Lankan Migrant workers last in repatriation priority list

Sri Lankan government temporarily stopped,  planned flights to bring Sri Lankan migrant workers back home from the Middle East. The decision was made after it was discovered that many were infected with the coronavirus.

Speaking to Daily Mirror, a leading media network in Sri Lanka,  Admiral Professor Jayanath Colombage, Additional Secretary to the President for Foreign Relations, told that, the priority in the repatriation procedure for Sri Lankans stranded abroad was not for migrant workers but for students.

He said Sri Lankan migrant workers would be brought back to the country once the repatriation of students was completed and that there were close to 400 students living in the United States, Belarus and the Philippines scheduled to be brought back in the coming weeks.

He said 30% all COVID-19 patients reported in Sri Lanka were labelled as “imported cases” and that the Sri Lanka could not handle a large number of COVID-19 patients with the available medical and quarantine facilities available in the country.

“That is why we are currently discussing with the respective countries to conduct PCR tests for Sri Lankans seeking to be repatriated at their airports. We will also continue to carry out PCR tests for those who arrive in SL and identify suspected cases sooner than before,” Admiral Colambage said.

“Currently, we are giving priority to students. Nearly 275 students will arrive from the Philippines tomorrow and will be sent to quarantine centres after PCR tests at the airport. We will next bring back those who have gone abroad on temporary visas. We have got many reports of such cases. Once that is done, we will bring back the migrant workers on a priority basis with pregnant women and those who have lost jobs taking precedence over the rest,” Admiral Colambage said to Daily Mirror.

Between May 24 and 28, the number of confirmed infections in Sri Lanka spiked by 383, to a total of 1,524. The increase was a new record and saw the government allocate two additional hospitals—in Hambantota and Teldeniya—to deal with the growing number of cases. The surge was a result virus-infected migrant workers returning from Kuwait, Dubai and Qatar, along with increased cases among Sri Lankan sailors.

The migrant workers have correctly pointed out that they became infected because Colombo refused to organise their prompt repatriation. There are still more than 16,000 migrant workers stranded with lapsed visas in Kuwait alone.

On April 21, the Kuwaiti government granted a “general amnesty period” so these workers could leave the country. The Sri Lankan government, however, failed to immediately organise their return, even as the pandemic rapidly spread in Kuwait.

The Sri Lankan workers, many of whom are destitute and currently staying in unsafe and overcrowded accommodation, even staged a protest outside the Sri Lankan embassy in Kuwait. Several workers spoke out on a YouTube video calling on Colombo to get them back home.

About one million Sri Lankan migrant workers in the Middle East, one component of the multi-million-strong South Asian workforce toiling in that region for low wages and in poor working conditions.

The cash-strapped Sri Lankan government depends on up to $7 billion in annual remittances from these workers. Successive Colombo governments have praised these workers as the “lifeblood of the country” but did little for their welfare.

Meanwhile India commenced a massive repatriation exercise prompted by stranded Indians who have been making appeals to return home. Many of the distressed Indians are migrant workers in the Gulf countries.