Migrant workers yearn to return

Rs. 13 m allocated for humanitarian mission

While 12,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers have been brought home under a humanitarian mission from 14 destination countries amidst the COVID-19 pandemic another over 45,000 workers are desperately seeking repatriation.

The repatriation mission has however encountered delays owing to insufficient space at quarantine centres in Sri Lanka, insufficient health staff and other limitations, according to a senior official at the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE).

The official, K. L. H. K. Wijerathne, SLBFE’s Deputy General Manager (Foreign Relations) made a comprehensive presentation on the government’s response to the needs of migrant workers overseas, at a civil society consultation on Tuesday in Colombo titled ‘ Labour Migration and the COVID- 19 pandemic’. This was perhaps the first time the government’s response to repatriate overseas Sri Lankan workers was detailed in a public forum.

He said Rs. 13 million has been allocated to provide a host of facilities including repatriation, provision of dry rations to workers abroad (through the embassies and civil society groups), face mask, sanitizers and temporary accommodation for workers without food and shelter, in 14 destination countries.

The discussion was organised by the Voice of Migrant Workers (VoMW), a new coalition of national and grassroots civil society organisations which includes Caritas Sri Lanka, Centre for Human Rights and Community Development, Community Development Services, Helvetas Swiss, the National Trade Union Federation and Solidarity Centre among others designed to meet the COVID- 19 response. A total of 40 organisations were expected to be coopted into the coalition, many of who attended the 2-day workshop.

The impact of lockdowns, less jobs and constraints in travelling abroad for Sri Lankans seeking employment abroad has been adversely felt. According to SLBFE data, during the ‘affected’ period March 2020 to August 2020, just 8,351 people went abroad as workers compared to 101,336 workers in the same period in 2019. More than 315 workers were infected with COVID-19 abroad while there were at least 44 deaths.

The bureau’s response plan entailed measures to be taken in five stages: Measures in the country of destination; measures on their return home to Sri Lanka; measures at the point of entry and

immediate post- arrival, measures in Sri Lanka for re-integration and measures for re- migration. The plan was drafted by a committee which includes officials from the SLBFE, International Organisation for Migration and the International Labour Organisation after considering input from civil society and organisations supporting migrant workers.

According to details collected ‘on their future’ from more than 4000 returnee migrant workers who were housed in quarantine centres, 1065 want to return to work at their same work place, 992 want to seek a job locally, 421 want to seek employment overseas in a new work place, 346 want to start a business, 36 require further training while the ‘ other’ category’ had responses from 1,411 workers.

Among measure s offered to support re-migration are extension on loan repayment of migrant workers, exempt foreign employment businesses from income tax for a specific period, provide assistance to licensed foreign employment ag encies for employment promotion and provide them with import duty concessions, and increase the duty free allowance to US$5,000 for those who return to the country after completion of two years or more and $2,500 for those who complete one year of a 2-year term. It was also planned to introduce a loan scheme for migrant workers to meet the cost of recruitment at a concessionary interest rate through the banking system.

Some of the proposed returnees are undocumented workers who work as free-lancers and don’t have proper visas.