The Bangladesh Migrant Centre (BMC) is the only organisation of Bangladeshi migrant workers that is operational both in Bangladesh as well as in a receiving country, South Korea. BMC was established in South Korea several years ago in the industrial city of Ansan. It aims to provide support to the Bangladeshi migrant workers in Korea. It has been engaged in monitoring treatment of Bangladeshi workers in Korea. Its major concern has been to ensure that workers are treated on the basis of Labour Law, Labour Standard Law, Labour Protection Law and human rights law in Korea. BMC has close affiliations with the Joint Committee of Migrant Workers in Korea (JCMK) and the Ansan Migrant Shelter (AMS). The BMC of Korea has been engaged in (a) labour counselling on matters such as immigration, migrant policy, unpaid salary, industrial accidents and so on; (b) facilitating the retrenched to get food and shelter at the Ansan Migrant Shelter and treatment for the injured migrants through Ansan Doctor's Association, (c) organising training courses on Korean language and worker rights campaign with the help of the students of Hang Yang University; (d) organising cultural activities (musical soirees, games, movies, picnics) and sight-seeing tours for the workers and (e) undertaking policy research on the problems and prospects of migrant workers in Korea. The BMC office in Bangladesh began functioning in 1998. It has undertaken a project to develop a database of 3,000 returnee migrant workers from Korea. The database involves gathering information on name, address, passport number, duration of stay in Korea, address in Korea, job details, name of the company/factory, working skills and duration, other experiences and skills and whether the person concerned was interested to work in Bangladesh. So far the organisation has been able to establish contacts with 500 returnees. The database is to facilitate recruitment of the returnee workers in the Korean companies in the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) in Bangladesh. BMC officials, being fluent in Korean language, have been successful in developing good liaison with the Korean companies here. They have managed the recruitment of some returnee workers in Korean International Co-operation agency and Korea Bangladesh Friendship Hospital. BMC also plans to engage itself in a sustained campaign for the protection and promotion of Bangladeshi migrant workers. It also demands that the Bangladesh government ratify the international instruments for the protection of migrant workers.
Address: Bangladesh Migrant Centre
57, Basabo (Kadamtola)
Dhaka - 1214
Tel: 880-2-7200204