Last batch of detained Lankan migrant workers in Saudi Arabia returns

 Repatriation of Sri Lankan migrant workers kept in the detention centres in Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia has been completed with the last batch of 103 detainees returned to Sri Lanka in the Saudi Airlines this evening, an official said.

This is the last leg of the repatriation process initiated by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in April 2021. With this latest cluster, a total of 180 individuals, 49 females and 131 males have been brought back to Sri Lanka.

Since July 2020, 334 Sri Lankan deportees have returned to Sri Lanka from Saudi Arabia.

“Sri Lankans detained in detention centres is not a new development, but a part of the process of deportation. Most of these men and women are runaways from their sponsors. Though we more often hear much clichéd tragic tale of victimization, most of these people have become prey to the organized gangs of unscrupulous racketeers who encourage them to run away from their workplaces/ homes and work elsewhere, illegally.

This might give the runaways temporary monetary gain, but in the end, they have to go through this definitive legal process when they try to leave this country” Charge d’Affairs of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Riyadh, Madhuka Wickramarachchi said.

“We appeal to all migrant workers to first contact the Embassy if they have any employment-related issue, and not to resort to these purported ‘easy way out’ which has long term negative repercussions”, he added.

The situation of Sri Lankans detained in detention centres in Riyadh and Jeddah in KSA was also brought to international attention by Amnesty International in a campaign report published in April 2021.

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