RIYADH, 15 March 2004 — A Sri Lankan advisory team has arrived to streamline the running of the country’s consulate in Jeddah. The consulate has recently been the target of media attacks in Sri Lanka.

The team is led by the Director General of Consular Affairs Muhammad Mahroof, Chief Accountant of the Foreign Ministry S. Dayananda and the Manager of Foreign Relations of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) A. Yapa.

New Consul General Maznavee Sadiq has arrived here separately from the team to take over from the present incumbent Abdul Cader Muhammad Ibrahim. He leaves the Kingdom Wednesday on completion of his tour of duty in Saudi Arabia.

There have been a string of stories in the Sri Lankan press about the “sale” of runaway maids and accusations against Saudi sponsors for harassment and the non-payment of salaries.

Sri Lankan Ambassador Ibrahim Sahib Ansar, who has been asked to assist the visiting team, told Arab News that the team’s main task is to reorganize and streamline the consulate’s activities, especially in the management and welfare of runaway housemaids.

There are 350,000 Sri Lankans working in the Kingdom, 85 percent of these being maids and unskilled laborers. A considerable number of housemaids run away 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. He added that arrangements would be made to dispatch the maids in the refuge as soon as the negotiations are concluded with their respective sponsors.

Ambassador Ansar said the sponsors customarily withhold the maids’ salaries for the first three months claiming that it allows them to 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 percent of runaway cases will disappear,” he said.

The envoy also pointed out that common misunderstandings due to alien culture, foreign food and a language barrier have contributed to several disputes between sponsors and maids. “Such problems could easily be resolved by arbitration by the officials of the mission,” Ansar said.

“The Sri Lankan government is very concerned over the welfare of its female workers in the Kingdom, since they come here to earn their livelihood while leaving their families back in Sri Lanka,” Ansar said.

The Colombo-based SLBFE which coordinates foreign employment, offers incentives for its foreign workers which include a free insurance scheme, housing loans, scholarships for their children, tax-free allowances and special services at the airport on their arrival and departure. The Kingdom has the largest concentration of 350,000 Sri Lankan workers out of the half-million in the GCC region.