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| Wednesday, 24 March 2004 |
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by Mohammed Rasooldeen in Riyadh A high-level delegation arrived in Riyadh from Colombo as part of its mission to streamline the functioning of the Sri Lanka's Consulate in Jeddha. The team is led by the Director General Consular Affairs, Ambassador Mohammed Mahroof, the Chief Accountant of the Foreign Ministry S. Dayananda and the Manager Foreign Relations of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) A. Yapa. In a related development, the new Consul General Maznavee Sadiq also arrived here to take over from the present incumbent Abdul Cader Mohamed Ibrahim who will be leaving the Kingdom, Wednesday on completion of his tenure in Saudi Arabia. There have been a string of sensational stories in the Sri Lankan press about the "Sale" of runaway maids and accusations against the Saudi sponsors for harassment and non-payment of salaries. The Sri Lankan Ambassador Ibrahim Sahib Ansar who has been asked to assist the visiting team told Daily News that the main task of the delegation is to put the consulate in order and streamline its activities especially in the management and welfare of runaway housemaids. There are 350,000 Sri Lankans working in the Kingdom, 85 per cent of these being housemaids and unskilled labour. An average of five housemaids runaway from their homes to seek refuge at the consulate in Jeddah. At present there are 82 maids accommodated in a villa of the consulate and 62 of them will be sent back home during this week," the ambassador said. Ansar said the sponsors have the habit of retaining the maids' salaries for the first three months so that they could repatriate an inefficient maid with the accumulated salary. "This is the major complaint among the runaway maids. If this is taken care of, then 50 to 60 per cent of runaway cases will come down," he said. The envoy said that common misunderstandings due to alien culture, foreign food and the language barrier have contributed to several disputes between the sponsors and the maids. "Such problems could find easy solutions through arbitration conducted by the officials of the mission," Ansar said. The Colombo based SLBFE which co-ordinates foreign employment, offers incentives for its foreign workers which include a free insurance scheme, housing loans, scholarships for their children, duty free allowance and special services at the airport on arrival and departure. The Kingdom has the largest concentration of 350,000 Sri Lankan workers out of its half a million labour force in the GCE region. |
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