Sri Lanka to request Lebanese embassy to assist migrant workers

Thursday, 16 June 2011 00:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Foreign Employment Minister Dilan Perera has said the External Affairs Ministry has been asked to request the Lebanese Ambassador in Colombo to look into the plight of Sri Lankan migrant workers currently languishing in Iraq.

However, Perera has added that the government was not responsible for the Sri Lankan migrant workers in Iraq since a ban has been imposed on working in Iraq and that those in that country now are there illegally.

Perera has said that although the government could not directly intervene to solve the issue, it could not just ignore these Sri Lankan migrant workers.

He has also observed that the Sri Lankan migrant workers in Iraq have worked for 20 months in the country and have been paid salaries only for four months. “Yet, the Ministry cannot help them,” he has said. (www.colombopage.com)