Young Bangladeshis take illegal, precarious journey to Europe

Limited opportunities at home and shrinking international job markets are enticing some Bangladeshi young people into wading through unsolicited migration abroad, especially to Europe, migration experts said.

the brokers guide these ambitious folks to take extremely dangerous ways to some destinations, like Italy, a few of them get lucky to intrude. The brokers then publicise this among potential other illegal migrants as ‘success’ only to lure more people, experts said.

This is how local brokers or middlemen motivate other migrants to risk their lives through the dark migration process, they observed.

Falling prey to transnational human traffickers, such Bangladeshi migrant workers often become victims of physical tortures, forced to pay ransom and often lose lives on their way.

“Due to lack of proper guidance from family, community and the state, the country’s youths especially the educated unemployed ones become desperate to risk their lives to find fortune anyhow,” said Film4Peace foundation executive director Pervez Siddiqui.

He said the government of Bangladesh should take immediate measures to build partnership with the private entrepreneurs to create more job opportunities for these youths.

“Every year at least $ 4 billion, out of $ 24 billion remittance sent by migrant workers, should be spent on caring and grooming the country’s huge young population. Such great jobs could be done under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects to get effective results,” he told Business Insider Bangladesh.

Recently, the Libyan coast guards rescued and detained 439 migrants, including 164 Bangladeshis, from the Mediterranean Sea as they were voyaging to Europe.

When contacted, officials of the Bangladesh mission in Libya and Italy have confirmed it to Business Insider Bangladesh, quoting media reports.

There was no specific number of how many Bangladeshi migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea from African coast or died on their way to enter Europe through land borders.

However, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the death of migrant workers in the Mediterranean Sea is rising this year.

At least 813 migrants’ deaths were recorded in the Mediterranean Sea from January to June 14, 2021, IOM report. Last year at least 363 migrants died while crossing that sea, IOM added.

A Madaripur man who nonchalantly approved of his only son’s precarious journey to get into Italy told Business Insider Bangladesh that his son was stranded in Tunisia after being rescued from a sunken boat.

He said two young men hailing from Madaripur district had gone missing in their aborted journey.

“Though it is a highly hazardous journey, my son would soon be given another chance to cross the Mediterranean Sea,” the father said, while responding to a question.

The father paid Tk 800,000 ($9,435) to a local broker who promised him of sending his son to Italy.

On March 2, 2021, Rabi left his village home to fly to Dubai. From Dubai, he boarded the Libya-bound flight. Finally, he landed at Benghazi airport in Libya.

According to available data compiled by Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Europe, 4,510 irregular Bangladeshi nationals arrived in Italy, Malta, Spain or Greece in 2020, by boat and other means of transportations..

The highest share of Bangladeshi nationals was registered in Italy (92% of the total arrivals by land and by sea).

Additionally, 8,844 Bangladeshi nationals were tracked while trespassing through the Western Balkan (WB) countries during the same year.