle East, and Malaysia, has increased significantly as the authorities concerned have failed to bring the rackets involved in the process to book.

Migration experts said that irregular migration caused the deaths of many workers on their way, while many faced detention, financial losses, and suffering and returned home.

They said that in terms of irregular migration, Europe remained the top destination, while the Middle East, Malaysia, China, and the USA were also among the destinations.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, commonly known as Frontex, reported that it had detected at least 33,7008 entries from Bangladesh to European Union countries in 2023, up from 30,5960 in 2022 and 19,2881 in 2021.

The European Union calls the movement of persons to a new place of residence or transit that takes place outside the regulatory norms of the sending, transit, and receiving countries irregular migration.

CR Abrar, executive director of the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, observed that irregular migration had increased because the rackets involved in the process did not face any punishment even after repeated offences.

He said that many people who seek irregular migration become victims of human trafficking.

‘When people are unemployed and search for jobs, it is easy to provoke them,’ he said.

He said that destination countries were partly responsible for the situation, as they do not allow legal migration despite having a demand for manpower.

He added that these countries accept irregular migrants to exploit them.

The Frontex report showed that Bangladesh is one of the top countries from which a significant number of people embark on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.

Sector insiders said that Bangladeshis mostly travel to the UAE and then Egypt and Libya before trying to enter Italy.

Mostofa Jamil Khan, director of the welfare wing of the foreign ministry, said that since July 2023, at least 1,390 migrants who were trying to go to Italy by crossing the Mediterranean Sea, had been sent back home.

At the latest, on February 23, the government brought back a group of 144 Bangladeshi migrants who were detained in different areas of Benghazi, Libya.

Jamil said that several thousand others who failed to cross the sea to reach Europe remained detained in Libyan jails.

A study conducted by the non-profit BRAC between January and June 2023 on 557 returnees found that people aged between 31 and 35 mostly try to enter Europe irregularly. Most of them are from Madaripur, Shariatpur, Faridpur, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Munshiganj, Noakhali, Brahmanbaria, and Cumilla districts.

Twenty-two-year-old Rakib Khan, son of Badsha Khan, a resident of Faridpur, decided to migrate for a livelihood.

One of his uncles, Habibur Rahman Bepary, offered him to migrate to Italy, paying Tk 10 lakh to middleman Md Mukul, who sent Habib’s two sons to the country earlier.

Mukul explained to Rakib that he needed to go to Italy via Dubai, Egypt, Benghazi, Tripoli, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Rakib had to pay Tk 26 lakh for the purpose, but he failed to reach Italy.

Detained in Libya, he was repatriated to Bangladesh with the help of the International Organization for Migration, along with hundreds of others.

According to the IOM, over 3,000 migrants died or went missing while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from various countries to Europe in 2023 and a significant number of them are from Bangladesh.

On February 15, at least nine people, including eight Bangladeshis, died when a boat carrying 52 migrants of different nationalities to Europe sank in the sea off the Tunisian coast following a fire accident.

BRAC migration programme head Shariful Hasan said that presently European countries, mainly Italy, remained the main targets of irregular migrants, while Malaysia became another vital route for irregular migrants following the reopening of job markers in the country in August 2022.

He said that irregular migration to Malaysia from Bangladesh had increased recently due to the syndicated recruitment policies of both governments.

Migrants in Malaysia said that several thousand migrants who went to the country failed to manage a job even six months after their arrival.

They said that many workers were engaged in forced labour while many were passing their days half-fed.

Syed Shariful Islam, a labour councillor in Malaysia, said that they were trying to manage jobs for workers who were yet to get jobs.

Family members of migrants in Malaysia held a demonstration before the office of the police superintendent in Meherpur on February 28.

They said that the recruiting agency Musa International took at least 50 people from the same area in the Gangni upazila of the district to Malaysia, but they were not given jobs even after four months.

Relatives of the victims demanded justice.

Mohammad Musa Karim, proprietor of the agency, did not receive phone calls or replied to messages.

A press release from the Malaysian government on February 26 said that they would take action against recruiters in Cheras who hired 93 Bangladeshi workers but did not give them jobs.

Migration experts said that many migrants were compelled to return home untimely after illegally reaching the country. Many of them returned with an out-pass.

Wage Earners’ Welfare Board statistics showed that some 86,621 people returned with out-passes in 2023 from different countries.

Shakirul Islam, chairman of the Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program, said that until recruiting or travel agencies and middlemen involved with unsafe migration were punished for illegal migration, the trend would continue.

He also asked people to verify their recruiting agents.

WEWB’s welfare desk statistics at Dhaka airport showed that between July 2022 and June 2023, at least 102,833 workers returned home with an out-pass, including 71,907 from Saudi Arabia and 4,268 from Malaysia.

Shameem Ahmed Chowdhury Noman, former Secretary General of the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies, said that government agencies were also involved in the recruitment process.

‘If any problem arises, all blame goes to recruiting agencies. For safe migration, the government’s accountability is a must,’ Noman, now an executive committee member of BAIRA, said.