International Organization for Migration (IOM) is working to set up a series of codes of conduct for international recruitment agencies in a bid to ensure fair recruitment practices.

"There is a lot of illegal and corrupt recruitment of migrants. They go into debt bondage... but cannot recover in one or two

years of earning," said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing yesterday.

Migrants should not pay anything for recruitment. The companies, industries or firms, which are inviting them, should pay for them, he added.

The issue is of great importance for Bangladesh as some 80 lakh Bangladeshis work abroad, but high recruitment costs, involvement of middlemen, fraudulence of documents and exploitation of migrant workers in destination

countries are considered major problems in labour migration.

Lacy Swing was talking to reporters on the sideline of the ninth Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) that ends today.

Bangladesh is hosting the biggest international gathering on migration at the capital's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre,

which brought together ministers, UN and government officials, representatives of employers, and civil society members.

The IOM DG said they were working with International Labour Organization and International Organization of Employers to set up the codes of conduct for the recruitment agencies.

"Those who comply with the codes.. .would then be recognised so that migrants can go there, knowing that they would be recruited in a legal, proper fashion. And, those who are not subscribing to those.. .will then go actually out of business," he added.

Lacy Swing mentioned that IOM was also working with private companies to reduce the cost of sending remittance by the migrant workers. "If 15 percent of your hard-earned cash goes to the bank or firm, this is not right. It has to change. “

IOM has an arrangement with Universal Postal Union in Switzerland and is working to reduce the cost of sending remittance under two projects in Africa where the remittance sending cost is very high.

"The goal is to reduce the cost of sending money below 5 percent, preferably below 3 percent," he informed.

Asked if there is any scope for international organisations to work for stopping the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, Lacy Swing said they were helping on humanitarian grounds both in Myanmar and Bangladesh, and in other countries to support all people who are at stake. "We are a humanitarian organisation and it wouldn't be appropriate to get involved in the political aspect of it [ Rohingya crisis]."

Earlier, on December 5, IOM said around 21,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh in recent weeks to escape violence in Myanmar.