After abruptly withdrawing 84 of its welfare officers from 16 of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions abroad, citing budget constraints, the Labour Ministry is to send 40 officers back. The decision follows Foreign Ministry complaints that it could not cope with the mounting workload, including migrant grievances. The Labour Ministry retained just 25 welfare officers when [...]

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Labour and welfare officers to be sent back to foreign missions

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After abruptly withdrawing 84 of its welfare officers from 16 of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions abroad, citing budget constraints, the Labour Ministry is to send 40 officers back.

The decision follows Foreign Ministry complaints that it could not cope with the mounting workload, including migrant grievances.

The Labour Ministry retained just 25 welfare officers when it implemented the overhaul necessitated by the “bankrupt” situation faced by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), which paid their salaries. The SLBFE’s income drop was attributed to the travel restrictions and the crisis situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Foreign Employment Promotion State Minister Priyankara Jayaratne told the Sunday Times the workload at some foreign missions was expected to increase substantially as Sri Lankan migrant workers gradually returned to employment. Accordingly, on February 19, a circular was issued extending the term of officers attached to employment and welfare sections of Sri Lankan missions abroad.

A further 40 officers are to be dispatched to the missions and the cost is to borne by the SLBFE, the Sunday Times learns.

It has not been decided whether the 40 officers are to be drawn from the batch that was earlier recalled. This is because there are corruption allegations against some welfare officers. They have been accused of soliciting bribes from migrant workers for services.

The initial decision to withdraw welfare officers was taken without proper planning, a Foreign Ministry source said, adding that Foreign Ministry officials, as well as the labour officers who stayed back, were swamped with work.

The Foreign Ministry raised this issue repeatedly and finally, after three rounds of discussions, the relevant ministers arrived at a consensus, he said.

The labour and welfare officers were withdrawn so abruptly that, at some missions, they could not even hand over to embassy officials the passwords to the ‘complaint management system’ which records grievances from workers.

There had been no formal training of diplomatic staff to perform the duties of labour and welfare officers. Neither had there been written instructions from Colombo on how to fill the gap.

The Labour Ministry argued at the time that the money crunch was dire. The SLBFE had been eating into the Ministry’s financial reserves just to pay salaries during the period. An evaluation showed that maintenance of their staff abroad accounted for a bulk of expenses. These officials receive diplomatic status and are also entitled to other perks that come with it.

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