Sri Lankan migrant workers in distress abroad could be entitled to free State-funded lawyers and air tickets home under a Private Member’s Bill submitted to Parliament by President’s Counsel and MP Faiszer Musthapha.
The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (Amendment) Bill would amend the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment Act, No. 21 of 1985, by adding a new Section 48A. It would turn emergency legal help and repatriation for registered migrant workers from an administrative or discretionary response into a legal obligation of the State.
Under the proposal, the State would have to provide legal representation through lawyers qualified to practise in the host country and meet the legal expenses. It would also arrange return travel for verified distressed workers, including economy-class air tickets, transit arrangements and emergency medical clearance.
The Bill sets out four circumstances that would qualify a worker for assistance: non-payment of contractual salary for three consecutive months; documented physical, psychological or sexual abuse; premature or illegal termination of an employment contract; and exposure to armed conflict, severe political unrest or natural disasters in the host country.
The Bill also proposes mandatory pre-departure training for all registered migrant workers. The training would cover cultural literacy, the cyber laws of the destination country and the legal provisions on social media use. It would empower the Minister to make regulations and to set up a committee to review and decide on applications for assistance.
If enacted, the law would strengthen legal protection for Sri Lankans employed abroad by private-sector undertakings and public corporations, while increasing the Government’s financial and administrative obligations.
Musthapha recently took part in the legal delegation that successfully appealed the death sentence handed to Sri Lankan migrant worker Anojan Sivarasa in Saudi Arabia.
Background
The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) is the State agency that regulates and promotes overseas employment for Sri Lankans. It was set up under the 1985 Act that the new Bill seeks to amend, and its services are linked to workers registering with the Bureau before they leave.
A Private Member’s Bill is introduced by an MP who does not hold ministerial office, rather than by the Government. Like any other Bill, it must be passed by Parliament before it becomes law.
Remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad are one of the country’s main sources of foreign currency, and many families depend on them. Cases in which workers are stranded without pay, abused or held in legal trouble overseas have regularly come to the attention of Sri Lankan missions and the Bureau.
What it means
For migrant workers and their families, the Bill would replace case-by-case discretion with a defined right to a lawyer and a flight home, but only for registered workers whose cases are verified and fall within the listed circumstances. Registering with the Bureau before departure would therefore matter.
The mandatory pre-departure training would add a new requirement for those preparing to work abroad. It would apply to all registered workers and would include guidance on the cyber and social media laws of the country where they are going.
