Seeking rights and losing lives

By Sydney Knight, Rajagiriya

The New York-based Human Rights Watch as reported in the media has critiqued the Government of Sri Lanka.

This time round it is about banning women with children who are under five from joining the ranks of migrant labour. The debate is on.

I take the point made by the HRW that women must have the right to decide. However, all rights must be seen in their proper perspective.

It is poverty and other factors that drive our women to swell the ranks of migrant labour. But what about the horror stories?

1. A person now in his ’50s has recently criticised his mother for having left him to be looked after by her mother and gone away on a job.
2. A woman who took up a job in the Middle Eastwas keen to get back home. Why? Her passport was confiscated by her employer. She was virtually his slave.

One has to meet the NGOs working with migrant labour to see the reality.

At the Katunayake International Airport (KIA) one sees crowds of these women. Those who return are able to buy goods at the Duty Free Shop. But when they get back home they soon discover that in fact they have lost their spouses and children. They are left with these goods from the KIA.

So one has to be careful in seeking rights and losing lives, relationships etc.