Nearly all Bangladeshi migrants who leave areas hit hard by climate change to seek work in other parts of the country or overseas in Gulf States are subject to forms of forced labour, researchers have found.
Workers who have lost their homes or livelihoods to intensifying climate impacts such as cyclones or floods resort to migration to survive – but often end up trapped in exploitation in a vicious cycle of vulnerabilities, the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) warned in a paper published on Tuesday.
“Modern slavery is a not a direct impact of climate change, it is a cost of inaction,” Ritu Bharadwaj, an IIED principal researcher and co-author of the paper, told an event presenting the findings. The lack of climate-resilient infrastructure and social safety nets is driving climate victims to leave their homes in a state of distress, making them more likely to fall into exploitative situations, she explained.
Bangladesh is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries.
Extreme weather events that can cause disasters have increased from an average of four per year between 1960 and 1990 to seven per year between 1991 and 2022, according to analysis by the London-based think-tank.
More frequent flash floods, creeping sea-level rise and salinity intrusion into farmlands and fresh water sources are displacing people repeatedly and leaving them without viable ways to make a living. Many households with little income and weak social safety nets “are forced to sell what they have and move away from home as a last resort to support their families”, said Bharadwaj.
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IIED carried out dozens of interviews and surveyed nearly 650 households in the district of Sylhet in northeast Bangladesh and the coastal district of Pirojpur.
Of these, 70% reported that at least one member of the family had left to find work elsewhere in the country or travelled overseas to Gulf countries.
A life “gamble”
Of those that migrated internally, 92% said they experienced at least one of the 11 criteria of forced labour defined by the International Labour Organization, which include withholding of wages, physical violence, restricted movement and debt bondage. More than half experienced three or more of these indicators. Agricultural, garment and construction workers were among the worst-affected.
Virtually all migrants who went overseas to seek work reported having experienced at least one form of modern slavery. Two-thirds had been subject to six or more, often involving threats, intimidation, physical violence, or abusive living and working conditions.
Those migrating overseas, often at significant cost to themselves, “gamble” on improving their living conditions but become trapped in modern slavery, knowing they have nothing to come back to in Bangladesh, Bharadwaj told Climate Home News, describing a downward spiral of climate impacts, losses, debt and exploitation.
Displacement crisis
Bangladesh is facing a worsening migration crisis exacerbated by climate change. Sea level rise is increasingly making some low-lying areas uninhabitable, and migration is at times inevitable as climate impacts compound socio-economic vulnerabilities and drive people to move, said Bharadwaj.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people, including many from low-lying areas, migrate to the capital Dhaka. In the last decade, disasters have displaced millions inside the country, at least temporarily.
By 2050, the World Bank estimates that up to 19.9 million people may be internally displaced in Bangladesh due to climate change.
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“There is this idea that Bangladesh has always been a migrant society. But that’s not true,” said Bharadwaj, adding that the survey showed most people started to move in the last 15 years as climate change impacts intensified.
It also found that households most exposed to climate-induced shocks such as crop losses, livestock losses and damage to homes were 161% more likely to migrate within Bangladesh and 214% more likely to migrate internationally.
A form of loss and damage
“When migration happens under distressing conditions without choice or proper safeguards, the risk of exploitation and modern slavery increases significantly,” said Chiara Soletti, climate change advocacy manager at NGO Anti-Slavery International.
“These forms of modern slavery often arise due to a combination of factors, including lack of global support systems and safety nets to help people recover from climate shocks, few alternative incomes opportunities… the absence of safe migration pathways and inadequate human rights protection through the migration route,” she said.
Bharadwaj said modern slavery should be counted among the non-economic losses and damages caused by climate change – a topic of growing importance at UN climate talks – as it strips people of their dignity and violates their human rights.
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IIED called for increasing social protection in Bangladesh before, during and after people migrate. Measures that could reduce the need for people to pack up and go include investing in climate-resilient infrastructure, setting up skills programmes that help diversify incomes, and rolling out anticipatory cash transfers and food aid before disasters hit.
Meanwhile, for those who do leave home, there is a need to create safer migration routes, the experts said. They recommended formalising and regulating the middlemen who arrange jobs overseas, informing people of their rights and setting up migration helplines in the Gulf States.
International climate funds could help expand social protection measures to address migration in Bangladesh, said Hafij Khan, a Bangladeshi climate negotiator for the Least Developed Countries Group.
But first, he said, the government should develop a better understanding of the most effective ways to support communities across the country. While the IIED’s research is a first step, “we need to have clear data on who is displaced, who are the migrants, so we can identify the social protection need of the communities,” he added.
