Mainstreaming Internal Migration in Law and Policy Frameworks in Bangladesh: Analysis of a Rights-Based Approach to a Wicked Policy Problem

• Author: Shawkat Alam,Joanna Endacott
• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Date: 01 September 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10704965221103620
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Journal of Environment &

Development

2022, Vol. 31(3) 300–328

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/10704965221103620

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Mainstreaming Internal

Migration in Law and

Policy Frameworks in

Bangladesh: Analysis of a

Rights-Based Approach to

a Wicked Policy Problem

Shawkat Alam

1

and Joanna Endacott

1



Abstract

Internal migration presents many challenges for governmental coordination due to the

extensive and immediate action required to address this problem. However, it also

poses opportunities regarding education, employment and living conditions, if the

government creates pull factors to distribute migration away from primary to sec-

ondary cities. This process will require a rights-based approach, whereby the rights of

internal migrants are mainstreamed in government planning to enable sustainable

migration to Bangladesh’s secondary cities. In this paper, the current international

human rights and internal migration laws will be analysed, alongside the domestic laws

and policies relevant to internal migration in Bangladesh. In doing so, this paper will

explore how government policy and action can employ a rights-based approach to

incorporate internal migration within the government’s overarching development

framework. A rights-based approach is necessary to effectively prepare for, and adapt

to, the increase in internal migration in an equitable way.

Keywords

climate, induced, migration, Bangladesh, law, policy, adaptation

1

Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Corresponding Author:

Professor Shawkat Alam, Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, 6 First Walk, Sydney, NSW 2109,

Australia.

Email: shawkat.alam@mq.edu.au

Introduction

The impacts of climate change undermine the essentials of human survival and threaten

human security, especially for those who rely on the local climate for their sustenance.

Approximately two-thirds of Bangladesh’s population reside near coastal areas and are

dependent on natural resources, leaving them extremely vulnerable to the effects of

climate change. Consequently, vulnerable and exposed individuals often engage in a

spectrum of adaptive strategies, the most notable one being involuntary migration.

Millions of people are being increasingly displaced by the impacts of cyclones, forest

f‌ires, f‌looding and drought. However, whilst there has been a focus on how climate

change creates immediate and clear connections with displacement, climate change

also manifests itself through other household stressors. The loss of productive a gri-

cultural land due to sea water inundation or drought, or the associated rise in the costs

and use of inputs to maintain soil fertility all diminish household incomes for many

vulnerable rural communities. These households are faced with a stark choice: either

stay and battle a slow decline in their standard of living or move to urban centres to look

for alternative sources of income.

To this extent, climate change intensif‌ies existing rural to urban migration patterns,

particularly in countries most acutely affected by the consequences of climate change,

such as Bangladesh. Each and every day, regardless of the weather, over 2000 people

arrive in Dhaka for a new start (Castellano et al., 2021). This places extreme pressure on

existing urban infrastructure, resulting in the emergence of slum communities. These

communities face a severe lack of access to safe dwellings, food security, clean drinking

water, health services and education. This entrenches further patterns of poverty as

more and more households desperately seek the limited employment opportunities

available, but do not have the ability to increase their skill set or obtain education to

access other employment opportunities.

Further unsustainable migration to urban centres, which are at their carrying ca-

pacity, needs to be prevented (Streatf‌ield & Karar, 2008). However, migration itself is

not the only problem. In fact, migration offers a sound climate change adaptation

strategy as the load on local carrying capacity can be distributed across secondary cities

or peri-urban areas to share migration induced vulnerabilities (Rana & Illnia, 2021).

Migrants are attracted to certain urban centres, such as Dhaka, for their employment

opportunities. If new opportunities are created elsewhere, this can create alternative pull

factors for vulnerable rural communities who are at their breaking point. This requires

extensive governmental coordination between policy and action at both regional and

national levels.

Despite recent efforts made by Bangladesh to develop a response to internal mi-

gration, effective policy is still lacking. The law and policy framework on the envi-

ronment and climate change in Bangladesh fail to effectively address issues of internal

migration and displacement and this has hindered the achievement of effective long-

term solutions to the cross-sectoral challenges faced by climate migrants. Effective

solutions require internal migration and displacement to be mainstreamed across the

Bangladesh law and policy framework. Mainstreaming is a policy tool that centres the

Alam and Endacott 301