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UN calls for probe into the deaths of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Qatar

COUNTRIES where Bangladeshi migrant workers are employed, including recent football World Cup host Qatar, should thoroughly investigate all cases of deaths and human rights violations, a United Nations expert said on Tuesday.

Asked about the reported deaths of at least 450 Bangladeshi workers involved in construction projects in Qatar, including stadiums used for the World Cup, UN special rapporteur for the human rights of migrants Felipe Gonzalez Morales said that the destination country should deal with any deaths to uphold the rights of workers.

Mr Morales said: “The deaths connected to the World Cup in Qatar has been addressed by my mandate. We have sent a number of communications to Qatar. 

He said that the destination countries for Bangladeshis “should investigate and prevent, investigate and sanction all the human rights violations, particularly deaths that have occurred in many cases.”

Separately, Bangladesh’s High Court on Monday asked the government to provide a list of about 450 Bangladeshi workers who reportedly died in Qatar between 2010 and 2022 while they were engaged in building infrastructure, including stadiums.

The High Court ruled in response to a petition that the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates’ Welfare must submit a report within four weeks about the dead workers and whether their families have been compensated. 

The petition said that the workers who died were treated “inhumanely” in Qatar and sought the court’s intervention.

Mr Morales also recommended that Bangladesh do more to ensure the rights of its migrant workers.

More than 10 million Bangladeshis live abroad, most of them employed in Middle Eastern nations including Saudi Arabia.

Mr Morales said that he had also visited refugee camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district which house more than one million minority Rohingya who fled from persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.

“It’s true that there are security concerns. I think it is a tremendous challenge to address the situation of almost one million people living in those overcrowded conditions. 

“I think it’s very important to have advances in terms of having different types of initiatives for the Rohingya there, including the provision of training of different skills to improve their education so they can have more normal lives.” he said.

Of the more than one million Rohingya refugees, about 740,000 crossed the border starting in August 2017 when Myanmar’s military launched a “clearance operation” against them following attacks by a rebel group. 

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