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Traumas of migrant workers

Our front page news report yesterday on the terrible human price our migrant workers have to pay for their stormy spells of employment in mainly the Middle East, should set off alarm bells in this country. From January 2000 to October 2003, apparently, some 400 bodies of Lankans who have met with untimely deaths while pursuing employment abroad, have been returned to the land of their birth, testifying to the mainly cruel conditions which greet these workers in their host countries. Needless to say, the majority of the deceased are women, we having earned for ourselves the notoriety, over the years, of being a major "housemaid importing" country.

Other news highlights are that 7,100 complaints had been received from Lankan housemaids in the Middle East from the beginning of this year upto October 31st, and that some Lankan embassy officials in the countries in question are engaging as employment brokers between destitute Lankan house maids and prospective Middle Eastern employers. A Rural Women's Front official was quoted in our report as saying that 91 percent of Lankan migrant women workers complain of sexual harassment at the hands of employers and others.

Here is proof that our women workers are finding themselves in increasingly inhospitable and heart-breaking Middle Eastern climes. It may be argued that this was always known but now we possess incontrovertible evidence that the suffering visited on these women is monumental and steeply rising.

The authorities and the Lankan citizenry need to alert themselves to the tragedy of labouring thus in the Middle East not only because remittances by these workers help to substantially swell our foreign exchange reserves. In fact, this is the least of the reasons why we should lament the condition of particularly our women workers.

It is the terrible human and social costs incurred by this scramble for employment abroad which should stir the consciences of this country's people. The stark position today is that many of these workers would be fortunate if they return alive to Sri Lanka. Most of them are, apparently, at the mercy of their employers and now, it seems, at even the mercy of some Lankan embassy officials.

The suffering of these women workers is compounded by the fact that they virtually throw-up everything - including their families - to pursue the proverbial pot of gold in hardly safe climes. It is well-known now that besides the individual suffering of the workers concerned, Sri Lanka is littered with a multitude of problems as a result of these policy initiatives on creating more foreign employment - broken homes, declining family values, destitute children open to sexual abuse etc. A question which should arise in most sensitive minds and hearts is whether the shekels are worth the travails.

The least the authorities could do is ensure that the employers of our migrant workers are held to account for the crimes they commit against their wards from Sri Lanka. On and off we hear of regulations and agreements being framed between Sri Lanka and host countries to ensure the well-being of our workers. Apparently, not much is being done in this regard, or else the necessary mechanisms to bolster worker well-being are not being effectively implemented. As we said earlier, these disclosures should set off alarm bells in the relevant quarters.

Earth in danger

A little-known fact came to light at the UN Conference on Climate Change held in Milan this week; that the threat of diseases will worsen as global warming rises.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that diarrhoea, malaria and dengue fever will surge and swathes of Southern Asia are likely to be hit by malnutrition as a result of global warming.

Higher temperatures will change rainfall patterns and the length of seasons, which will have an impact on agriculture and water-borne and insect-borne diseases in Southern Asia, the WHO said. The UN projects a rise of between 1.4 and 5.8 Celsius from 2003-2100.

This will not be good news to most Asian countries which need a massive energy supply to achieve development goals. A bigger energy supply means higher emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming. In the light of WHO findings, they will have to strike a balance between environmental safeguards and developmental needs.

On the other hand, there is no sign that the developed world is taking concrete steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, aims to cut such emissions to 95 per cent of 1990 levels. But the United States and some other countries are not supporting the protocol. They say that implementing the protocol, which advocates using existing technology to reduce emissions, would slow economic growth. They argue that emissions should be reduced by using breakthrough technology such as hydrogen power.

Waiting for new technology rather than using existing methods may spell doom for the world as we know it: The German government has published a scientific study warning that the melting of ice caps would cause sea levels to rise by several metres, submerging major cities including London, New York, Bombay and Lagos. Clearly, both rich and poor nations will be equally affected.

Still, it is not too late to take action. Both developed and developing nations must join hands to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure a brighter future for their citizens. We hope the deliberations at Milan will help the world to choose this path.

Hussain's Hollow Heroics

The incident involving Nasser Hussain and Muttiah Muralitharan at Asgiriya on Thursday points to two simple morals.

One - It is true that Cricket ceased quite some time ago to be a game of gentlemen but at least one does not expect dog to bite dog (an axiom common among journalists incidentally). Hussain, the Pakistan-born former English captain, was being obviously more English than the English when he allegedly told rude things about Muralitharan. Which shows that the colonial legacy dies only slowly. The native standard bearer of imperialism is fiercer than the true colonial overlord. While the Englishmen watch from the sidelines Hussain, the Pakistani, turns on Muralitharan, a fellow Asian.

Two - If Hussain does not know it he should be informed by somebody quickly that it is not safe to monkey around with Muralitharan on his home turf. He is after all a Kandy boy, the 'gamey kolla' and the populace is not going to take Hussain's hollow heroics kindly. So tread lightly, old boy, tread lightly and mind your manners.

STONE 'N' STRING

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