Immigrant workers need recognition and representation

One major issue with Sri Lanka is that most people don’t respect one another. Despite all religions teaching that nurturing the ego is bad, Sri Lankans love doing so

Immigrant workers are our assets. And it’s important to use the adjective ‘immigrant’ here and not migrant. This is because migration is for those who go abroad illegally and for birds who fly from country to country to escape adverse weather conditions. 

But to make these workers ‘assets,’ much has to be done on their behalf. We only talk about the US dollars they contribute to the Sri Lankan economy. But we all know that when they work abroad there is little support from  Sri Lankan authorities. The situation is so negative that literature about immigrant workers highlights the fact that the Sri Lankan Foreign Service is weak. Immigrants also complain that the support for them from Sri Lankan Foreign Service officials is also insufficient. 

It is in an environment like this that immigrant workers have scored well for Sri Lanka. These workers are the biggest foreign income earners of this island. But there is no representation for them,  nor enough recognition back in Sri Lanka. 

Critics point out that even the disabled community is now represented in parliament with the advent of the NPP regime. But that cannot be said about the immigrant workers. It is high time that immigrant workers have their representative in parliament and also the Sri Lanka Bureau for Foreign Employment. 

Sri Lanka has sent skilled and non-skilled workers abroad. But since there is lack of training for potential immigrant workers, Sri Lanka cannot supply the number of trained workers to foreign employers. This is one area where the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) must work on.

There was an exodus of medical professionals from Sri Lanka to other countries. Those who benefitted best from these overseas job offers were nurses and caregivers, and not doctors. A good number of those belonging to the latter category are struggling to settle down overseas and find work in keeping with their qualifications. 

For the record, there are about 2.5 to 3 million immigrant workers of Sri Lankan origin. This is a large number human heads and merits recognition and representation in bodies established here by the government. 

Also, these workers must have voting rights and be given the opportunity to use online voting platforms to be part of local elections. Just imagine what the final outcome of a local election would be if these immigrant Sri Lankans are recognised and given voting rights. 

Just recently the Elections Commission proposed to give access to voting to foreign workers and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake gave his approval. 

One major issue with Sri Lanka is that most people don’t respect one another. Despite all religions teaching that nurturing the ego is bad, Sri Lankans love doing so. Hence, one category of workers who constantly complain about not being respected are our own immigrants. And they point the finger at Sri Lankan officials engaged in our Foreign Service. There have been quite a few occasions when foreign workers have received step-motherly treatment when they have sought the help of Sri Lankan  missions abroad during a crisis. 

It is also a little disheartening to know that Sri Lanka doesn’t have a proper national immigrant crisis response policy. Time and time again,  we hear of deaths abroad related Sri Lankan immigrant workers. These deaths have been linked to either accidents, suicides, homicides and dying in the battle field. We remember how Sri Lankan workers suffered due to  crises like covid-19, unrest in Lebanon and Jordan, and now the war involving Israel and Palestine. The GoSL must be capable of swift action in the event Sri Lankans need to be flown back home. 

And a point many, including academics, underscore is the education of the immigrant worker. As much as these workers put in the needed effort to be trained for the job before immigration, there is a need for them to be educated, so that they can think straight in a crisis or when faced with a problem. That problem could be depression or not knowing how to handle one’s hard earned money when working overseas. Sometimes, an immigrant can feel all alone, but counselling can help and giving that service free would be much appreciated. 

Immigrant workers must be given the assurance that the whole of Sri Lanka is behind them.