New laws to curb human cargo

Revision of 1985 Foreign Employment Act in the offing:

Rasika SOMARATHNA

Sri Lankan authorities are planning to tighten the screws on human trafficking and illegal migrants with new laws and the possible revision of the 1985 Act on Foreign Employment.

Information Technology is to play a major role in the efforts with a comprehensive data base system connecting relevant departments, in a bid to foil abusers from exploiting the loopholes in the existing system.

Human Trafficking refers to cases where a person is sold or bartered without his\her knowledge and acts of selling or promotion to sell are also considered trafficking under the penal code.

According to a recent US survey Sri Lanka has been identified as a hotbed for human trafficking. But according to local authorities Sri Lanka still does not have an alarming situation like some Asian neighbours but steps have to be taken to curb trafficking before it gets out of hand.

There are many instances where foreign job seekers had been duped by agents on false promises with poverty and lack of knowledge playing a major part.

The teenager in death row in Saudi Arabia is one such example, and there are many such cases with agents helping them to get the nod using false documents.

According to Assistant Controller of the Emigration and Immigration, Parakrama Fernando there has to be a strong mechanism with the interaction of all relevant departments.

According to him there is enough muscle in the 360 C section of the penal code, but lack of complaints by victims has been a major hurdle. Fernando attributes lack of such claims to fear of social stigma and proposes a confidential forum to address the issue.

The sub agents who act as accomplices of major employment agents have contributed to aggravate the problem.

These unauthorised agents has been in the forefront in duping foreign job seekers on false promises. Although the 1985 Act provides regulatory powers to control employment agencies there is no mechanism to control sub agents and bogus job agents. Thus proper awareness seems to be the only way forward, sources said.

Meanwhile, the migrant worker remittances topped US $ 1.76 billion by end August 2007. According to Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Keheliya Rambukwella a series of measures are underway to address issues pertaining to the abuse foreign employment market, with more awareness programmes, tough laws and the promotion of more skilled workers with better perks to address the issue.