ISLAMABAD: The country’s first-ever Migrant Resource Centre (MRC), after running a successful pilot project in the federal capital, will expand its offices in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh, under a four-year project.
The centre was established in October 2015, by the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (MOPHRD), with the support of International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).
The centre was established to ensure welfare and protection of the migrant workers, through providing them accurate and timely information on safe and legal migration.
Talking to the APP, the MRC Coordinator Shahid Naveed said that the centre had arranged a number of activities including conferences and training activities, for the intending migrants, and also conducted successful media campaigns on safe and legal migration.
He said that the MRC would establish 10 offices in Punjab; two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Sindh.
The coordinator said that over nine million Pakistanis had proceeded abroad for employment since 1971, and most of them went to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
A majority of them were low skilled workers, who lacked information on safe migration, and lacked access to support mechanisms and justice, adding to their vulnerabilities. Thus, they faced exploitation and abuse during the recruitment and employment process.
He said that the main purpose of the MRC was to provide accurate and timely information on safe and legal migration, referral and counselling, as well as raising awareness of irregular migration and the associated risks.
He said that Pakistan had a long history of labour migration to the Middle East, and was the second largest labour sending country (after India) in the South Asia.
During the periods 1971 to 2015, more than eight million Pakistanis had officially proceeded abroad for employment. Out of this grand total, about 96 per cent proceeded to the six GCC member states – the key destinations being the Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Among all the emigrants from the country in the year 2015, 41 per cent were skilled, 16 per cent were semi-skilled and 40 per cent were unskilled.
The migrants bring substantial benefits – like remittances to the origin countries, and human capital to the destination countries- but unfortunately, the official channels for migration have failed to distribute the benefits equitably among employers, intermediaries and workers, he elaborated.
