|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 1 August 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Our mission in Riyadh says.... Reference our news feature titled 'Rescue this housemaid early' published on June 20, 2004, M. T. M. Niyas, Public Relations Officer of the Sri Lankan Mission in Riyadh states: "Until we saw the news item in your newspaper, nobody reported this case to us. We normally receive such complaints either from the relatives of the worker directly or through the Consular Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment. "As soon as we saw the article, we traced her (Ms. W.A. Ajantha Sriyani Jayatillake and found out that she was in the custody of a Saudi recruitment agency named Around the World. Our Labour Section staff also spoke to the sponsor, Saudi recruitment agent on the instructions of the Ambassador. According to the sponsor, she has worked for two months and 10 days and they have paid the first month's salary to her and have allowed her to talk to her relatives over the phone on the expense of the sponsor. "With regard to the burn marks in her body, the sponsor lady told us that she has accidentally dropped the tea cup and that they immediately provided all the necessary medical assistance. "According to the housemaid and the agent, the girl has reported to the Saudi Recruitment Agent once before within the short period of employment and she has never reported the incident to the agent. She has only come to the agent 10 days after the incident and the agency could not find any visible injuries for them to report it to the Police. "In the meantime, we also came to know from the statement of the sponsor and the housemaid that there is no valid reason for us to suspect that there was foul play on the side of the sponsor and the sponsor's wife, since she has been provided with food and accommodation and the salaries have been paid in time. The sponsor, although he is not obliged to provide air ticket, on our insistence, has provided an air ticket and exit visa without any hesitation. "I request you to ask the Sri Lankans who seek your assistance, to send the sponsors' details preferably the Saudi visa page of the worker's passport which can be obtained from the Sri Lankan recruitment agency through which they sought the employment, to enable us to trace the sponsor easily. "In summary, I would like to state that our Mission has taken whatever possible steps to trace her and to repatriate her to Sri Lanka immediately even before we were formally informed by the Foreign Ministry and the SLBFE, on seeing the newspaper article. We thank you for bringing it to our notice by publishing this news item." Our staff writer Prasad Gunewardene states: On publication of this story, Suraj Dandeniya the President of the Association of licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) contacted me on June 21, 2004 and moved in to report the matter to the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau. Dandeniya and the Chairman of the Bureau initiated a full probe to ascertain who was responsible for sending this housemaid to that country. Investigations revealed that this housemaid, Sriyani Jayatilleke, who had paid the money and handed over her passport to the Gaity Jobline Agency in Pettah, had been sent by another agency named Gulf Express Agency. Dandeniya who pursued the relevant job contract reported to the Bureau that Sriyani Jayatilleke had not signed a contract with the Gulf Express Agency but that agency had pursued a contract document where he found the forged signature of Sriyani jayatilleke. The Bureau then probed the contract document sent to them and confirmed that the papers submitted by the Gulf Express Agency on Sriyani Jayatilleke had a forged signature. The ALFEA and the SLFBE are now probing this forgery with the assistance of Sriyani Jayatilleke who was helped to return by them and our Mission in Riyadh. Dandeniya at his personal expense helped the relatives to telephone the victim in Riyadh on many occasions. The SLFBE Chairman and Dandeniya were in constant contact with our Mission in Riyadh until Sriyani Jayatilleke returned to Sri Lanka. Sriyani yet claims that she was not paid her first month's salary and states that she sustained burn injuries when her woman employer purposely dropped boiling water on her while she was doing some work. Sriyani Jayatilleke profusely thanks the SLFBE Chairman, Karunasena Hettiarachchi, ALFEA President, Suraj Dandeniya and the officials in the Mission in Riyadh for the timely intervention to rescue her. It must be noted here that Dandeniya played a vital role in this rescue operation. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
