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Coming home no better than away from home Although awareness programmes and media reports have helped curb the abuse of housemaids as they land at the BIA, a culture of violence still continues They are beaten, starved, raped and sometimes jailed, when all they want is to make their lot in life slightly better, indirectly bringing in the much-needed foreign exchange to Sri Lanka’s coffers. These are the thousands of Sri Lankan women who go as housemaids to West Asia. Do they face such harassment and innumerable difficulties only in the countries they go to? Sadly, the answer seems to be a resounding “No” for vultures allegedly await them, the moment they land in their own country, Sri Lanka, the country they call home. The Sunday Times learns that there has been a culture of violence against them over the years, with many cases reported of housemaids being abused, robbed of valuables, molested or raped by unauthorized taxi drivers who operate from the airport premises. “We have regularly received complaints from housemaids about abuse, robbery or rape by unauthorized taxi operators who resort to these acts when they are being taken to their destinations,” said the Officer-in-Charge of the airport, Erik Perera when The Sunday Times met him at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA). Explaining the modus operandi of these unscrupulous taxi drivers, he said they swooped on housemaids whose homes are in remote areas and resorted to such despicable acts while taking them there. “Some women are raped and robbed, others are robbed while still others are drugged through drinks and robbed by these taxi-men,” he said. Referring to an incident which took place on April 19, Mr. Perera said an unauthorized taxi operator had picked up a Tamil housemaid who had returned from Dubai and was on her way home to Talawakelle. The driver’s wife had joined them halfway through the journey. The housemaid had accepted a bottle of soft drinks from the woman. The drink contained a sedative and when the housemaid woke up she found to her horror that her toil in West Asia had come to naught – for her hard earned money amounting to Rs. 130,000, two expensive mobile phones and two gold rings were gone. The two suspects who had drugged the housemaid were arrested by the BIA Police and produced before the Negombo Magistrate. They have been remanded for 14 days. The OIC lamented that most complaints on such crimes reached them late, as much as two or three months later, as the victims would first report them to the police stations in the area where the incidents took place. According to Deputy General Manager L.K. Ruhunuge of the Bureau of Foreign Employment more than 15,000 housemaids, on an average, leave the country every month. “That would make it about 500 a day while about 400 return each day,” he said, explaining that earlier there were many problems with unauthorized taxi drivers exploiting these women. “In recent times, such incidents have dropped because awareness programmes of the bureau and media reports on such incidents have been more effective and now the returning housemaids know they should get an airport taxi and not hail one from outside,” he said. “The airport systems have also been improved to prevent such abuse.” (See box for services for Lebanon housemaid returnees) Citing an incident about six months ago, he said a van driver who had taken some girls and pretended that there was a breakdown on the Anuradhapura Road, had been apprehended by the police. OIC Perera of the BIA confirmed that though as many as 100 unauthorized taxis were operating daily from the airport last year, police raids and more vigilance on the part of the airport officials had resulted in the number coming down. Conceding that unauthorized taxis that operate outside the airport are a menace, BIA Manager H.S. Hettiarachchi said, “We have now started to register all airport taxis. The Chairman has appointed a special team comprising the BIA Police, the Air Force and the Airport Security to crackdown on corruption.” The taxi racket is being carried out with the connivance of some security officials who receive a commission from the unauthorized drivers, The Sunday Times understands. “This is considered big business which has the backing from the underworld and as well as from some politicians in the area. People are scared to complain against them fearing threats to their lives,” OIC Perera said. Some of these unauthorized drivers gain access to the airport with “passes” they have got on the pretext that they are manning the counters given to travel agents and other such companies, The Sunday Times learns. Some of these companies have been getting 80-90 passes thus giving various people access to the airport walkway, where they chat up the housemaids and lure them into their vehicles. Thereafter, the housemaids are easy prey for fleecing or abuse, an airport official who declined to be identified stressed. “However, strict rules have now been brought in, restricting the number of passes issued to such companies to eight,” he said but there has been massive lobbying to get that changed. “I think the lobbying has even gone up to President Mahinda Rajapaksa,” he said. The taxi drivers get access to the airport under the pretext of picking up relatives who are arriving on flights or through agents in the airport who help them find customers, OIC Perera confirmed. When asked about housemaids being fleeced, OIC Perera said despite agreeing to a fare with an individual housemaid, the taxi driver would bundle more into the vehicle but insist that the full fare and not a share be paid at the final point. For instance if a taxi operator agreed to drop a woman in Batticaloa for Rs. 9,000, he would get more housemaids going to the same area and charge each Rs. 9,000, despite objections. Five people, three Muslims and two Sinhalese, have been prohibited by the Negombo Courts from entering the airport unless they themselves are boarding a flight, as they have been nabbed on numerous occasions operating as unauthorized taxi drivers. “There is no law specifying what action can be taken against those who frequent the airport,” said OIC Perera assuring that legal advice has been sought on measures to deal with such people. “Even authorized taxi drivers are scared to come out openly against these unauthorized taxi-men because they have the support of the underworld and some politicians,” he reiterated. The urgent need is to ensure protection for the hapless housemaids of Sri Lanka who have laboured to keep our economy afloat. If these women cannot expect protection, justice and fair-play on home soil what can they expect in a foreign land.
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About
375 housemaids were flown back on Friday night and another
group of 300 came on Saturday afternoon, said Foreign Employment
Bureau’s DGM L.K. Ruhunuge when asked about the arrangements
made to bring back those facing bombs, injury and death in
Lebanon. “Then we would have brought back a total of
1,200.”
