Sri Lankan diplomats in Tel Aviv yesterday (22) were busy arranging for a DNA test to verify that the remains of a suspected Lankan caregiver, found dead in Israel, following the initial attack by Hamas on 7 October, was that of 40-year-old Anula Jayathilaka. Our mission in Israel had also provided a list names of Sri Lankan citizen residing in the embattled Gaza strip who wish to leave via the Rafah land border crossing to Egypt, to Israeli and Egyptian authorities to facilitate their evacuation to safety as the planned ground offensive in to the Gaza strip, named “Operation Swords of Iron” by the Israel Defence Force (IDF) gathers steam.
There are nearly 8000 registered Sri Lankans who are employed in Israel, many of whom authorities say are keen to remain in Israel for employment. If the conflict grows to a regional conflict, one of the first groups of Sri Lankans to face the heat is a Sri Lanka army Peacekeeping contingent which is stationed at the Israeli Lebanese border. Given the stark disregard for international law and norms exhibited by both sides of the war up-to-date, the counties and immunities afforded to UN blue helmets will likely not be factored in, if the situation deteriorates further.
A broader regional conflict would likely create many Sri Lankan refugees, and the island's preparedness for a possible large-scale evacuation of its nationals from the Middle East, is near non-existent. Senior defence and foreign ministry officials The Daily Morning spoke said that Sri Lanka lacks robust contingency planning, resources and funds to mount an effective evacuation of its citizens who reside and work overseas. It is learnt that the Government held discussions with regional powers and countries about possibly utilising their resources and joining in on their contingency plans to evacuate their citizens from the Middle East if necessary.
It seems that the policymakers and officials have conveniently forgotten the lessons learned from the first and second gulf wars, where Sri Lanka had to again seek international help to bring its citizens to safety. One would hope that policymakers and the bureaucracy learns from such issues, but lessons clearly have not been learnt. While it is unfair to expect Sri Lanka to push resources to maintain large airlift or sea lift capacity like India, Singapore, Thailand and some of the regional counties can muster, a baseline capacity should have been maintained, if not through state resources, via commercial contacts. However, like many state responsibilities, such contingency planning has escaped the minds of our visionary leaders.
Sri Lanka has a large diaspora community living and working overseas, and the bulk of them are migrant workers who work in the Middle East, Mediterranean and in east European countries. There is also a sizable worker population in South East Asia and Korea. An estimated 30,000 Sri Lankans work in South Korea as of 2021. These Sri Lankan citizens are today, are a vital part of the Sri Lankan economy. According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), total inflow of workers' remittances in 2022 amounted to US dollars 3,789.4 Million, in comparison to US dollars 5,491.0 million in 2021 recording a monthly average of US dollar 315.8 million per month. In 2023, the cumulative figure from January to August is US dollar 3,862.7 million, the CBSL said.
As such, the Government must begin to resource the formulation of contingency plans which relate to the safety and wellbeing of Sri Lankans living overseas, particularly those who are migrant workers, and appoint capable and skilled individuals to manage them. There are multiple ministries, departments, agencies and task forces which have been established and is said to be responsible for Sri Lanka being prepared for everything from tsunami to famine, given the effectiveness of such entities over what transpired over the last few years, let’s hope that the Government doesn’t follow the same requirement and administration model for overseas contingency planning, as was used in the existing agencies.