By The Pulseline News Desk
The Government is working to secure a solution for around 7,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers facing deportation from Israel after taking up employment outside the sectors under which they had initially entered the country, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Arun Hemachandra has told Parliament.
The issue was raised in Parliament by member of parliament (MP) Chamara Sampath Dasanayake, who said approximately 30,000 Sri Lankans are currently employed in Israel.
According to Dasanayake, around 7,000 Sri Lankan workers who had travelled to Israel for employment in designated sectors had subsequently moved into other jobs and were now facing deportation after applying for refugee status.
The MP has questioned whether the Sri Lankan Government could intervene to protect the affected workers, pointing out that India and Bangladesh had reportedly intervened in similar cases involving their nationals.
Responding to the concerns, Hemachandra has said the Government was examining the matter with information obtained from the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE).
He has also raised concerns over the recruitment process through which some of the workers had been sent to Israel under the previous Government.
The Deputy Minister has alleged that former Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara had sent a letter to the SLBFE instructing the Bureau to forward a list of workers provided by him to Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA).
This had reportedly taken place while the SLBFE was already conducting its own selection process for foreign employment programmes, Hemachandra has said.
He has further claimed that some workers recruited for employment in Israel’s agriculture sector had not been adequately informed about the specific employment categories under which they were being sent overseas.
“I don’t believe this is the fault of the migrant workers,” Hemachandra has said.
According to the Deputy Minister, some of the workers had subsequently found employment outside their designated sectors and sought refugee status in Israel.
Israeli authorities had later provided an amnesty period during which the workers could regularise their status, he has said.
However, Hemachandra has alleged that the previous Government had failed to intervene during this period to obtain relief for the Sri Lankan workers.
Instead, he has claimed, plans had been made to send another group of approximately 6,000 Sri Lankan workers to Israel to replace those already in the country.
The Deputy Minister has also raised allegations of irregularities and corruption in connection with the recruitment of the proposed replacement workers.
He has claimed that money had been collected from individuals in connection with plans to send the new group to Israel, while making allegations against the former minister and others involved in the process.
The allegations come as the Government seeks to address the status of thousands of Sri Lankan workers already in Israel and facing potential deportation due to changes in their employment status.
Hemachandra has said the current Government was working to resolve the issue and would seek a fair outcome for the affected workers.
The case has also renewed concerns over the recruitment and deployment of Sri Lankan migrant workers, particularly whether workers are being adequately informed of the conditions and employment categories attached to their overseas placements before leaving the country.
With thousands of Sri Lankan workers potentially affected, the Government is now expected to engage with the relevant Israeli authorities while examining the circumstances surrounding their recruitment and subsequent employment changes.
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