Bangladesh needs Center of Excellence on Migration Studies*

Migration has always featured prominently in Bangladesh's socio-economic scene and it is gaining more significance with the matter of climate change; this calls for an institution to ensure best benefits from the issue

Dr. Uttam Kumar Das writes from Minneapolis, USA

The migration sector in Bangladesh needs streamlining. Its potentiality and prospective benefits for the country depend how the sector is managed and planned. There is a lot to do in terms of administrative, policy, legal and judicial intervention to get full and sustainable benefit out of the migration sector.

We can not sit idle. Given the situation of global warming and the rising sea level, migration of our population could be a vital way of bailing out.

The big question is, however, how will it be strategized and who will do the job? Is there any institution in place for this purpose? The answer is in the negative.

I devote this piece arguing for a dedicated institution on migration issues in Bangladesh which will be a center of excellence in research, education and training on migration solely. We don’t need such an institute just for the sake of a name. There are too many such commissions now struggling to survive. We don't need such an institution merely to increase the number of such bodies. Seriously speaking, we need an institution which will really work.

There is no denial of the importance of authentic research in planning policies and setting strategies. However, that research has to be innovative and practical oriented.

From my experience, I have seen that the government is doing this on an ad hoc basis: by the official from the related ministries and departments who may not have related expertise and professional skills (which is why such research hardly brings any outcome), or through consultants hired or funded by certain donor agencies. These are short-sighted indeed, and don’t serve the purpose of the country.

There are few non-governmental organizations as well (run by academics mostly). However, these are short-sighted too and their purposes are donor-driven since they depend heavily on outside funding. There is also lack of professional personnel, infrastructure, continuity and follow-ups in their efforts.

For example, there may be huge immigration opportunity for professionals or low-skilled laborers in the United States in coming years, given Mexico; the major country of origin for U.S. immigrants is going to stop its people to move overseas by next 10 to 15 years. This may bring a huge potentiality for Bangladesh’s overseas job market. But who will assess the demand of manpower market there, required skills, and other related matters?

Also given the multi-facet dimensions of migration the proposed institution will have different departments: professional or skill migration, labour migration, climate refugees, forced migration etc.

The center should have expertise on different dynamics of migration: diplomacy, foreign relations, strategic, economic and finance, remittance and banking, skill training, policy, law and human rights, migration studies and research (aimed to higher degrees), conference and seminars, training component, publications and public relations etc. Its motto will be independence, professionalism, accountability, and service to the nation.

It will have partnering centers at different public and private universities and liaison with similar institutions abroad.

Question may arise as to how the funding will come in for such an institution. The initial funding may be sought from international donor agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Development Fund, and International Organization for Migration (IOM).

IOM has supported similar institutions in few countries.

Also, the government can spend a portion of funding from the foreign exchanges earned by the migrants. In 2008, it was a record US$ 9.6 billion. Given the misappropriation of funding from the wage earners’ fund, financial support to the proposed center would be a worthy investment.

In this regard, there is the example of Indian Center for Development Studies (CDS) in Trivandrum. CDS is an autonomous research and teaching institution. It has a 15-member governing body consisting of eminent scholars from various disciplines.

CDS has its funding partially from the government. It heavily depends on its earning from various projects and programmses and endowment funds.

CDS has been running M.Phil and Ph.D. programs under the Jawaharlal Nehru University since 1975.

The writer is an Advocate in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, and presently affiliated with the Human Rights Center and Law School, University of Minnesota, U.S.A. as a Humphrey Fellow (Fulbright Scholar). Formerly, he worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) as a Legal and Human Rights Expert. E-mail: udas1971@yahoo.com.

**Published in the PROBE News Magazine (Dhaka, Bangladesh), December 18, 2009- January 28, 2010; link: http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=5738.