Parliament

'Govt has made rapid progress in foreign employment'

Sandasen MARASINGHE, Irangika RANGE and Disna MUDALIGE

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa presided when Parliament met at 9.30 am yesterday. After the presentation of papers and oral questions, the House took up the Committee Stage debate of Budget 2013. The Finance Heads of the Ministries of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms, Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare and Justice were taken up for debate.

Ranjan Ramanayake (UNP): According to Central Bank reports, the amount of foreign exchange we earned from the Sri Lankans working abroad in 2010 had been US$ 4.1 billion. This amount in 2011 was US$ 5.2 billion. According to statistics, 1.8 million Sri Lankans were working abroad. This was eight percent of the population in the country. These statistics do not include the number of Sri Lankan illegal migrants in other countries.

Sri Lankan migrant workers are facing numerous hardships. The government is not properly looking after these people. Female migrant workers in the Middle East are often tortured. They are our mothers and sisters. Why won't the government take measures to prevent them from going as domestic workers to middle eastern countries?

Nimal Wijesinghe (UPFA): We should not forget the contribution migrant workers provide our economy. We honour them as 'Rata Viruvos'.

The government established a separate ministry to provide necessary welfare measures to Sri Lankans working abroad. The ministry in collaboration with the Foreign Employment Bureau had undertaken tremendous efforts to provide welfare to these people.

The incidents of torture are rare and the majority of our migrant workers have been offered decent employment. The government is more keen on sending skilled and trained workers instead of untrained domestic workers. The housing loan scheme and scholarship awarding programme for children of these workers are commendable moves.

Govt should take measures to release the detainees

Suresh Premachandra (TNA): There are political prisoners languishing in several prisons throughout the country. These detainees are being held even after the war ended a long time ago. They have been in prisons for about 5 to 10 years. The government should take measures to release them. In many other countries where similar warfare had taken place, detainees and prisoners had been released soon after the war. However, the Sri Lankan government has taken no action with regard to them. Why doesn't the government give a common amnesty to them?

Ven Ellawala Medhananda Thera (UPFA): In the field of foreign employment promotion and welfare, the government has made rapid progress during a short period. When concentrating on rehabilitation and prison reforms, I would like to state the importance of rehabilitating the suspects.

There are two kinds of offenders. One is the 'Dittadammavedaniya Karma' in which they get to suffer within this life term. The second is that they suffer during this present life and in their rebirth.

The Prisons Reforms Ministry had initiated a number of programmes to rehabilitate the offenders. Necessary welfare measures have also been introduced by the ministry. They are given an opportunity to cultivate and get involved in self employment of their choice.

Sunil Handunnetti (DNA): If the Foreign Employment Bureau is not looking after the migrant workers, who else is going to do so?

There is an insurance scheme for migrant workers. However, this is operated jointly with a private insurance company. Why could not the government initiate this scheme with the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation?

Upeksha Swarnamali (UPFA): My mother went overseas in 1977 for a considerable period, but we grew up with the necessary protection and care given to us. Our family had been a strength to our neighbours and relations. I would like to state 95 percent of the migrant workers have been successful. Only about 5 percent have faced numerous difficulties. We too are concerned about them.

Rosy Senanayake (UNP): The President in his budget speech mentioned that the migrant workers send US$ 6 billion as foreign exchange to our country. He also mentioned the need to discourage females going as domestic workers, while promoting skilled and trained labour migration.

However, since January to September, there has been 4,401 complaints from migrant workers of torture and various other harassments they faced.

Most of these complaints had been from those working in the Middle East. Many countries have now prohibited sending people as domestic workers.

Deputy Chairman of Committees Murugesu Chandrakumar takes the Chair.

Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera: The government has recognized the services rendered by migrant workers to the country's economy. They are the ones who bring higher foreign remittances to the country. That's why we call them as heroes of the country (Rata Viruwo). During the UNP regime, 102,850 women went abroad to work as domestic helpers. We have taken measures to increase the number of male migrant workers and reduce female workers. I too took measures to increase the age limit of female domestic helpers upto 21 years.

In order to discourage sending our women as domestic helpers to other countries, we have targeted to create more skilled male workers through our training programmes. In future, we have made it compulsory to all migrant workers to obtain the NVQ level 1 qualification when they apply for foreign jobs. I am happy to say that we have been able to reduce the number of female domestic helpers going abroad. During the UNP regime, the percentage of female migrant workers had been 70 percent, while the male migrant workers percentage had been 30 percent. Today, the number of male migrant workers have increased to 70 percent, reducing the number of female migrant workers to 30 percent.

It is significant that Sri Lankan candidates who sat for the Korean Language proficiency test had obtained the highest results by defeating candidates who sat for the same examination conducted in several other countries. Therefore, there is a good demand for our skilled youths in the Korean job market.

When complains are received from migrant workers against foreign job agencies, I always took measures to ban them until the completion of proper investigations. The Shariya law is a divine law. Workers going abroad to work, should abide by the laws prevailing in that country.

P. Harrisan (UNP): According to statistics, there are 25,000 inmates in prisons today. But the problem is whether these inmates are provided with the required facilities to fulfill their basic needs. We consider that prisoners are human beings. Therefore, it is necessary to provide then the necessary facilities.

It is reported that several Prison officers have been involved in various offenses. I request the Minister to take disciplinary action against them.

Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera: The government has taken measures to ensure the safety of former LTTE suspects currently detained in prisons.

We have to understand the necessity of creating a conducive environment for prisoners detained in prisons. That is why the government has taken all possible measures to provide them with facilities.

The main problem that had been a worry to the government was lack of space in prisons. The Pallekele new prison is now under-constructione. Construction of the Jaffna Prison had been undertaken by the Ministry. Relocation of the Tangalle and Matara prisons too would help ease the congestion created due to the lack of space in prisons. Out of the total number of inmates, most of them are remand prisoners.

It is reported that 42% of the inmates are drug addicts. That is why we have commenced rehabilitation programmes, including religious and counselling. We expect to increase their mental health as well as moral powers. There are four centers to rehabilitate drug addicts. We are engaged in restructuring the current prisons system.

It is necessary to maintain internal discipline in prisons. It is reported that a number of cases pertaining to extortion handled by many inmates detained in prisons have increased in recent past. We do not allow these activities to take place in prisons. That is why we conduct sudden raids with the assistance of the police and the STF

A H M Azwer takes the Chair

Wijedasa Rajapaksa (UNP): Annually, we make an allocation for the maintenance of these institutions. But the issue today is not the amount allocated for the judiciary, but to the independence of the judiciary to mete out justice to the public. I am well aware that the people are not concerned about the amount allocated for the judiciary. But people think the judiciary is at the mercy of the Executive and the Legislature. Sometimes the media too criticize the judicature in a biased manner.

The Constitution has guaranteed us rights. But if those rights are not in existence practically, those rights are only an ornament to adorn the Constitution. To avoid that we should have independence of the judiciary.

There is a increase in child abuse, crimes, rape, etc being committed in the country. I am not going to say that this is a new scenario.

Rural Affairs Senior Minister Athauda Seneviratne: This President has never appointed a justice from outside.

There should be a change in the administration of the judiciary. But there is a back log of hundreds of thousands of cases. Sometimes certain cases have been dragging for years. A case filed by my father ended recently after 48 years.

The process in courts is very slow since the 17th century. However, the court is not a religious place. It is a place to serve the public. There are no regulations to control the Chief Justice and other Superior Judges which sometimes have negative repercussions. There should also be a representation of the public at the Judicial Service Commission as is in the UK.

S Sumanthiran (TNA): The Justice Minister a few years ago, said that law and order was being broken every day. Then he was appointed the justice minister. Under his watch, today the situation has worsened. The State has an obligation to protect the inmates of a prison. But 27 of the inmates were killed in prison.

Arundika Fernando (UPFA): Whatever the Opposition says, the President has not taken any measures against the Chief Justice, it is only the back benchers in Parliament who took initiations to move the impeachment motion.

However, we cannot demean the powers of Parliament. The Parliament has powers even to remove the President, the Elections Commissioner and the Judges of the country by means of an impeachment motion.

Vijitha Herath (DNA): Independence and justice should prevail in the judiciary system. The delay in hearing court cases had been a serious problem today. Even though we speak about independence of the judiciary, the executive has overpowered the judiciary without allowing it to function independently.

Today the Attorney General's Department is under the Executive. This move was not for the welfare of the people.

The confidence in law and order had been breached. The Attorney General is not allowed to work independently, but is subjected to external pressure.

Lakshman Wasantha Perera (UPFA): It is this regime that established the most number of institutions for the people to be meted out justice. The judiciary is functioning smoothly today. The judges are independent to take decisions. We cannot agree to the claim that the independence of the judiciary had been affected.

Many spoke about the Judicial Service Commission. Today there are about 220 magistrates and district court judges. About 25-30 of them have been removed and nobody has spoken on behalf of them.

The judicial system should not be allowed to collapse due to the conduct of one person.

Dayasiri Jayasekara (UNP): The government ministers should admit their own flaws. They must know that the criticisms they level against others can rotate back to them. It is the Finance Minister who appointed the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Insurance. The impeachment motion should be brought against the person who appointed him. I would like to ask how many, among the 117 who signed the impeachment motion, actually read it before signing.

The Chief Justice can make certain appointments according to the Constitution.

I would like to ask whether all senior members of the government have got ministerial posts. They haven't Likewise, it can happen in other spheres as well.

Mohan Priyadarshana de Silva (UPFA): There was a huge uproar over the attack on the Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission. This attack could have been done by the Opposition to tarnish the image of the government.

We honour the judges of the court. But among them, occasionally, there can be a black sheep. Who is going to hear the cases against them?

Lalith Dissanayake: Parliament has the supremacy. Standing Orders of the Parliament protects the privileges of all. The impeachment motion had been presented in accordance with the existing laws. Nobody can question or challenge the Parliament. The PSC would duly proceed on matters of the impeachment.

Ajith P Perera (UNP): There is a problem on the quality of the judiciary. An in-depth discussion must be carried out as to whether the required training has been received by the judges. There is no mechanism to provide proper training to our judges. But in many other countries, judges have to take up separate training and examinations. The judges need to gain more knowledge and skills to perform their duties properly.

Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody takes the Chair.

Chandrakumar Murugesu (UPFA): The judiciary is the life line of the country. People must be able to be meted out with justice from courts. The court system has been able to maintain equality to all, which should be commended.

The delay in hearing court cases must be solved. For example, court cases pertaining to lands had been dragging on for years and years. Prisoners with minor charges who were arrested during the war, should be given a common amnesty.

These are detainees languishing in prisons for many long years. Their family members undergo many hardships. I request the government to expedite court procedures with regard to them.

Sajin Vass Gunawardena (UPFA): Sujeewa Senasinghe MP criticized the government for bringing in an impeachment motion against the Chief Justice. He spoke defending the Chief Justice. It was not us, but Anura Dissanayake MP who went to the Commission to Investigate Bribery and Corruption over allegations against Pradeep Kariyawasam. The charges we have made against the Chief Justice must be thought of seriously. Those are not mild charges. There is no political motivation behind this move. The impeachment motion was not related to the Divi Neguma Bill.

There is a conspiracy to destroy the supremacy of parliament. There is a framework of law in the country and all should work in accordance with the law.

Thilanga Sumathipala (UPFA): The Judiciary must be fair and neutral. It must be impartial in its judgements. The government appears on behalf of the impartiality of the judiciary. There is no political agenda behind this move. The Chief Justice recently arrived in Parliament and we paid her due respect for it.

V S Radhakrishnan (UPFA): In regions where Tamil speaking people live, courts officials should be able to speak Tamil fluently.

Otherwise, people need to depend on the service of translators. The people should not face difficulties when communicating with others in courts.

Eran Wickramaratne (UNP): Regulations under the Domestic Violence Act are not being implemented today. A number of cases pertaining to domestic violence had increased in the recent past, due to the Act not being implemented. We know that clashes and crimes between family members have been covered by this Act.

The Act gives prominent place to the victims of crimes, while providing protection to victims. The problem is not implementing the Act properly. Women in the country face severe injustice due to this reason. Therefore, the Justice Ministry should take measures to create awareness among the public to stop domestic violence.

Eric Prasanna (UPFA): Parliament represents the supremacy of the people. We brought the impeachment against the Chief Justice to project the supremacy of the people. This is being handled within the scope of the law. Delay in hearing cases in courts have become a huge problem. I urge the Minister to increase the number of police personnel.

Sujeewa Senasinghe (UNP): If the law was imposed correctly, no violations of the law could take place in society. It is necessary that the police perform their duty properly. Today the police act according to the whims and fancies of certain people. The police implements laws only against the poor people.

Health Deputy Minister Lalith Dissanayake: The police have found canabis in the vehicle owned by one of the UNP members recently. No one talks about it. If any government member had been involved in this type of incident, everyone would have started speaking against him.

The law is equal to every one. We know how the UNP was engaged in breaching the law during its regime.

Ajith Kumara (Independent): It is questionable if the public are suffering because of the legislature, executive and the judicature, instead of relief. Now the situation has become worse with prison inmates being killed. The impeachment motion is moved against the farmers and the fishermen, etc.

The judiciary has never been independent. The Legislature, Executive and Judicature are not balanced.

Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem: The debate today was a heated one. But the pathetic situation is that at a time when positive changes are being made to the judiciary, the opposition is attempting to say the judiciary is not independent to the fact that an impeachment motion had been moved against the Chief Justice.

You know even today, interviews are in progress for recruitments and we don't interferer in them. The Opposition attempted to say the work of the judiciary had come to a halt, but it is not true.

We have noticed many disparities in judgments in the cases for contempt of courts. We are planing to move a Bill to provide for the provisions to deal with the contempt of courts. We are trying to introduce laws in collection of fines before the end of this year by replacing the existing system. Within this the local authorities will be facilitated. The delay in the law is a serious issue and we are working to bring in revolutionary changes in the court systems to address the law's delay. The charges will come into force early next year.

Infrastructure is being built for the judicature. In Galle, we have built up a large court complex with all facilities at a cost of Rs. 850 million. The Homagama Court complex will be built at a cost of Rs. 200 million. The first phase of the Wattala Court complex will commence at a cost of Rs. 175 million. The Gampaha and Batticaloa Court complexes will be renovated very soon. We tried to find an alternative land for the Ruwanvella Court complex, but decided to move the courts to the N.M. Perera Memorial Building and rebuild it.

The alternative method for initiating the Samatha Mandala is functioning. In the North and East, the Samatha Mandalas have been setup very recently. They could not function in those areas due to LTTE conflicts. We have taken measures to strengthen the Samatha Mediation Board by recruiting well qualified persons, by increasing women's participation and giving them knowledge. We also have to taken measures to set up a special Samatha Mediation Board to settle land issues in the North and East. Until President Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed duties, no leader had paid attention to the infrastructure of Quasi Courts.

The Domestic Violence Act Amendments introduced to protect the victims and the subject comes under Child and Women Development Ministry.

When International Arbitration is considered, an International Arbitration center is given a space at the World Trade Center. The Center will commence its work at the new space hopefully next year.

Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera said in Parliament yesterday, that systematic rehabilitation programmes would be implemented to prevent the inmates from engaging in crime and returning to prison after release.

The Minister was speaking during the committee stage debate of budget 2013, under the Finance Head of Rehabilitation and Prisons Reforms Ministry.

We have realised that there was lack of space in prisons. As a solution to this, we have planned to build new prisons and relocate the existing prisoners at places where space had been made available. Construction is under way for a new prison in Pallekele. We expect to open the Pallekele new prison in the first quarter of next year.

Plans are afoot to complete construction of the Jaffna Prison by 2016.

We have also paid attention to increase the spiritual levels of the inmates by conducting rehabilitation programmes, including religious and counselling activities.

There are nearly 25,000 inmates in prisons islandwide. About 43 percent of the inmates have been convicted for drug related offenses. We have established four rehabilitative centres across the country for them. At present they have been deployed in many agricultural and industrial activities.

[At Adjournment]

'Not a single fisherman in Indian custody

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, yesterday said in Parliament that not even a single Sri Lankan fisherman or fishing vessel was in Indian custody as of today. He said 729 Sri Lankan fishermen had been in Indian custody when he assumed duties at the Fisheries Ministry.

He made this observation in response to an Adjournment Motion moved by Ajith Kumara MP.

Ajith Kumara (DNA): Fishermen in the North and East have been badly affected by the 30-year long war. Even though the war was over, many restrictions have still been imposed on the Fishing Industry.

It is necessary that the government relax these restrictions as the fishing industry is the one and only livelihood of the majority of the people living in the North and East.

UNP MP Niroshan Perera seconded the motion.

Niroshan Perera (UNP): It is reported that a number of Indian fishermen entering the Sri Lanka territorial waters have increased. They violate Sri Lankan maritime boundaries. They also use illegal fishing nets to poach in Sri Lankan waters.

Dr. Rajitha Senaratne: We have taken action against the Indian fishermen trespassing in Sri Lankan territorial waters.

There had been 729 Sri Lankan fishermen in the custody of the Indian government. Today, there are no Sri Lankan fishermen detained in the custody of the Indian government.

We have taken measures to ban the illegal fishing equipment.

This has resulted in protecting our fish resources in the territorial waters. We have granted Rs. 255 million for development activities of the Fishing Industry.

The House adjourned until 9.30 today.

Minimum age for housemaidsupped again

Sandasen Marasinge, Irangika Range and Disna Mudalige

Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera told Parliament yesterday the minimum age requirement for migrant females as domestic servants would be further increased within the next three years.

He said the age limit which was 18, was increased to 21 recently, adding that attention has been paid to increase this further to discourage females going overseas as domestic aides.

Perera said the government is not willing to send females overseas as domestic aides.

The minister said the number of Lankan female migrant workers decreased over the past few years, adding that for the first time the number of male migrants was higher than females in 2011. Males account for 51 percent of migrant workers.

He said 158 deaths of migrant workers had been reported so far this year.

Among these, 120 had been natural deaths while there had been two cases of suicides and 16 deaths from road accidents, the minister said.

Perera said measures would be taken to cancel the licence of any foreign employment agency if there were complaints lodged against it.

He said loans with low interest rates and self - employment have been facilitated for migrant workers and their families under the Divi Neguma and Samurdhi programmes.

The minister was speaking under the Financial Heads of his ministry during the Budget 2013 committee stage debate.