United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights of migrants, Felipe Gonzalez Morales, recently paid a visit to Bangladesh to observe the state of protecting the human rights of migrants. During his visit from 20 to 31 January, he looked into the issue of migrants as well as the Rohingya situation. As he left Bangladesh, he placed emphasis on the need for Bangladesh to strengthen its  laws pertaining to the recruitment of workers in order to protect the migrants. He also spoke of the responsibility of the countries that were receiving migrant workers from Bangladesh, saying that they should play an active role in carrying out investigations against those violating human rights and impose sanctions accordingly.

During his trip to Bangladesh, the UN special rapporteur exchanged views with the foreign ministry and the ministry for expatriate welfare and overseas employment, the National Human Rights Commission, the civil society, migrant workers and recruitment agencies. He also visited Cox's Bazar and exchanged views with Rohingya representatives there. He said he will assess how much progress had been made in implementing the states' responsibility to ensure the protection of the human rights of the migrants.