Sri Lanka’s foreign employment industry in crisis

7 February 2026 08:15 am Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 3 Bookmark

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The Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA), designed as Sri Lanka’s intellectual firewall against corruption and misconduct in the foreign employment trade, is failing legally powerless despite its statutory mandate. What was meant to be an institutional regulator with teeth has been reduced to a ceremonial body, allowing licensed agencies to operate unchecked in a trade involving human lives, not commodities.

ALFEA member Muhammadh Azzam said that Ex ALFEA President of SSPL Recruitment Consultants, Wijaya Undupitiya, informed him that ALFEA, legally empowered to enforce a Code of Good Conduct, should act as the industry’s “intellectual police,” holding agencies accountable for transparency, ethics, and professional responsibility. However, decades of administrative shortcuts and policy erosion have stripped the Association of its authority. Today, codes exist only on paper, licenses are renewed without verification, and collective discipline has been replaced by ad hoc management.

Comments - 3

This needs to be sorted out asap Sunday, 08 February 2026 02:53 PM

It is up to the minister of foreign employment to address this matter. So what is happening? Without regulation, transparency and monitoring, Sri Lankans have no protection and can be exploited. Once abroad, they are vulnerable and might be trapped in situations amounting to slave labour, even human trafficking. This is a serious matter. President might need to step in.

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Let’s be sensible, more governance needed Sunday, 08 February 2026 02:58 PM

This is what happens when there is one minister with THREE portfolios! Tourism, foreign employment and foreign affairs are too much for one person to deal with. Better to assign to three separate ministers.

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Jeeves Sunday, 08 February 2026 04:02 PM

Thank you for the article which highlights serious issues. Without proper processing, regulation and licensing, any bogus broker can dupe a vulnerable and desperate Sri Lankan to work abroad. Thereafter, there is no guarantee to safeguarding their welfare. Government needs to prioritise this lapse, before more Sri Lankans get exploited.

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