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Lankans in Bangladesh fear for their health and safety and want to come home
“The life of every Sri Lankan in Bangladesh is at grave risk,” said a 45-year-old NGO worker. “In Dhaka alone, there are approximately 20mn people, almost the total population of Sri Lanka. They are planning to end the lockdown now which means we will have to go to work if we stay on here.” He did not wish to be named.
Many expatriates in Bangladesh express concerns about their health and safety, pointing out that the country lacks necessary infrastructure to deal with the COVID-19 threat. Sri Lankan authorities there circulated a Microsoft Excel sheet to collect citizen data last month.
But this worker has heard nothing since. Not only does he have hypertension with bronchial asthma, he was due to return home in April to receive his quarterly stock of medication. Now, nearly two months past his appointment, he is running short of medicines and has received nothing positive from the Sri Lankan High Commission.
Another Sri Lankan in Bangladesh said they were initially told there will be prioritization when it came to repatriation. “But there have been some obvious breaches in the rules,” she pointed out. She, too, did not wish to be named.
“There’s been an absolute lack of transparency and it has turned into a ball-passing game where no one is willing to be accountable, even to share accurate information,” she maintained. “Unlike other countries, the biggest concern here is that the public health infrastructure is weak.”
“I’m a woman living here alone so what happens if I fall sick?” she asked. Like many other, she blamed lapses in administration and communication to the mission in Dhaka not having a High Commissioner.
A flight carrying 275 short visa holders is set to leave Bangladesh on May 23. But none of the sources for this article were granted eligibility to travel on it.
A communication lag, however, isn’t an across-the-board issue. Some Sri Lankans in Bangladesh said the Embassy was in contact via WhatsApp groups, etc. Many were disappointed, however, in logistical management and said this could be because the Dhaka mission didn’t still have a High Commissioner.
“With 4000 Sri Lankans in top managerial positions, one thousand of whom want to go back, an acting High Commissioner isn’t enough,” said another Sri Lankan in Bangladesh who wished to remain anonymous.
Ninety percent of the Sri Lankan workforce in Bangladesh consists of professionals that bring in a substantial amount of foreign currency to the country, he claimed: “We are willing and able to pay for our own quarantine. All we ask is for flight arrangements for people who want to go back home.”
Expats feel priority in repatriation must be given to those who faced contract terminations and would, consequently, be unable to support themselves in a foreign country. Official sources in West Asia agreed.
Semi-skilled workers were now facing unemployment in countries like Saudi Arabia. Although economic impact has been relatively well managed, employees in the food and beverage service sector were badly hit as entertainment has been shut down. They want to go home.
Domestic workers, on the other hand, were less likely to request repatriation because their situation is more under control and they received pay hikes during Ramadan.
The majority of those clamouring to return to Sri Lanka were, by definition of Saudi authorities, “illegal workers”. They did not have work papers. And Dubai is one of the biggest repatriation challenges in this region as approximately 5,000 people want to go come home. To make matters worse, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, was closed down on Thursday when five staff contracted the virus and were hospitalised.
“It is one of the easiest countries in the region to enter and most people are on a short visa,” a Sri Lankan official said.
Over 38,000 Overseas Sri Lankans (OSLs) in 143 countries were requesting repatriation, the Foreign Relations Ministry said. This comprises 3,078 students, 4,040 short term visa holders, 27,854 Migrant workers, 3527 dependents, 484 dual citizens and others.
Since April 21, the number brought back is 3,600 from 15 countries. They were mostly foreign students and Government officials who had been abroad on training, and their dependents.
The ‘Contact Sri Lanka’ web portal and Sri Lankan missions abroad are the two sources of information to identify vulnerable groups and coordinate repatriation with authorities. The web portal also serves as a virtual help desk for OSLs.
Sri Lankans availing themselves of an amnesty from the Kuwaiti Government started coming back on May 19. Approximately 460 migrant workers arrived on two Kuwait Airways flights on Tuesday. The general amnesty enables workers “out of status” to leave with no consequences and later return to Kuwait to work legally.
Meanwhile, Secretary of Foreign Relations Ravinatha Aryasinha has expressed concern about the use of the “limited window” Sri Lankans were requesting repatriation from. He urged them to reconsider their requests owing to the availability of quarantine centres and to the fact that they will have to recapture jobs and education abroad when the immediate threat subsided.
Among other things, the difficulty of repatriation was due to citizens being spread all over. SriLankan Airlines flights, even cargo ones, did not fly to many of these capitals.
“So, while we are integrating them in flights already coming, how we bring them all back is a matter which, at the moment, is being discussed at the highest levels,” he said at an event this week.