The revelation, published yesterday by Arab News, that the bodies of at least 98 Bangladeshi workers have not been allowed home for burial because of red tape and are still lying in morgues across the Kingdom, in some cases for more than six months, is deeply shocking. Even in death, bureaucracy is merciless.
In most cases, it appears that the delay is due to complex and time-consuming formalities, be it the need to ensure that there are no financial claims on a dead person or be it that blood money is delayed. There is something deeply unsavory about this. The pain of the grieving families back home at losing a father or a son is being needlessly prolonged and made worse by official tardiness in processing the necessary paperwork. There is a human dimension here. Fathers are crying out to bury their sons, widows their husbands, children their fathers — but they cannot, all because of red tape.
This is not just a Bangladeshi issue. It touches every expat worker working here. We should act to ease matters, even when the fault lies elsewhere. These people worked here; in their own way they contributed to the Kingdom’s growth and development — often for very little reward. We cannot turn our backs as if they never existed.
The very idea that that the financial claims of a dead person cannot be settled if the body is buried or sent back home is profoundly disturbing. It is the families back home that are hit, at the very time they are least able to cope. Moreover, it hits the poor hardest. What happens if the family does not have the means to repay debts or to employ legal services or generally deal with the matter? The result, as we see, is their loved one’s body staying in a morgue thousands of kilometers away. The regulations need to be re-examined and improved to end these heartless delays; in this day and age of ever-closer political, commercial and legal links across the world, the means of settling outstanding debts can surely be pursued without holding someone’s body as ransom.
What is needed is a fast-track system to repatriate the bodies of those who have died working here. Human decency demands it.
There is something else indicated by yesterday’s report that needs to be looked into — the rate of mortality among Bangladeshi workers here. It is apparently growing, to some 300 deaths a year. That too is disturbing: Accidents happen, but do they need to happen at such an alarming rate? Is this because of shoddy work practices? Is it because of inadequate health and safety regulations? Is it because standards are not being adequately enforced?
Whatever the answer, it is a serious and unacceptable development. It too needs to be investigated.
