Better deal for migrant workers
Migrant labour is one of the biggest foreign exchange earners for the
country, recording nearly US$ seven billion annually. This is indeed a
vast sum that goes for development and social welfare in the country.
Nearly 1.5 million Sri Lankans live and work in a number of countries
including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, South
Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Italy and Oman, not counting
those who are permanently domiciled in countries such as Canada, US, UK
and Australia.
There have been several interesting development on the foreign labour
front in the past week. The Government has suspended sending workers to
Libya, saying the conditions in that country were not very favourable.
This is a pro-active, commendable step, given that working conditions
must be ideal for workers to perform their duties.
Quite apart from the working conditions, the unsettled political and
social environment in that country may not be conducive to our workers.
Cases of assassinations and kidnappings targeting politicians, security
officials and their family members have increased in Libya as
authorities attempt to crack down on armed groups. The security and
safety of Sri Lankan workers must be given priority, regardless of where
they are in the world. If the hosts cannot assure that, it is safer to
stop sending new migrants and recall the workers already there, if an
extreme situation develops. In fact, the authorities are planning to
repatriate the Sri Lankan workers now living in strife-torn Libya.
On the other hand, many countries with substantial populations of Sri
Lankan and Asian workers are taking many steps to ensure workers’
welfare on their own. For example, the Saudi Arabian government has
proposed the launching of a hotline on which domestic workers and
professional expatriates can lodge complaints. The helpline facility
will be available in eight languages, an official said. (It is not known
yet whether Sinhala and Tamil are included, but English definitely is).
The helpline call centre, under the country's Labour Ministry, will
answer inquiries and inform domestic workers of their rights and duties,
Xinhua reported citing Al Eqtisadia newspaper.
Complaints
The Saudi Labour Ministry will launch an investigation if it receives
complaints and will refer the case to the legal authorities concerned,
if necessary. There are around 1.2 million domestic workers, including
Sri Lankans, in Saudi Arabia. They also come from India, Indonesia, the
Philippines and Bangladesh, among others.
This is a step worthy of emulation by other countries which employ
Sri Lankans and workers from other Asian countries. The Sri Lankan
embassies and authorities must extend their fullest cooperation to this
venture. Up to now, the Sri Lankan embassy in the respective countries
was the only place where workers facing various problems could seek help
from and many embassies are deluged with requests from workers to
address their woes.
Some of them even have a centre where workers, especially females,
can live for a couple of weeks until their problem is resolved or their
papers are processed for repatriation or compensation.
With the latest move by the Saudi authorities, expat workers will
have a direct link to the authorities in the host country itself. They
will be in a far better position to offer help and solutions to the
affected workers by mediating with the employers and other Saudi
Government agencies. The legal systems of Saudi Arabia and many other
Middle East countries are very complex, as demonstrated by the Rizana
Nafeek case, and the involvement of their own labour officials in
dispute resolution may lessen that complexity. Besides, workers with
little or no knowledge of Arabic and English will be able to talk to an
officer/operator in their own native language and explain the issue(s)
clearly. It is probably a toll-free telephone line accessible from
anywhere in the Kingdom, so there will be no cost to the caller as well
apart from the cost of transport if a caller without access to a mobile
phone has to travel to the nearest telephone box.. Depending on the
success of this program, Sri Lanka authorities could suggest the
implementation of similar systems in other countries where our
expatriates work. It will benefit not only Sri Lankans, but also workers
from other South Asian/South East Asian countries.
In fact such an alliance will prove to be useful in negotiating
various labour agreements with countries that accept our migrant labour.
It will definitely give us more clout and leverage at the negotiating
table.
Alliance
Individual country-to-country agreements have their value, but we
will be stronger if there is a multi-country alliance which backs any
moves taken to improve the living and working conditions of our
expatriate workers.
SAARC itself does have a role to play in these labour negotiations,
but it could also be a loose group of countries that offer migrant
labour to other countries. It could be a powerful voice for advocating
the strengthening of labour laws in the host countries. Despite the best
efforts of governments and their law enforcement authorities, there is a
lot of trafficking of illegal migrant labour including children. Sri
Lanka has made vast strides in this pledge, having made registration
mandatory for all those leaving abroad for employment and having adopted
a zero tolerance policy on child employment and trafficking.
Recently, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
Trafficking in Persons especially in Children and Women shared the
plight of trafficked migrants in different parts of the world and called
for serious measures to break the slave trade and ensure the protection
of victims. She stressed that human trafficking is the fastest growing
criminal industry as trafficking knows no borders. The International
Labour Organisation (ILO) reported that 21 million women, men and
children are entrapped in slavery all over the world. This is another
reason why multilateral and Government-to-Government legal agreements
are essential to ensure a more formal migrant labour system that will
close any existing loopholes for trafficking of persons for labour
purposes. Such endeavours are vital to ensure the welfare and well-being
of labour migrants everywhere.
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