Protection for Sri Lankan Female Domestic Workers to Middle East (Special Reference to Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment)

Abstract

Migration between nations is a phenomenon with a long history. Increased participation of females as domestic workers is a significant change in the labour market in the Middle East. With this new trend Sri Lankan women have become both home makers and breadwinner. Remittances are used as a key strategy for poverty reduction. Earnings of female migrants which is the second largest source of external revenue after garment industry have contributed towards enhancement ofthe balance ofthe payment of the country. Further in 2005, female domestic workers in the Middle East sent home 108, 900 million rupee out of total private remittances of 191,800 In such a context, number of deaths and violation of human rights in the host country and difficulties in the migration process from the beginning of the foreign employment to its premature or mature completion is a frequent subject of debate. Furthermore it's a commonly observed that hired domestic women under kafala or sponsorship system are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and abusive conditions. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families were adopted by the United Nations in order to bind the states with international law. Thus the objective of the study is to examine the policy implications that contribute in protecting women migrants especially through the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment. The methodology of the study is composed of both qualitative and quantitative methods. In addition the survey applied stratified random sampling method in selecting the sample that comprised a group of migrated and prospective migrant women. Most of the migrant women are dissatisfied with the role of the initiatives taken by the responsible institutions and they don't have adequate knowledge of protection extended by international organizations. The paper concludes that the protection given by national and international level is not adequate and should be strengthened more urgently.