Sending Maids To Saudi Suspended
By Indika Sri Aravinda
The Sri Lankan government has suspended sending domestic maids to Saudi Arabia, the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) said.
Chairman of ALFEA W.M.P Aponso said that the government had decided to suspend sending domestic maids to Saudi Arabia until the maids are provided with an insurance cover by the Saudi authorities.
He said that ALFEA will discuss the issue with Foreign Employment Minister Dilan Perera once he returns from overseas. The Minister was in Lebanon last week. The move to suspend sending domestic maids to Saudi Arabia followed the execution of Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek.
Some 500,000 Sri Lankans are employed in Saudi Arabia, most of them as maids. When The Sunday Leader contacted the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau Amal Senalankadhikara, he confirmed that Sri Lankan domestic maids were not being sent to Saudi Arabia.
He said that a decision was taken to suspend sending maids over some pending issues which will be discussed with the subject Minister on his return from Lebanon.
Meanwhile ALFEA warned that Sri Lanka may lose its quota of maids to Saudi Arabia after Indonesia had last week lifted a ban on sending maids to Saudi Arabia.
It is a correct decision as many in middle east countries are uncivilized to a large extent and as a result women are treated as slaves.As our women need a source of income to keep their home fires burning it is time to find jobs for them as house keepers in countries where they are treated as human beings.
At last some one is making a sense ! Men are not safe from perverts in Saudi, so how much more our Sri Lankan females ?
I am happy about this move.
I wrote a detailed comment on CNN about the cruel treatment and abuse meted out by the some Saudi employers on these maids who are locked in a four tall walled prison and soon as collected by the so called ‘employers’.
As a resident in Saudi for over 25 years, I am fully aware of the inhuman, demeaning demands of most of the Saudis which always gets swept under the carpet due to the power of the petro-dollars and fear imposed on us.
For the past 35 years Saudi authorities had enough time to implement some reasonable system to protect these maids… but they did not… still do not… and will not…. because Sri Lanka is powerless. There is no law to protect these maids!
Saudi nationals will give their right hands to get a maid… because their wives just don’t want to do to any chores. I beg Sri Lankan authorities to create new employment opportunities in our growing economy so that our daughters and sisters would earn their living with dignity. After all if we could defeat 35 years of terrorism for good… how big is this task?
Thanks for standing up to these tyrants.
I advise Sri Lankan women not to get into untold misery by going to work as a maid in Saudi Arabia.
Send Them To America. At Least They Will Improve In Their Spoken English
Its good move taken up at least make sri lanka safe with arabs , even currently working should brought back , other counties also had done in past , arabs thinks women are toys can play all the time but dont reliased they also havs a life ,
The government is not going to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. No maids no billions coming in to the country. Other countries have stopped this practice to save their women, we should stop sending them too.
Until the Saudis start treating our people as human beings and stop their primitive laws being used on them, we should send them elsewhere intead.
We have to send a strong message to the arrogant Saudis.
A excellent decision
Now the women could join the harem in temple trees or standby nut selling pasialai babes.
It is good decision but our Govt must strive to create jobs in Sri Lanka for these poor women. When our own country reports of 5 rapes a day, can you imagine the plight of our poor women in the hands of rapist Arabs who do not treat their own women as human beings. Most Arabs are inhuman, brutal rapists who abuse women servants who have no one to complain about mistreatments.
Our Govt should also appoint educated, qualified, experienced and mature persons (not MR’s henchmen) to our Emabassies in Arab countries only to take care of our maids who is now perhaps the biggest foreign exchange earner to our country.
Whilst welcoming the move to suspend our maids going to Saudi Arabia, we should be reviewing the welfare of our maids already there. There has been recent reports of Sri Lankan maids forced to swallow nails as a punishment, and withholding of salaries and refusals of days off. Indonesia would not have lifted its ban as it was amongst the first to respond to Saudi Arabia’s injustices, without obtaining some form of guarantees. We should follow suit if ever our suspension is to be lifted.
Why not Sri Lanka open up our own domestic help employment section for these women? Teach them skills & find suitable employers through this department. Have certain rules, guidelines, holidays and salary scales etc in order. There is a huge demand here at home.