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Migrant worker welfare: Minister laments lack of support from state agencies
Manusha Nanayakkara. Pic by Indika Handuwala
Tomorrow (18) is International Migrant Day. Amid Sri Lanka’s crippling economic crisis, migrant workers play a vital role as the country navigates a path towards economic recovery. A major source of foreign exchange, the foreign employment sector remits around USD 7-8 billion annually, and the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment plans to increase that to USD 10 billion a year.
Despite their immense contribution to the economy in a time of dire need, migrant workers are still not being treated by officialdom with the respect they deserve, Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara told the Sunday Times.
“There’s a lack of support from certain officers in some agencies, including the Treasury, when it comes to offering incentives to migrant workers. They have forgotten that these people helped the country when it had no dollars,” Minister Nanayakkara said in an interview.
He claimed the Treasury was not supporting the system for migrant workers to import electric vehicles on concessionary terms. Meanwhile, the offering of an additional duty-free allowance for returning migrant workers based on the amount of foreign exchange they had remitted to the country was also not working, as Sri Lanka Customs has been unable to properly calculate how much a worker has remitted.
“This proposal was approved by the Cabinet, and the facility was gazetted by the President. Yet migrant workers cannot utilise it. This is a tragedy, but such matters are beyond our control,” he added.
Last year, the Ministry also initiated a dedicated gateway at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for migrant workers. It was dubbed “Hope Gateway.” While the Department of Immigration and Emigration has been largely supportive, some officers were still giving stepmotherly treatment to migrant workers by not always manning this gateway, the minister said.
“This is about maintaining a monopoly, unwillingness to change, and a reluctance to show respect to migrant workers for the services they render,” Mr. Nanayakkara said.
The minister recently made his frustrations clear during the vote on the expenditure of his ministry on December 7. He accused such agencies of hindering efforts to encourage migrant workers to send more remittances to the country.
Nevertheless, many other efforts taken to encourage migrant workers and reward them for their services are continuing smoothly, according to the minister. This includes the “Manusavi” contributory pension scheme introduced for Sri Lankan migrant workers. This month, the Central Bank, together with the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLBFE), also launched the “Manusavi” migrant worker loan scheme. In addition, initiatives have also been taken to establish payment gateways for migrant workers, as well as to assist parents and children of migrant workers, the minister said.
About 1.5 million Sri Lankan migrant workers are currently registered with authorities, but the number of Sri Lankan migrants living abroad is believed to be about 3 million. The need to have accurate and reliable data on the migrant worker population is essential, and as such, from January, the SLBFE will begin an island-wide survey to collect information on Sri Lankans who have gone abroad.
According to the minister, those who collect information under the survey will contact the local Grama Niladharis and, through them, identify households where someone has gone abroad. They will then collect data, including who has gone abroad, when, and for what purpose. The minister said this would enable authorities to obtain a complete picture of Sri Lankan migrants and migrant workers.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet has also approved a proposal to digitise the labour migration process. The introduction of a single digital end-to-end platform for the safety, welfare and job security of migrant workers is aimed at enabling authorities to limit malpractice within the industry, reduce recruiting time and costs and regulate job agents.
The problem of bogus job agents exploiting and defrauding would-be migrant workers, sometimes with the collusion of SLBFE staff, has been a persistent issue for many years, and the minister acknowledged that it continued to be so. He, however, claimed that such complaints had fallen thanks to stringent action and awareness created among the public.
“We have interdicted officials found responsible and taken legal action. Some officers have even been arrested on information given by us. There are such elements, but I would say 99% of those in the SLBFE are good and committed officers.”
The Ministry and SLBFE have also cracked down on errant job agents, he added. The licences of as many as 400 job agents were suspended for the first time in history, with more than 200 of them having their licences permanently cancelled. The government also increased the bond the agents must deposit to Rs. 3 million, which took out many of the smaller agents that were cheating the workers. “We plan to increase this bond up to Rs. 5 million next year, which would mean that only those who are fully working in this industry and are genuine agents will be left,” he further said.
Other measures being taken to maintain standards among job agents include making it a requirement for any agent to obtain a practitioner’s licence to recruit people for overseas employment.
Meanwhile, amendments to the SLBFE Act are now almost finalised. A final set of amendments sent by the Legal Draftsman is now being checked, and once this is done, the draft will be sent to the Attorney General to see if it is in line with the Constitution. The new amendments will reform the SLBFE Board of Directors and give the Bureau powers to go after human traffickers, such as those who are exploiting people by taking them overseas on visit visas under the guise of finding them employment.
Under the proposed amendments, the SLBFE Board’s composition will be changed to include professionals such as lawyers, accountants and representatives of migrant workers themselves, according to the minister. Female representation on the board, too, will be required by law.
Some migrant workers going to countries such as Japan have faced issues in the country and claimed that one factor behind these problems is that they did not undergo a proper orientation programme before departure. Minister Nanayakkara, though, strongly pushed back against these allegations, insisting that those who “follow the proper channels” and go to Japan and other nations after registering with the SLBFE as migrant workers have such training and orientation programmes provided to them before leaving.
He said the SLBFE provided country-specific orientation programmes as well as specific job training programmes. “Those who encounter problems are mainly people who go on visit visas or student visas and then try to work and stay in the country illegally,” he said.
The SLBFE has 17 welfare offices operating under the country’s embassies overseas. Some locations, such as Saudi Arabia and Dubai, have two each. All these offices are manned by SLBFE personnel, but even in countries where there are no welfare offices, embassy staff provide good support, for the most part, to assist migrant workers, said the minister.
With the Sri Lankan migrant worker population in some countries expanding rapidly, steps would be taken to open SLBFE welfare offices in these countries too, he added. Approval is expected soon to open such an office in Japan while opening offices in countries such as Romania and Poland is also under consideration.
Mr. Nanayakkara said the Ministry and the SLBFE would also be working in close coordination with the newly established Office for Overseas Sri Lankan Affairs (OOSLA) functioning under the Presidential Secretariat.
“I was the one who submitted the first concept note on OOSLA to Cabinet. The President also accepted this proposal and proposed it during his previous Budget speech to help both overseas Sri Lankans and encourage Diaspora investment in the country. We are a main stakeholder in OOSLA, and we engage with them in knowledge and data sharing as well,” he added.
| Japan draws many Lankan migrant workers but recent suicides raise concerns | |
| Japan has become a popular destination for migrant workers from Sri Lanka. Considered a friendly country, with polite, obliging people, Sri Lankan migrant workers have made it rich though the beginnings are often tough, especially with language and the work ethic of its locals. The link to Buddhism has also helped. However, there is a downside to it all. This year alone, the number of reported cases of Sri Lankan deaths, from accidents, suicides and even murders have been on the rise. Much of this has been attributed to the lack of prior orientation of prospective migrant workers before they leave Sri Lanka to take up jobs in Japan. Another factor has been put at migrants being under pressure from the ‘home front’ back in Sri Lanka pressurising them for more and more remittances due to the economic crisis in Sri Lanka and the worker pushing himself to work beyond his or her endurance. The leading cause of death from natural causes is heart disease Some of the statistics for 2023 alone, are as follows;
With no counselling facilities available for migrant workers, issues for many of them can be one between life and death.
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