“Some Airport staff support illegal migration for foreign jobs”

Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara charged yesterday that that the Immigration and Emigration Department was not supporting the Government’s efforts to combat human trafficking and Airport officials in a number of sections were aiding illegal emigration for foreign jobs.

The Minister was speaking at the opening of the Safe Migration Promotion Unit at Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake.

The Minister addressing the gathering said some Government officials today were reluctant to carry out their duty as some of them have got into trouble for doing their duty properly.

“Today, Government officials are very afraid to fulfil their duties. Military officers who have fulfilled their duties are still on lists. Because they fulfilled their duties, today we are doing well as a country. Some officials who have fulfilled their duties have fallen into trouble for doing so.”

The Minister went on to say that officers working at the Airport are also very careful when implementing the law.

“Because the Government itself has clearly stated in the Constitution that freedom of movement should be safeguarded. When some officials try to question passengers with regard to their travel, there are times when some passengers take officials to task.”

The Minister also said there are times when officials of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment try to stop some people trying to illegally migrate for jobs, Airport officials and Emigration officials interfere in such efforts.

The Minister emphasized that efforts to curb trafficking and illegal emigration for foreign jobs cannot be stopped by just one entity and it should be a combined effort involving the Ministry of Defence, CID, the SLBFE, Airport and Immigration and Emigration officials and other stakeholders.

The Minister also said that there was a time when the migrant workers were looked at as human bombs and mistreated like the Covid pandemic.

“There was a time when remittances fell to US$ 100 million and US$ 200 million. We were able to increase the migrant worker remittances to more than US$ 3 billion by giving them the respect they deserve. Sri Lankan migrant workers deserve respect, safety and dignity,” he said.

Established with the aims of preventing Sri Lankans going abroad on tourist visas from becoming victims of human trafficking and providing proper guidance to Sri Lankan migrant workers, the newly opened unit mainly focuses on those who go to Malaysia, Oman, Dubai and Abu Dhabi on tourist visas in search of jobs. It will be operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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