The Candidate of Bangladesh Md. Shahidul Haque, Foreign Secretary, secured the highest votes at the election of CMW

UsaNewsOnline.Com, New York : Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Md. Shahidul Haque got reelected as the member of CMW, 28 June by securing 46 votes out of 51, to the Committee on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) for next 4 years 2018-2021. This is the highest number of votes bagged by any candidate at this election. This victory reflects international community’s confidence in the robust foreign policy that Bangladesh persues. The Foreign Secretary will serve as an independent expert in the Committee. It may be noted, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina first proposed in the United Nations that the world needs a Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration in order to curb the illicit trafficking of migrants. Her proposal was adopted in the UNGA in 2016 and now the UN is negotiating on this global compact. Bangladesh took the lead to form a “Group of Friends of Migration” at the UN in New York and Geneva” and also as one of the active members leading the negotiation at the United Nations. This is for the second time Bangladesh becomes a member of CMW. This would add a new dimension to Bangladesh’s efforts to protect and promote the rights of the migrants workers around the world including the 9 million migrant workers and their family members of Bangladesh. This is a clear recognition of Bangladesh for its leading role on the issue of migration in the work of United Nations and beyond. Fifty-one state parties to the International Convention of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICRMW) elected seven new experts for CMW today in New York for four years terms from January 2018. CMW is a 14-member treaty body that monitors the ICRMW State Parties’ adherence to this only human rights instruments for migrant workers, and also promotes the treaty for ratification by non-state parties. Bangladesh ratified the Treaty on 24 August 2011. It may be noted that candidates from Albania, Sri Lanka, Columbia, Azerbaijan, Senegal, Niger have been elected along with the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh. Md. Shahidul Haque, known as an international expert on migration, had a successful career with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and served as Director, International Cooperation and Partnership at the IOM Headquarters. He was the Chair of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) for the year 2016 and promoted the idea of Global Compact.