News
As Lebanon is pounded, Sri Lankans face a dilemma—to stay or go
View(s):- Most migrant workers without documents; peacekeepers come under ‘deliberate’ attacks five times
By Mimi Alphonsus
An estimated 7,600 Sri Lankan migrant workers and 126 Sri Lankan UN peacekeepers are currently in Lebanon, with the situation escalating, but most workers are yet undecided whether to return home or remain in that country, which is under intense military bombardment by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
In Southern Lebanon, where Sri Lankan soldiers are stationed as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Israel has attacked UN peacekeeping positions multiple times, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told a media briefing on Friday.
UNIFIL has been “deliberately attacked” five times. Of the two Sri Lankans who were injured last week, one has been discharged from the hospital and the other is still recovering.
Most Sri Lankan peacekeepers are part of UNIFIL’s Force Protection Unit, meaning their role is to protect the headquarters at Naqoura in Southern Lebanon, according to Sri Lanka’s Senior Military Public Information Officer at UNIFIL, Lieutenant Colonel Sujan Shakya. Besides Sri Lankans, 50 countries have contributed 10,058 troops to UNIFIL. Ms. Tenenti said the peacekeepers were working under very difficult conditions, including having to spend extended hours in bunkers. So far UNIFIL has not shot back, but Ms. Tenenti said they were allowed to do so in self-defence at the discretion of the commanders.
Meanwhile, in Beirut, Sri Lankan migrant workers are making a big decision of their own: whether to stay or return home.
According to Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Kapila Jayaweera, most Sri Lankans do not want to return home and are choosing to wait it out. “Having lived here for decades, lost connection with family in Sri Lanka, and sometimes started families of their own with other migrants and refugees, Lebanon is a second home,” he said.
Even so, neither they nor their children can be legally absorbed into the Lebanese system. They cannot receive public schooling and, under the Kafala system, remain in Lebanon only at the discretion of their employer, the ambassador explained.
With the help of NGOs, the Sri Lankan Embassy is supporting those migrants who are residing in shelters. But Andrew Samuel, the director of Community Development Services, an NGO that works on migrant issues, warned that conditions were worsening in shelters.
Diseases especially spread fast, and Lebanon’s healthcare system is already on its knees. A Sri Lankan working at a private hospital in Lebanon shared that many migrant workers, especially those on expired visas, are only able to receive healthcare with the support of NGOs as most hospitals are private and expensive.
Mr. Samuel said the workers might change their minds about returning to Sri Lanka if the situation worsened. For many, there is a major obstacle to returning home: documents.
Some migrants came to Lebanon on fake passports or visit visas without registering with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, Mr. Samuel said. Others have had their passports taken by employers who fled the country. Many have lived in Lebanon for decades, having children with mostly Palestinian or Syrian refugees. Since two foreigners cannot register a marriage in Lebanon, these children are considered to be born out of wedlock, making it even more complicated to get their documents in order.
In Colombo, the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Division Director, Sisira Seneviratne, said that in an emergency, the safety of all Sri Lankans, regardless of their documentation, would be a “top priority.” He said the Beirut embassy had the authority to recommend individuals for a temporary travel document from the Department of Immigration and Emigration even if they did not have their documents in order. Individuals would be interviewed by the embassy and asked about where in Sri Lanka they were from and who their family was here before being recommended. This data could then be cross-verified with the local police and Grama Sevakas, he said.
Known as the Readmission Case Management System, it could work even in those dire instances where children’s births had not been registered, as long as officers had a “humanitarian attitude,” explained an official at the Department of Immigration. “In such an emergency situation, the ministry, the embassy, the immigration department, Grama Sevakas, intelligence officers, police, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) need to work together,” he said. “We can bring the children home first and register them later as long as public officers have the will to do so.”
Migrant workers are also likely to face a host of social and economic issues on arrival. Mr. Samuel said that, especially for women, who were the majority of Sri Lankan migrants in Lebanon, coming home could be a challenge. “Our society is not sympathetic to them, especially if they have had relations with foreigners and are returning with children,” he said. “Many feel there is no one in Sri Lanka to support them.”
For now, migrants are waiting to see how things will pan out. Asked what he wanted from the government, a migrant worker living in Beirut suburbs said, “At the moment in Beirut things have quietened and the situation is not too unsafe, just as long as the government takes us all back if things get worse.”
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