JEDDAH, 16 December 2002 — Sri Lankan housemaids, who form 90 percent of the island’s 350,000 expatriate workforce in Saudi Arabia, may not have to run away from their sponsors at the rate they have been doing so far. This follows the implementation of a new unified labor contract system effective from Thursday.
“The unified system envisages a formal agreement between overseas recruitment agencies in Colombo and their counterparts in the Kingdom, which also implies that the agent on either side can be held responsible and taken to task for wrongdoings,” Siri Andrahennady, deputy chairman of the parliamentary consultative committee on labor from the island state, told reporters here on Saturday night.
Cases of runaway maids have been on the increase at a five to 10 percent rate in the past few years. They are lodged in ‘safe houses’ at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah. The Sri Lankan missions claim to have succeeded in solving most of the cases by sending the run-away maids back to their sponsors and deporting the rest home.
Much of the maids’ ‘harassment’ is reported to be due to their lack of Arabic language and inability to operate various household gadgets. Some even allege personal harassment, improper food and indefinite hours of work.
The island’s missions agree that there was no orientation of maids seeking overseas jobs until recently. A full-fledged training system has lately been evolved in Colombo for all prospective job-seekers. It covers a working knowledge of Arabic, use of household equipment, and local regulations and lifestyle.
According to a new local regulation, the missions in the two cities have been referring runaway cases to the area police who in turn deal with the sponsors in a bid to bring about an amicable settlement, failing which the maids are allowed to be deported home.
Currently, 180 runaway maids are stranded in the Kingdom — 70 in Riyadh, 60 in Jeddah and 50 in Dammam. Each month, Riyadh and Jeddah report a total of 200 to 300 cases of runaway-maids. This year, they totalled 3,382. Five percent of those who do not go back to their sponsors are deported. Deportation costs are partly funded by the Sri Lankan government and air tickets provided either by sponsors or the Colombo-based Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE).
It is against this background that seven parliamentarians representing the committee are touring the Kingdom. “Ours is a fact finding mission and we’ve gathered a lot of information both from the community and runaway housemaids at our embassy in Riyadh and consulate in Jeddah. We’ve identified areas where we could further streamline our efforts in tackling the problems faced by the housemaids in particular and labor force in general,” Andrahennady, leader of the visiting group, said during a reception hosted at Consul General A.C.M. Ibrahim’s residence.
Ambassador Ibrahim Sahib Ansar said that a 17-member parliamentary delegation from the island, led by Speaker Joseph Michael Pereira, would tour the Kingdom for a week from Dec. 28 at the invitation of Shoura Council President Saleh ibn Humaid.
“This will be one of the highest-level goodwill delegations coming here after the visit of former President Junius Jayewardene in 1981. The group will include four cabinet ministers, leader of the opposition and seven parliamentarians and will cover Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam,” he added.
Andrahennady, who performs the role of acting speaker in the parliament when needed, said his group had come here from Riyadh and would proceed to Oman. Another group representing the committee is currently touring other parts of the region covering the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan and Lebanon. The two groups are scheduled to meet in Dubai during a visit by the island’s Minister of Labor and Employment Mahinda Samarasinghe on Thursday.
Andrahennady’s group includes D.B.A. Jayawardena, M.A.M. Mahroof, V. Puththirasingamoney, H.M. Vijitha Herath, R.A. Tudor Dayaratne and B.H.J. Jayaweera. Accompanying them is H.A. Wimalasooriya, working director of SLBFE.
“Aside from identifying issues related to our workforce, our objective is to find skilled jobs for our job seekers,” Andrahennady said and hoped that the implementation of the new unified contract system would make 514 recruiting agencies in Sri Lanka and their counterparts in the Kingdom “more responsible and check the current rate of runaway maids, especially.”
