A proposal by the government to fix a mnimum age limit of 30 for those taking employment overseas will destroy some 70 per cent of the market, the industry warned yesterday.
“This is an ad hoc move that has to be examined with more seriousness before it is implemented, and the authorities must have a re-think on the matter,” Faizer Mackeen, Secretary of the Association for Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) said.
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| ALFEA President W.M.P. Aponso and Secretary Faizer Mackeen addressing the press conference. Pic by saman Kariyawasam. |
He told a hurriedly arranged media conference in Colombo that the proposed new regulation was an outcome of the Rizana Rafik case and of stories of other women who alleged torture by their Arab employers.
“This does not make any sense. Except for Rizana all the other women who alleged torture and other abuse by their respective employers were above the age of 30, and even their claims are questionable. Let us put it this way. Is the government in a position to provide jobs for these persons below the age of 30”? Mr. Mackeen asked.
The grouping also warned of an international and clandestine mafia that is attempting to disrupt Sri Lanka’s overseas job market and linked several recent incidents of torture and rape to this claim.
ALFEA President W. M. P. Aponso said that a recent claim by an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) of mass scale rape of Sri Lankan female employees by members of the management at a group of factories in Jordan turned out to be totally false.
Even the government rushed a team including a senior police officer to Amman to investigate the allegations but there was zero evidence to support the claim made by the INGO known as the Institute of Global Labour and Human Rights (IGLHR), Mr. Aponso said.
He added this claim and other recent cases of alleged torture and abuse of maids by their employers appeared to be engineered and cleverly blown out of proportion to scare off those intending to take up employment in West Asia and other countries.
“At present there are an estimated 1.5 million Sri Lankans working overseas over the past three decades or more, largely in West Asia, and up to date there have been only 2,700 complaints,” he added.
He said there were clandestine moves by certain international groupings to feed the foreign job market with hands from South-Eastern countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. “He urged the authorities to take note of the emerging threat and act with utmost seriousness on this issue before it is too late,” Mr. Aponso said.
He also expressed sadness at the refusal of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to give ALFEA a hearing into the present issues faced by the industry.
“We made several attempts to arrange a meeting with the President but to no avail. The President has the time to meet others, even three-wheeler operators, at his official residence but keeps us out”, Mr. Aponso concluded. |
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