Aiding migrants

After many months of deliberation, an insurance scheme for migrant workers of Saudi Arabia is reported to be ready, but is yet to get official approval. According to the local authorities, the Saudi Arabian Government has not agreed to the scheme, making the whole process useless.

The insurance scheme, at least on the surface, seems like a good idea because it provides several immediate assistance points to workers when they are injured and in need of help. In fact they can even call a toll free number if their employer has defaulted on a contract and ask for assistance. However, it is for precisely for these reasons that the Saudi Government would prefer to have the whole process scuttled. To make matters worse, it is unclear how strongly Government officials are promoting this to the Saudi officials with Embassy efforts being negligible at the best of times.

Even if the insurance scheme gets the nod of approval, it is just one step along the long road to protecting over one million people. As logical as that may seem, readers would remember that the documents that sent Rizana Nafeek to Saudi Arabia in the first place were forged, thereby demanding that better monitoring and processing of migrant workers is needed. In addition, better legal protection and quicker assistance is needed for migrant workers, especially women, given that as much as 48% is comprised of females.

It cannot be denied that the Sri Lankan authorities have also failed to uphold their duties to migrant workers. As terrible as Rizana’s death has been, there are scores of other migrant workers who die as a result of working abroad who do not get this same level of publicity. Inadequate efforts by the Sri Lankan Government in negotiating better terms for them, holding employers and recruitment agencies accountable and swiftly aiding mistreated or abandoned workers in the Middle East has repeatedly been highlighted – but to no avail.

This is a siren call for the Government to get its act together and work to protect migrant workers in the future and provide adequate assistance to their bereaved families. While increasing the age limits for female migrant workers is a start, there is much more that needs to be done to ensure that poverty stricken women are assisted and empowered.

Women crushed under the burden of poverty have little consideration for rules and will likely do anything possible to circumvent them. This means that greater awareness and training is also necessary so that they can get better pay and work conditions. They need support services here and in the country of employment so that when an injustice is done they have an authority to turn to.

Proposed housing and entrepreneurship loan schemes, while providing an incentive for migrant workers, are also part of a highly politicised process that leaves room for women to fall through the cracks. A special system has to be put in place so that savings and accessibility to loans and other financial schemes are given through an impartial framework. This will not only protect women but also give them a chance to invest and grow their savings while being able to return to their lives at home faster.

The Government will no doubt point out that its push to promote skilled labour migration would end tragedies such as Rizana’s, but without the right legal and official framework in place, many more Sri Lankans run the risk of danger while trying to give their loved ones a better life.