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Female domestic workers are ‘Kaeli’ or pieces for labour attachés in Lanka’s West Asian missions
View(s):- Most SLBFE officers posted abroad are alleged to be hand in glove with agencies and racketeers
- Repeated recommendations made by missions in labour-receiving countries to MFA fallen on deaf ears, say diplomatic sources
By Namini Wijedasa
Sri Lanka’s embassies have repeatedly warned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and other authorities of glaring shortcomings in the handling of local labour in West Asia–including an urgent need for Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) attachés in these missions to have minimum qualifications.
Written recommendations were routinely made by missions in the labour-receiving countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, authoritative diplomatic sources said, citing reports. The recommendations were taken up at meetings but went largely unimplemented.
Hoping for a better life, only to have their dreams shattered (file pic)
In these embassies, the labour sections are staffed by SLBFE employees tasked with handling Sri Lankan worker issues. But allegations of collusion with traffickers, smugglers and unscrupulous agents–among other complaints–have remained constant and unaddressed for years. The attachés are diplomatic passport holders and enjoy all the privileges and immunities of diplomats, including qualified Sri Lanka Foreign Service officers.
E.K. Kushan, the Third Secretary of Sri Lanka’s Embassy in Oman, was last week suspended from duty on allegations of human trafficking. He is a longtime employee of SLBFE and obtained the posting to Oman on political patronage, the Sunday Times learns. Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara vowed in Parliament that Mr. Kushan would be arrested.
The Minister also revealed that the Cabinet had approved the addition of another 50 SLBFE attachés to foreign missions, on top of the 40 already posted abroad.
But unless a scheme is introduced whereby qualified officers are appointed, increasing numbers will not prove beneficial to workers, Sri Lankan diplomatic sources unanimously said. They did not wish to be named.
Lankan women who had come on visit visas now stranded at safe house in Oman (file pic)
“There is no minimum qualification of a degree, training, or education of any sort at present,” one of the sources said. “As a result, nearly all of these attachés are now appointed based on political links and other affiliations.” This was a strong complaint in all labour-receiving West Asian missions.
It was also revealed that SLBFE officials commonly referred to domestic workers as “kaeli” (pieces) and their industry as a “market”.
“They would say things like, ‘How many pieces are coming this month?’” another source explained. “That is the language they use to refer to female domestic labour.”
Reports sent to the MFA show
Sri Lankan mission heads and other diplomats have regularly warned that labour section attachés were insufficiently trained to handle disputes and were incapable of negotiating compensation for victimised migrant workers. They were deemed “not proactive” and lacking in commitment.
In Kuwait, attachés were found to be reluctant to refer worker grievances to the local authorities for action. There was evidence that, when disputes arose, preferential treatment was given to agencies over migrant workers.
Attachés in Kuwait turned a blind eye to an illegal system called “muhakkath” whereby agencies hold domestic workers in their custody for extended periods and hire them out on a temporary basis. There was indication that some officers even encouraged it.
Diplomats warn that SLBFE attachés have “no control” over agencies. They lack a mechanism to blacklist errant agents and their Sri Lankan assistants, who are known as “secretaries”. They do not even know the total number of complaints against individual agencies.
“You only need to look at how many complaints in the SLBFE database are resolved to determine their efficiency and commitment,” one senior diplomat said.
Separately, the head of each diplomatic mission has no formal control over the finances of the labour section. It has been recommended that labour-section accounts be brought under the supervision of the Head of Mission.
| Human trafficking: US report highlights Lanka’s failures | |
| The Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report is the US Government’s principal diplomatic tool to engage foreign administrations on human trafficking. This year, Sri Lanka is ranked as Tier 2. It, therefore, shares space with countries that do not fully comply with the minimum standards “but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards”.Among the areas in which Sri Lanka has not met minimum standards include not effectively addressing vulnerabilities to trafficking faced by migrant workers, including high worker-paid recruitment fees, largely unregulated sub-agents, and policies and procedures that undermined safe and legal migration. “During the reporting period, Sri Lankan missions abroad assisted 226 migrant workers with shelter, including potential trafficking victims,” it continued. “According to an international organisation, when carrying out screening and despite their training, some labour attachés often did not know what questions to ask migrant workers, what evidence to look for, or whom to contact in other agencies to refer potential cases.” “Embassy shelters could only accommodate females, so it was unclear where exploited male migrant workers stayed before repatriation,” it stated. “Some migrant workers at the shelters reported poor conditions, including inadequate food, unsanitary living conditions, and insufficient legal assistance. Only Sri Lankan workers who had registered with SLBFE prior to departure could access legal assistance from Sri Lankan embassies, including assistance securing back wages from employers.” “Although SLBFE maintained district-level offices, it usually required repatriated migrant workers to visit the main office in Colombo to launch an investigation into recruitment and labour violations, including trafficking, which many of the indebted and daily wage workers could not afford,” the report pointed out. “As a result, trafficking victims continued to withdraw complaints or not come forward.” “The government did not make efforts to eliminate legal fees recruitment agencies are allowed to charge migrant workers, which increased workers’ vulnerability to trafficking,” the report said. “SLBFE reported monitoring the costs charged to migrant workers, although fees varied by destination country, employer, and job category.” “SLBFE required each migrant worker to pay a registration fee equivalent to more than one month’s salary that required renewal every two years,” it records. “Additionally, an international report published in 2019 noted some workers reported recruitment agencies charged an additional 8,000 to 150,000 LKR ($39-$740).” “Some officials reported SLBFE’s lack of close monitoring enabled agencies to charge fees in excess of the legal amounts; some workers paid as much as 1 million LKR ($4,930) for the entire recruitment process, including fees charged by illegal sub-agents,” the report said. “However, SLBFE reported that no recruitment fees are charged for the domestic work sector in Middle Eastern countries and professional categories in which employers bear recruitment costs.” “SLBFE officers in the conciliation division do not always recognise elements of trafficking and may handle cases administratively, rather than referring the case to police,” it observed. “During the reporting period, SLBFE cancelled the licences of six recruitment agencies and took action in 35 cases against malpractice and irregularities in the labour recruitment process. This compared with 30 cases and the suspension of three foreign recruitment agencies for illegal practices in the previous reporting period.” Although the Government reported that a legislative framework to address sub-agents existed, SLBFE did not have the legal authority to regulate sub-agents, which officials recognised contributed to trafficking. The Government continued to seek approval for an amendment to the Foreign Employment Act to address the oversight of sub-agents and the investigative authority of MFE officials, including SLBFE. The Act has been in the pipeline for over a decade. |
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