Lisa Anderson
NEW YORK (TrustLaw) – In the wake of the execution of a Sri Lankan housemaid convicted of killing an infant in her care, Saudi Arabia has agreed to take measures to ensure Sri Lankan migrant workers receive better protection.
The Sri Lankan government said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU), similar to those already signed with Oman and Kuwait, is expected to be signed soon by Saudi Arabia, according to a report by Chinese news agency Xinhua that was published in the Shanghai Daily.
“For the first time ever the Saudi Arabian government has agreed to sign a MoU with Sri Lanka regarding migrant workers after it had repeatedly rejected such requests in the past. The MoU will include welfare measures necessary to protect Sri Lankan migrant workers,” said Sri Lanka’s Foreign Employment and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera.
Perera did not give details of the new measures but said one possible reform would be a quota system that would limit the numbers of Sri Lankan housemaids recruited in the Middle East. Human rights groups estimate hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan women leave for jobs in the region, often to return home with reports of abuse and even torture at the hands of their employers.
In January, Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek was beheaded by Saudi Arabia after being convicted of the death of an infant in her care in 2005, when Nafeek was 17 years old.
The execution, despite appeals from Sri Lanka, resulted in a diplomatic incident in which both Sri Lanka and Saudi Arabia recalled their ambassadors.
