RIYADH, 25 April 2006 — Sri Lankan ambassadors who met in Dubai last week , called on their Labor Ministry to blacklist unscrupulous recruiting agents who are responsible for most of the labor problems in the Middle East. Streamlining the recruiting agents will minimize the problems faced by the Lankan labor force, they claimed .
More than 10 papers were presented by the participating ambassadors at the two-day conference held under the chairmanship of Athauda Seneviratne, minister of labor relations and foreign employment. The presentations detailed the labor problems in their respective countries of assignment. The set of proposals made by the missions will be taken up for implementation after a careful study by the ministry, minister Seneviratne said.
Ambassadors from United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Maldives, South Korea, Malaysia, Cyprus and Singapore were present at the conference sponsored by the Labor Ministry held to discuss the problems of 1.2 million Sri Lankan workers in these countries.
Blaming the agents, Mohamed Nabavi Junaid, ambassador in Abu Dhabi told Arab News that they promised attractive perks for those coming for jobs in the Middle East. “Subsequently, the workers end up with far-fetched promises as they reach their foreign work places,” he said.
A.M.J. Sadiq, ambassador to the Kingdom, pointed out that there are more than 600 registered recruiting agents in Sri Lanka. Most of them are involved in various malpractices, he said, adding that around 100 of them could easily handle the recruitment procedures.
Enumerating the other issues, the envoy said the common problems faced by the Lankan missions in the Kingdom are non-Muslim workers are sent as Muslims; non-Sri Lankans are dispatched as Sri Lankans; underaged girls are deployed as domestic aides; unmarried men and women are sent as married couples and they are forced to live in a room in a single household.
