Lanka vows action to halt abuse of overseas' maids

THE Government will take urgent steps to all the abuse of tens of thousands of Lankan women working abroad, Labour Relations and Foreign Employment Minister Athauda Seneviratne told Lankapuvath.

In a recent interview, Seneviratne said he had travelled to some Middle Eastern countries last year to gather first-hand accounts of the alleged abuse cases, adding that the Government was taking urgent measures to tackle the problem.

The Government received 2,000 reports of Foreign employers abusing maids in 2003, the latest year for which statistics are available. A total of 123 Sri Lankan women died in 2003 while working abroad of which the Government had classified 45 cases as "Unnatural Deaths."

"I am telling everyone that this is a grave human issue and let us do our best to prevent it." He said. "We are not exporting goods, we are dealing with humans."

The Government says 64.5 percent of the 1.3 million Sri Lankans employed abroad are women, and almost all work as maids in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain and Cyprus. Women accounted for only 33 per cent Sri Lankans working abroad in 1986.

Meanwhile, an official at the Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment noted the Government has now made it compulsory for anyone working abroad to register with officials to make it easier to find them in case of trouble.

The Minister has urged all Sri Lankan embassies in all middle eastern countries to open "Safe Houses," either on embassy premises or in adjacent buildings, to offer shelter for abused maids or those fearing harm.

There are over 160,000 Sri Lankan workers in the UAE, second only to Saudi Arabia.