"Malaysia: UN experts sound alarm over continued systematic exploitation of Bangladeshi migrant workers", 21 November 2025

UN human rights experts … expressed renewed concern about the continued exploitation, deception, and deepening debt bondage of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia.

“We are deeply troubled that fraudulent recruitment and the exploitation of migrants remain widespread and systematic in Malaysia,” the experts said. “These practices continue to cause significant human rights harms to affected workers and their families.”

The experts noted that, according to information received, thousands of workers recruited through the Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services (BOES) remain stranded in Bangladesh or face exploitation risks in Malaysia after paying recruitment fees reportedly exceeding the official fees by more than five times. Allegations also include confiscation of passports by employers, false job promises, discrepancies between contracts and promised employment packages, the publication of workers’ passport numbers and other personal information without their consent, and the lack of access to support from responsible government agencies.

“Some migrants have reportedly been asked to make additional payments, while others have been reassigned to jobs without their consent. We have also been informed that a small number of recruitment agencies operate as a closed syndicate sustained by corruption, lack of transparency, and systemic exploitation,” the experts noted. They also received reports of workers being pressured to sign or record false declarations stating that they had only paid official fees shortly before departure.

The experts reiterated that the Governments of Bangladesh and Malaysia have an obligation to ensure that labour migration is governed in a rights-based, transparent, and accountable manner. They urged Bangladesh to strengthen the oversight of recruitment agencies, possibly through a centralised job portal, and prohibit the collection of fees from migrant workers. Malaysia is asked to ensure stronger safeguards to protect migrants from exploitation, arbitrary arrest, detention or deportation. They stressed that involuntary repatriations and any form of reprisals by either governments or employers against migrant workers are wholly unacceptable and violate international human rights obligations.

They called on both countries to conduct prompt and independent investigations into reported abuses, provide effective remedies, including restitution and debt relief, and enhance cooperation to dismantle exploitative recruitment networks.

The experts urged both Governments to strengthen independent oversight in cooperation with civil society, trade unions, national human rights institutions, and UN agencies…