Cabinet paper soon to revise Labour Migration policy
by Manjula FERNANDO
Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera will
present a cabinet paper shortly to revise the Government Labour
Migration policy, in the backdrop of Rizana’s case and other labour
related issues of Sri Lankans in the Middle East.
SLBFE Deputy General Manager Mangala Randeniya said important
decisions in this regard were taken at a meeting attended by senior Sri
Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau officials chaired by the Minister last
week.
The urgent meeting was called for by Minister Perera following the
unfair trial and brutal beheading of Rizana Nafeeq in Saudi Arabia on
January 9 for a crime alleged to have been committed by her when she was
a 17-year-old minor.
Raising the minimum age for domestic aides, from 21 to 25 will be one
of the key changes in the new policy. The meeting was attended by SLBFE
chairman Amal Senadhilankara, Ministry Secretary Nissanka N. Wijeratne
and senior officials.
“During Rizana’s time the minimum age was 18 years and following her
arrest and conviction it was raised to 21,” Randeniya said. The
objective is to discourage young women from taking up jobs as unskilled
domestic aides but instead acquire skills to secure better paid jobs
overseas.
The policy with new regulations to ensure the safety of Sri Lankan
migrant workers, will come into effect in the near future.
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