Positive steps on female migrant labour

Ishara JAYAWARDANE

Plans to increase minimum employment age of Sri Lankan female domestic workers is underway by the Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare. According to authorities this could be the first step in bringing a complete stop to Lankan women going abroad for employment as domestic aides. In January this year the cabinet endorsed a proposal by Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Dilan Perera to raise the minimum age limit for migrant workers from 18 to 21. Here are excerpts from the interview Daily News Gender Forum had with the minister.

“My first ever Cabinet paper, after I took over this ministry, was to raise the minimum age of a female domestic worker from 18 to 21. My aim is to see that I raise this minimum age within the next three years to 30 and reduce the maximum age which is 50 now, to about 40 or 42. As a matter of fact, our policy regarding the female domestic worker is that we must discourage them from leaving this country. Without banning the female workers from going abroad, I will be slowly discouraging it. Consequently it will come to an automatic ban” said Minister Dilan Perera The problems faced by female domestic workers in Middle East countries can be put into two categories. One is the problem of wages. Some of the workers in the Middle Eastern countries are unable to get the minimum wages that we stipulate here. The other is the problem of harassment by some of the employers.

“Even if you take both these categories together, the problem area is not more than 15 per cent . Even in the category of the female housemaids, 85 per cent are success stories. But even the 10 per cent or 15 per cent that are unsuccessful is big where our ministry is concerned. Even 1 per cent of a problem is big to us. We are here to address the problem areas. We are not here to harp on the success stories and brag about it. Our duty is to do our job well and we are here to address the problem areas,” stated Minister Perera.

The minister stressed that his aim is to see that we completely stop female domestic worker category from going abroad. However the minister said he is enthusiastic about encouraging professionals, the skilled category and semi skilled category to go abroad, finding ways and means to give them the necessary training here. Such as the necessary skills - job specific, company specific and country specific.

The minister further stated that he is very much against sending domestic maids, saying that we must send domestic keepers and that additional training must be given for their position to be elevated from house maid to housekeeper. He also pointed out that house keeper is a category where you get a better salary and more facilities.

While stating that female domestic workers going to Middle East countries are not totally unskilled, the minister admitted that their skills need to be improved.

“I have developed a scheme where the period of training is extended from seven to twenty one days. In addition to the training they are given, in the future they will be taught English as well as Arabic. They will also be given in-house training and during that training period we will see that they are given the food they will get in the countries they will be leaving for. During the 21 days of in-house training we must not allow the trainee to go home and see her family because she must get used to being away from home” explained Perera.

Sri Lankans throughout the country are familiar with the case of Rizana Nafeek. Minister Dilan Perera urged the media to understand the sensitivity of this case, strongly emphasizing that the law in Saudi Arabia is not our law and it is necessary to respect the law of that country. According to the law of that country, even the king cannot pardon Rizana. The law of that country stipulates various ways and measures in granting a pardon. “By raising this issue over and over again, what you are doing is not helping Rizana’s cause at all.

You are setting fire to a problem that we are slowly solving. We are dealing with a life. We want to save this girl’s life. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has written a personal letter to the king of Saudi Arabia and the execution of Rizana has been temporarily suspended but it doesn’t mean that it is a permanent pardon. So this is something the media must realize. We have to understand that the girl is in another country and the law of that country is different and we have to respect the law of that country” stated Perera. Many are the cases of Sri Lankan domestic workers being subjected to beatings, torture and humiliation in Middle East countries. From one side of the fence it may seem that the government is not interested in their plight.

“It all depends on how you look at it. As far as our ministry is concerned we feel that at least 85 per cent of the people who go abroad have successful stories. The problem area is definitely below 15 per cent. But to us the problem area which is below 15 percent is more than 115 percent. We take total responsibility and we want to see that we attend to the problems. But some problems are beyond our control.

The cause of some problems is the regulations and issues that come from the receiving country. We cannot force these countries to change their laws. The method of consultation and discussion round the table is one way of getting things done. In trying to address these problems, we must also realize that Sri Lanka is not the only country sending people abroad. There is competition as well in the foreign employment category. If people want to point a finger at us, we tell those people: before pointing your finger at us, see that the three fingers pointed at yourself are clean”.

Another important question on the minds of many is from the numerous cases that have been reported, how many have been successfully prosecuted? Minister Perera was quick to point out that whenever a complaint is lodged at embassies in those countries, we have taken very quick action and that through the labor officers and welfare officers, the employers have been taken to court. Whenever a case is reported of harassment or assault, our embassies have taken the necessary steps to see that they are brought before the courts of that country.

“There are instances where Sri Lankan housemaids who have gone to those countries 25 or 30 years ago, having their own agencies now. Sometimes they also harass Sri Lankan workers more than the people in those countries,” said minister Perera.

At the moment the Foreign Employment Bureau is in the process of grading Foreign Employment Agencies such as Super, Gold, Silver and Bronze. This will help people to find out the performance of the job agencies. “My policy is a football policy: Two Yellow and One Red.

You show two yellow cards and third card amounts to red and you are sent off. We will give two warnings and a third won’t be a warning; the third will be a complete suspension and complete ban on that particular agency. This also applies to the employees as some of them also do wrong. They get caught doing various nefarious activities and thus tarnishing the image of this country and by violating the laws of those countries. Such Sri Lankans are also blacklisted,” concluded minister Dilan Perera.