“We would suggest the ban on the recruitment of housemaids from Sri Lanka at the committee meeting scheduled on Sunday in Riyadh,” said SANARCOM Chairman Saad Al-Badaah, adding that it is up to the members of the national committee to approve the proposal.
Listing the reasons why Sri Lankan maids would be banned, Al-Badaah said that SANARCOM had signed an agreement with ALFEA to reduce recruitment charges from SR7,500 to SR5,500, and that Sri Lanka is not honoring this.
He also cited the case of a Sri Lankan maid L.T. Ariyawathi who claimed she was tortured by her Saudi sponsor by embedding metal nails into her hands. The allegation, which caused embarrassment to the Saudi government, was later found to be baseless, said Al Badaah.
Last year, Sri Lanka sent 42,906 domestic aides to the Kingdom; 19,000 were sent during the first half of this year.
There are some 500,000 Sri Lankan workers in the Kingdom, including housemaids.
Kingsley Ranawake, chairman of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), said the Sri Lankan government is not in a position to accept the agreement since ALFEA is an umbrella association with an estimated membership of only 200 of the country’s 800 recruitment agencies.
He added that the association has no legal authority to sign international agreements on behalf of the government.
“Even Sri Lanka's attorney general had ruled that the agreement signed between SANARCOM and ALFEA is null and void,” he said.
The Sri Lankan official said SANARCOM should sign agreements with SLBFE, which functions under Sri Lanka’s Ministry of External Affairs.
Yahya Makboul, manager of the recruitment section at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Sri Lankan authorities do not train maids before they are sent to the Kingdom.
“The main issue is that they (Sri Lankans) have refused to cooperate with us in providing training and instruction to their workers before they arrive in the Kingdom. Although they say they are giving instructions pertaining to the expected duties and local customs it is apparent they are not,” he said, adding that many Sri Lankans refuse to work after arriving in the Kingdom.
Speaking about the impact a ban would have on Sri Lanka, he said many people on both sides will be affected.
“It is certain that many people will suffer losses, but obviously Saudi Arabia has many options left,” Makboul said.
“We can recruit from Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as several other Asian counties that we are currently looking into recruiting from,” he added.
