Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Md Asaduzzaman on Tuesday said the government plans to establish specialised tribunals at divisional headquarters to ensure the speedy disposal of cases involving expatriate Bangladeshis.

“Expatriates often face years of harassment over legal disputes involving property purchased with money sent from abroad or the recovery of money sent to family members in Bangladesh. The proposed tribunals would deal exclusively with cases involving expatriates to reduce their suffering and ensure faster justice,” he said.

The minister made the remarks while addressing the inaugural session of the ‘Shonar Manush Sammilon-2026’, organised by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) at a hotel in Dhaka to mark the organisation’s 30th anniversary.

Asaduzzaman said the proposal was currently at the drafting stage.

Recalling his recent visit to Dubai, the minister said Bangladeshi migrant workers there lead extremely difficult lives.

Despite enduring such gruelling conditions, Bangladeshi workers receive much lower wages than workers from other countries, he said, urging the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment to look into the matter seriously.

Identifying unscrupulous recruiting agencies as a major challenge for expatriates, Asaduzzaman said 5,000 visas had already been cancelled in the Middle East, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, while many more were awaiting cancellation.

He said many recruiting agencies had submitted fake certificates and other documents that did not even exist. As artificial intelligence (AI) has made it easier to verify the authenticity of such documents, the countries concerned are taking legal action against those involved, he added.

Praising RMMRU for its 30-year journey, Asaduzzaman said, “We believe that RMMRU and its team have never been involved in any activity contrary to the interests of workers. No one has alleged that RMMRU misappropriated funds collected in workers' names. We have seen no corruption in RMMRU's integrity. We have never seen RMMRU engaging in sycophancy.”

At the event, he expressed hope that RMMRU would continue its work for another 100 years, helping build a Bangladesh where migrant workers could return home to find work and the country could recruit workers from abroad.