By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: Sri Lanka has said it will ban its nationals who are runaway workers and have taken up employment elsewhere in violation of Qatari laws from taking up jobs in other Middle East countries once they return home.
The country’s embassy in Doha said yesterday it has strict regulations in place now to deal with runaway Sri Lankan workers who are in jobs here illegally — a phenomenon the embassy describes as unfortunate and increasing, damaging ‘its credibility in the employment market’.
The rule, however, does not apply to Sri Lankan workers who run away from their employers on valid grounds and wish to go back home. “They should immediately report to the embassy,” an official said.
But those who come to the embassy after working for months after their escape from their sponsors or are found involved in any other illegal activity will be dealt with sternly.
Their personal details and finger prints will be forwarded to the Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau in Colombo so that they could be banned from taking up employment in any other Middle Eastern country in future as a punishment.
The embassy is receiving on an average five runaway workers a day. Most of them are domestic and unskilled workers employed by private companies and they come complaining of problems such as non-payment of salaries and difficult working conditions. Some of them say they have no proper job contracts.
“Illegal workers are an increasing problem. We receive considerable numbers of men and women who have run away from their employers and worked outside. Their actions affect the credibility of Sri Lankan workers, so we have to take strict action,” the embassy official said requesting anonymity.
It is mandatory for every Sri Lankan, skilled or unskilled, leaving the country for employment overseas to seek approval from the Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau.
The Bureau runs mandatory short training programmes for women who want to travel abroad to take up domestic jobs. The training also makes workers aware of the laws and customs of the manpower importing countries.
Some people bypass rules and land here on visit and business visas and convert their visas into work visas. The Bureau, naturally, doesn’t have their record, the official said. “If someone comes here through the proper channel it’s easy for us to find a solution if he faces a problem.”
Qatar is one of the largest employers of Sri Lankans in the region. The number of Sri Lankan workers here is estimated at a whopping 150,000. Last year alone, Qatar received some 56,900 skilled and semi-skilled Sri Lankans, according to the mission official.
The Peninsula
