SL workers vulnerable to forced labour in NZ, Egypt

14 July 2018 05:31 pm - 21 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Sri Lankan workers are vulnerable to forced labour in New Zealand and Egypt and they are subjected to forced labour in Pakistan, the 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report released by the US Department of State said.

The Trafficking in Persons Report of this year was released in Washington DC on June 28.

The report said New Zealand is a destination country for foreign men and women subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking and a source country for children subjected to sex trafficking within the country.

“Foreign men and women from Sri Lanka, China, India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pacific islands and Latin America are vulnerable to forced labour in New Zealand’s agricultural, dairy, construction, viticulture, food service, and hospitality sectors and as domestic workers. Unregulated and unlicensed immigration brokers operating in New Zealand and source countries, particularly in India and the Philippines assist victims of labor exploitation in New Zealand obtain visas,” it said.

Meanwhile, it said Sri Lankan domestic workers in Egypt who are not covered under Egyptian labour laws are highly vulnerable to forced labour experiencing excessive working hours, denial of food and medical care and physical and psychological abuse.

The report said Pakistan is also a destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor, particularly from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

In past years, Sri Lankan citizens transiting Burkina Faso allegedly en route to another country had been subjected to forced labour. Sri Lankan men had been subjected to forced labour in Sierra Leone in the previous years.

Meanwhile, the report said some workers from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and India reportedly experience recruitment fraud before arriving in Maldives.

It said men and women from Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and other countries voluntarily migrate to Qatar as unskilled laborers and domestic workers.

“They often pay illegal and exorbitant fees to unscrupulous recruiters in the labor-sending countries, thereby increasing their vulnerability to debt bondage,” the report said.

Commenting on the measures taken by certain countries to help their nationals subjected to exploitative working condition in Kuwait, the US report said Embassies of Sri Lanka, the Philippines and India maintained their own domestic worker shelters and worked closely with the Kuwait government to seek compensation and legal redress for their nationals. (Lahiru Pothmulla)

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Comments - 21

Ahmed Saturday, 14 July 2018 08:06 PM

never thought our country people will work in poor countries like pakistan. imagine how poor we are

CS Saturday, 14 July 2018 10:17 PM

And I thought that NZ is a developed 1st world country!!!

Udugama Sunday, 15 July 2018 09:47 AM

This is it,all the white countries have simply fooled the third world to believe that they are very civilised.They do these propagandas via films,books,and news media. They are all criminals and cheats.

George Saturday, 14 July 2018 11:04 PM

So what is your point, for them to turn back this holy land?

Arnold Sunday, 15 July 2018 06:03 AM

This is the fault of our government. I heard they are going to start taxing those who use the toilet for more than 2 times a day.

Ranjan Sunday, 15 July 2018 08:52 AM

Sri Lankan pro-Westerners is to praise New Zealand as an example of how the whites have transformed a once backward country belonging to the indigenous people into a peaceful and prosperous country. Without mentioning what the whites did to those people when they invaded their country, and just only focusing on this latest news alone, see how terrible the New Zelanders are in forcing non whites to work like slaves in this 21st century.

Kale Sunday, 15 July 2018 02:46 PM

Look what you did to the Tamils and veddah in your own country first before you accuse others.

Jaliya Sunday, 15 July 2018 06:02 PM

When a country is invaded by a foreign force obviously, there will be clashes and war's ... there will be casualties on both fronts. That has happened throughout the history in all seven continents. Today, New Zealand constitution and legislation has more than adequate protection for the indigenous, second, third and future generations. The main issue is not what is happened in the past but at present as the USSD report indicated, the workers from third world have been treated unfairly irrespective of the labor laws. Sadly many [if not all] these workers are escapees from their native country for economic or political reasons. Their presence may not even be legal. No one in New Zealand is responsible for their being there nor they are holding these workers against their will. It was a choice they made and are happy to live under the conditions rather return to a country where they won’t have a future at all.

Peters Monday, 16 July 2018 01:38 AM

Jaliya,you are contradicting yourself many times in your comment.Why can’t an intelligent person chosen to defend NZ. We don’t want idiots to defend our great NZ.

Dee Sunday, 15 July 2018 09:30 AM

Wonder why they still get on boats and try to jump? After so much demand for labour here.

Jaliya Sunday, 15 July 2018 02:03 PM

We can’t take this one example and use it to judge NZ. It is a great country much better than Sri Lanka.

Smith Sunday, 15 July 2018 02:48 PM

Why would NZ take in Sri Lankans to work?My experience, it takes 3 Sri Lankans twice as long to do the same work as anyone else, even simple labouring jobs.Spend most of the time on breaks, eating or sleeping.

Ras Sunday, 15 July 2018 04:09 PM

Sri Lankans are in general well educated, qualified and experienced. It is difficult to know how they have gone to a small country in the bottom of the ocean, to look for odd jobs and suffer. Get back and develop your own loving country.

Samul Sunday, 15 July 2018 05:25 PM

The fact that our people have leave our shores and suffer such humiliation is due to the corruption , nepotism and mismanagement of the economy due

Ceylonese Sunday, 15 July 2018 05:43 PM

There are more sheep than people living in NZ and many New Zealanders live and work in Australia as a result NZ is probably looking to recruit cheap labour from Sri Lanka.

GH Sunday, 15 July 2018 06:53 PM

This situation arose after Maithree became the President of SL, and worst of all is self-proclaimed PM Ranil Wickremasinghe. When the country is sold to India and Tamil Terrorists i.e. Sampanthan and CV Vigneshwaran, people lost hope of their native country.

Samy Selvarajah Sunday, 15 July 2018 08:55 PM

I have heard the same story about New Zealand. I heard that the Sri Lankan, so called Employers, employ Sri Lankans and exploit them. Exploitation is there in every country in the world. Canada is the best world to live because the Citizens (mostly immigrants from all over the world (including thousands of Sri Lankans are immigrants in Canada) and minority citizen rights are guaranteed by the Canadian Constitution introduced by Former Canadian P.M., Pierre Elliott Trudeau in 1968 or so (Father of the present P.M. of Canada). Go to Canada and live happily. The only country in the world that guarantees citizen rights in Canada. About New Zealnd, please check with that country and their citizens because it is a problems created by local immigrants.

ben Monday, 16 July 2018 05:03 AM

why have they gone ,wait very soon our people will be recruited for work in India.

peter Monday, 16 July 2018 01:29 PM

why is the US concerned about SriLankans in NZ? what about the SriLankans in the US

somapala Monday, 16 July 2018 02:17 PM

I live in New Zealand for the past 20 years. Here every worker is covered by very stringent labour rules. But, if you enter legally and work you are under the country's labour rules. These are same whether you are White, Asian, Maori or a Sri Lankan. However if you work without a work permit and working illegally, then you are at the mercy of unscrupulous employers, who are also migrants.

somapala Monday, 16 July 2018 04:51 PM

UdugamaYou are not invited to come to New Zealand. Only way you can come to NZ is to get into a illegal boat, jump out into the sea when you are close to the NZ shores!

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SL workers vulnerable to forced labour in NZ, Egypt

Comments - 21

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