The Hon. J.C. Alawathuwala
J.C. Alawathuwala noted that Sri Lanka’s foreign income sources, including exports, tourism, and migrant worker remittances, were already under pressure before the recent Middle East conflict. He said over one million Sri Lankan workers are in Middle Eastern countries, listing major host countries, and warned they may face exploitation, hardship, or expulsion similar to situations during the pandemic. He urged the Government to act urgently through Sri Lankan embassies to protect these workers and address their problems, with particular attention to reports from the UAE.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, even before this Middle East war of the past month, we faced many problems. Briefly: our main foreign income sources—tea and other export crops, tourism—are affected.
¶ 02 Most of our foreign earnings come from migrant workers, many in the Middle East. Approximately 350,000 in UAE; 246,000 in Saudi Arabia; 175,000 in Kuwait; 140,000 in Qatar; 32,000 in Oman; 30,000 in Israel; 14,500 in Jordan; 13,000 in Bahrain; 7,000 in Lebanon—over a million in the conflict region. They now face multiple issues, as during the pandemic—exploitation and hardship. The Government must urgently act through embassies to protect them and resolve problems. Reports indicate foreign residents in UAE are being asked to leave; we urge special attention to safeguard our workers. Thank you.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Friday, 20 March 2026 ·No. 23396 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. J.C. Alawathuwala. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 20 March 2026. No. 23396. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/8459