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| Sunday, 8 August 2004 |
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Migrant workers' rights should be protected by Don Asoka Wijewardena Around 1.2 million Sri Lankan migrant workers employed overseas are found to be vulnerable to various discriminations, economic shocks and exploitation. Illegal termination of employment contracts,forced labour and non-payment of wages have also increased, especially in the Middle Eastern countries. Sri Lanka ratified the UN Convention of the Protection of all rights of Migrant Workers in 1996 and, it is our duty to give effect to the provisions of the convention without delay, said Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Athauda Seneviratne at the national workshop on International Instruments for the Protection of Migrant Workers held in Colombo recently. Minister Seneviratne said that in 2003 the total remittances of the Sri Lankan migrant workers was Rs. 136 billion which accounted for 7.5 per cent foreign exchange earnings in the country. He said that he had already got Cabinet approval to protect families of migrant workers by reunification, counselling, introducing welfare measures, with monitoring and upbringing and education of their children. Former Chairman Legal Aid Foundation, S. S. Wijeratne, said that a large number of Lankan migrant workers were being taken for a ride by some fraudulent job agencies due to lack of proper supervision despite the fact that Sri Lanka had ranked among the 20 main exporters of human labour. He said that ratification of a convention did not implement the law and urged the authorities to enact legislation to eliminate malpractices in the migrant field. Chairman, Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), Chandrsena Hettiarchchi, said that Sri Lanka should establish a good relationship with labour receiving countries to resolve a large number of complaints it had received from Sri Lankan workers. He said that the demand for migrant workers had increased and, in some cases, they were compelled to take up dangerous and degrading jobs due to lack of legal protection. |
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