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War widows in backdoor exit to the Gulf for survival: Officials
View(s):Two Government Agents (GA) of the North brought to the attention of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) that war-affected women living under the poverty line, were leaving to the Middle East (ME) on the sly, as housemaids, without being documented.
District Secretariats (DS) of Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi have written to the SLBFE seeking the Dept’s help to track the women who are being misled by foreign employment agencies, and hold awareness programmes in those districts to prevent them from going abroad due to poverty.
The issue came to light earlier this month when a meeting scheduled on “Issues faced by Children”, held in the DS, found a significant number of kids in the Mullaithivu district living without their mothers. Some children were in the custody of relatives, while the mother had left the country.
Since the laws for foreign employment tightened recently, letters of recommendation from the respective Grama Sevaka and DS were necessary to secure a job in the ME.
Mullaithivu DS Mrs Rupawathi Keteeswaran wrote to the SLBFE to take necessary action against the illegal foreign employment agents operating in the district. This year alone, in the Thunukkai DS division of Mullaithivu, at least seven women left the country illegally, without informing any authorities, while four left after obtaining the necessary documents. Mrs Keteeswaran’s letter also contain the passport details of the seven women who left illegally.
Meanwhile, Kilinochchi DS Suntharam Arumainayagam told the Sunday Times that he had called for a meeting to formulate an awareness programme in the district, to educate the women on the hardships of working in the ME.
“Most of them leave to support their families, as they find it difficult to do so, while the district remains badly affected by the war, and has the highest number of women-headed families. With no options here to make ends meet, they go abroad,” he said.
Mr Arumainayagam said legal and illegal foreign employment agencies turned Northwards to exploit the poverty situation, as the number of women going from the South decreased significantly.
“Most of those who leave are not skilled or trained by professional bodies, and have no knowledge of the foreign languages spoken in the countries they are going to work in. They just leave.”