New Policies towards a change in Direction.

Sri Lanka ranks among the world’s 20 main exporters of labour services, as a percentage of total exports of goods ad services it was as high as 20 percent in 2004. It was equally high as a percentage of import of goods. Sri Lankans who migrate for Foreign Employment are handled by the private sector and monitored by a State Bureau. It is a land based employment program. Private sector operates amidst excessive competition to secure jobs, and in the process they charge exorbitant fees, lower standards of employment and sometimes expose migrant workers to unanticipated risks

Majority of Sri Lankans who are exposed to this situation are women who leave the country as Housemaids. They are not protected by any labour laws while in employment and have no human rights while they are out of the country. The distinction between slavery and employment in this situation remains rather thin
The reality is that a woman who comes for employment to a house has to forego her passport, her identity and individuality. She loses her independence and her right to move. In spite of these restrictions, some women leave their employers and hide themselves. However the strong arm of law intervenes and they are detained or placed in jail for loitering. Even if they run to the Sri Lanka Embassy for protection, after inquiry the Embassy will normally send them back to their former employer or to the police

Incidents of women who fall from buildings and die prematurely are often suspected by their relatives as incidents of murder or suicide caused by unbearable trauma. Feminization of migration has posed the greatest challenge for Sri Lankan Overseas Employment program.  The “Commodity supply Approach” of Select, Train, Pack, Insure and Export may not succeed in this venture as human nature which is diverse does not always bend itself to Regulations.  Should this continue in the 21st Century?  A different approach is called

For this purpose receiving countries should be required to respect human rights and ensure that they reach Bilateral Agreements with the authorities in Sri Lanka to provide protection and welfare to visiting Sri Lankan workers, adopt a reasonable grievance procedure and compensate victims of abuse and violence
It is reported that 20 –30 percent of persons leaving for employment abroad do not register with the Foreign Employment Bureau. It is claimed that they prefer not to do so, as they are compelled to pay heavy registration fees which are levied on the basis of placement charges permitted under the law, even when they find jobs on their own.
Today our concerns are mainly reactive, to regulate the process of recruitment or levy of fees and count on earnings from external remittances. We have made no attempt to improve quality or introduce professionalism in services. We are not on the search for alternative sources of employment for our workers, locally or abroad or encourage local employment after training in skills for unskilled women workers who are now sent overseas for domestic service. The overseas employment programme should be proactive, value based and very much a part of an overall national employment strategy

Sri Lanka’s Overseas Employment Porgram has worked on the basis of temporariness.  After nearly 20 years of the Bureau’s existence the time has now come to consider a long term overseas employment strategy. In the Philippines one overseas employment agency the POEA
covers both land and sea based employment. It is not possible for Sri Lanka to offer such a total overseas employment package through a Bureau set up in the Ministry   of Labour. The future calls for setting up an Overseas   Employment Authority  with sufficient influence over the several Departments; State agencies; Training and Human Resources Development institutions engaged in manpower preparation.  Of 44 Ministries established in Sri Lanka  recently nearly one half of them are engaged in some program of in-house training and at least 6 key ministries had HRD and Training responsibilities to prepare manpower

Coordination and efficient networking will enable such Authority to pursue an organized delivery system that will supply overseas demand yet not result in manpower shortages in the domestic economy. With the full backing of Sri Lanka’s Diplomatic Service it will be possible to clear likely bottlenecks   and obtain guarantees from labour receiving countries on the quality and quantity of jobs they offer, minimize abuse, exploitation and premature termination of contracts

The Bureau of Foreign Employment its structure, powers and nature of operations when examined closely against the demands for overseas labour in the Gulf and emerging new destinations in Europe and East Asia compels us to note the relevance of new policies and Institution better equipped to under take a comprehensive overseas employment promotion strategy as well as combine it with adequate training and manpower preparation to meet  targeted destinations.  It will enable the conclusion of high powered Bilateral Agreements with labour receivers and ensure the decline of trafficking, illegal recruitment, and clandestine movement of people and other pitfalls of overseas migration we are accustomed to and provide the average Sri Lankan job seeker an avenue for safe migration