No Remittance Is Worth a Woman’s Safety and Dignity

Bangladesh must place the safety, rights and dignity of its migrant workers above recruitment targets and foreign-exchange earnings. Women who leave their families to work abroad deserve decent employment, fair wages and effective protection. When employment exposes them to confinement, physical assault, sexual violence or forced labour, the government must act decisively. It would be unfair to describe all Saudis, Kuwaitis or Arab people as cruel, or to suggest that every household mistreats its employees. The concern is the documented conduct of abusive employers and recruiters, together with systems that give employers excessive power and leave vulnerable workers struggling to obtain justice. Holding governments accountable for these failures is both legitimate and necessary.

For many Bangladeshi women, migration begins with a reasonable ambition: educating their children, supporting elderly parents, repaying debts or building a secure home. Domestic work is respectable work. The injustice begins when employers treat the purchase of someone’s labour as ownership of the person. The scale of domestic employment in Saudi Arabia makes this a major public-policy issue. In June 2025, Human Rights Watch and other organisations highlighted the contribution of approximately four million migrant domestic workers, including 1.2 million women. Their work sustains households and enables other members of society to participate in paid employment. Their protection should therefore be central to economic development.

Bangladesh has faced warnings for years. A March 2019 Reuters report, citing BRAC, stated that approximately 1,300 women had returned from Saudi Arabia during 2018 reporting torture or exploitation. The report also recorded official acknowledgement that Bangladesh lacked a comprehensive system for counting returning migrants. These historical figures should not be presented as current totals, but they demonstrate how long the warning signs have been visible. 

The underlying problem extends beyond individual misconduct. Under the kafala sponsorship system and related immigration arrangements, workers’ legal status remains closely connected to employers. Amnesty’s 2026 findings emphasised that domestic workers have not benefited from many reforms available to other migrant workers and that important elements of employer control remain. A worker whose income, accommodation and immigration position depend on one household faces formidable obstacles when trying to report that household. Class prejudice and racial discrimination compound this dependence. Earlier Human Rights Watch research also identified recruitment practices that differentiated domestic workers’ salaries by nationality rather than skills and experience. Such practices encourage a hierarchy in which poorer workers are treated as less deserving of respect. The proper response is to challenge discriminatory conduct and employment structures, without attributing one attitude to an entire population. 

Kuwait also requires serious scrutiny. Its 2015 domestic-workers legislation introduced important rights, including a weekly day off, 30 days of paid annual leave and a maximum 12-hour working day with rest. These provisions represented progress, although they differed from the protections afforded to private-sector workers. Legislation must be judged by whether workers can claim their rights, leave dangerous employment and obtain remedies. In September 2025, Human Rights Watch welcomed Kuwait’s acceptance of recommendations that included replacing the kafala system with residence permits for domestic workers. Acceptance is a commitment, however, rather than proof of implementation. Bangladesh should demand evidence of practical protection before approving further vulnerable placements. 

Saudi Arabia’s criminal-justice practices raise an additional concern for migrant protection. Human Rights Watch reported at least 356 executions in 2025 and 345 in 2024. Citing Reprieve and the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, it stated that 240 people executed in 2025 had been convicted of nonlethal drug-related offences, including 188 foreign nationals. These figures concern executions overall; they should not be described as a count of beheadings or domestic-worker cases. Reports of unfair trials and torture must also be treated seriously. Amnesty has highlighted the additional difficulties foreign defendants face in obtaining fair proceedings. It would be inaccurate to assert that every conviction follows an inadequate investigation, but an irreversible punishment demands exceptional scrutiny. Bangladesh should ensure that detained citizens promptly receive consular assistance, competent lawyers, interpretation and opportunities to challenge evidence. Religious terminology cannot substitute for evidence, fair proceedings or accountability. 

There have been reforms that deserve acknowledgement. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced mandatory electronic wage transfers for all domestic-worker employers from 1 January 2026. In responding to Amnesty’s July 2026 findings, Saudi authorities also pointed to standard contracts, insurance, complaints mechanisms and opportunities to change employers following abuse or regulatory breaches. These measures should be assessed through transparent results: wages recovered, workers rescued, complaints resolved and offenders held accountable.

Reopening domestic-worker recruitment should require measurable safeguards. Workers must retain their passports and telephones, receive wages directly into accounts they control, enjoy enforceable rest periods and have confidential access to assistance. They must be able to leave abusive employment without being forced back to the same household. Bilateral arrangements should provide emergency accommodation, legal representation, medical care, safe repatriation and recovery of unpaid wages.

Bangladesh must also strengthen its own accountability. Recruitment agencies and intermediaries should face investigation and meaningful penalties for deception, unlawful charges, contract substitution and knowingly sending women to dangerous employers. Training a worker cannot compensate for failing to investigate the people recruiting and employing her. Embassies need adequately staffed labour wings, Bengali-speaking assistance, female protection officers and emergency funds. Serious complaints should trigger immediate risk assessment and action. Returning a woman home is only the beginning: survivors may need treatment, counselling, legal assistance, debt relief and help finding employment. Sexual violence never diminishes a survivor’s dignity; the disgrace belongs to the perpetrator.

The government should publish reliable and privacy-protecting data on deployments, complaints, emergency returns, deaths, compensation and case outcomes. It should also invest in safer employment opportunities at home and abroad so that poverty does not force women to choose between danger and destitution. Bangladesh can maintain respectful relations with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait while insisting on protection for its citizens. Friendship between states must include the ability to raise difficult questions and demand remedies. Where minimum safeguards cannot be demonstrated, and recruitment should remain suspended. No employment market should be considered indispensable at the cost of a worker’s life, freedom or dignity.

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