The Hon. Arun Hemachandra - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Employment

¶ 01 [4.05 p.m.]

¶ 02 Mr. Presiding Member, first, I thank Hon. Ravi Karunanayake for bringing this motion, and we accept its essence.

¶ 03 There is already a mechanism in place, but it must be strengthened; we acknowledge existing gaps, products of past political practices that took institutions beyond their mandates. Our duty now is to realign them with their proper mandates.

¶ 04 The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment Act (1985) was amended twice; we observed shortcomings even in those amendments. We plan, in a short time, to present a new Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Act. It is with the Legal Draftsman. We can consolidate many of the Hon. Member’s points through this.

¶ 05 Importantly, for over a year and a half, the Ministry of Foreign Employment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been combined under one Minister and one Deputy Minister. This is a very important decision.

¶ 06 The SLBFE covers only registered migrant workers, but there are unregistered categories—many of whom are victims. Early on, we found we could not serve them via the SLBFE alone. Therefore, we started strengthening our Consular Affairs Division to handle such cases, both in missions abroad and at the Ministry in Colombo. We believe institutional strengthening will help resolve these issues.

¶ 07 We have also established a special police unit within the SLBFE to intervene in relevant complaints. More is being planned. We are shifting from viewing foreign work as a last resort to making it a first‑choice, rights‑based pathway by sending trained workers and certifying agencies through a regulatory authority.

¶ 08 Previously, operating outside the proper legal framework led to institutional failures. Now, we are advancing robustly. We have introduced a Call Centre system with proper serial numbering for complaints—something lacking before. We are working with the ILO on a mobile app for the sector and with the IOM on biometrics. If we align these well, we can better address current problems. We have already achieved many positive outcomes and will continue active intervention.

¶ 09 Thank you, and again I thank Hon. Ravi Karunanayake.