Urgent Action Update: Bangladesh Detains More Migrant Workers (Bangladesh: UA 131.20)

TAKE ACTION:

1. Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
2. Click here to let us know the actions you took on Urgent Action 131.20. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.

CONTACT INFORMATION

SAMPLE LETTER

Honorable Minister Khan,

I am gravely concerned by the repeated arrests of returning migrant workers in Bangladesh. The arbitrary detention of 32 returning migrant workers from Syria on 28 September 2020 takes the number of such detention of migrant workers from countries including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Vietnam to at least 370 since July this year. In each case, the police accused them of “tarnishing the image of the country” by engaging in criminal activities abroad. Dhaka’s magistrate court has granted police requests to detain the workers until the police can determine their offense, even without requiring any specific allegation or evidence against them.

The arrest and detention of these workers in the absence of any credible evidence of any criminal activity committed on Bangladeshi territory violate Bangladesh’s commitment to international human rights law including Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which prohibits arbitrary arrest or detention and protects everyone’s right to liberty. This is not only a clear violation of their human rights but fails to acknowledge that migrant workers are the lifeblood of Bangladesh’s economy which has earned $18.2 billion in remittances in the fiscal year 2019-20. Such ill-treatment of these workers is an injustice to their hard work and labor and tarnishes your own government’s image.

I urge your government to either immediately charge each of the workers with a recognizable criminal offense under Bangladeshi law while ensuring the necessary due process or release them in line with your government’s obligations under international human rights law.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

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