Impact on stranded, low income, semi and low skilled workers due to nationwide border closures, expensive quarantine packages, lengthy waiting list for Govt. quarantine facilities, and negative coping mechanisms
The Covid-19 pandemic which affected workers in almost all fields have had long lasting impacts on migrant workers, and Sri Lankan migrant workers employed in the Gulf region take a noticeable place among them. While Sri Lankan migrant workers in the Gulf region were negatively affected by the pandemic related policies implemented by their host Governments, their adverse situation was further exacerbated by some of the measures taken by the Sri Lankan Government that were geared towards controlling the spread of Covid-19 in the country. For instance, Sri Lanka’s border closure from 19 March, 2020, expensive private quarantine packages, and the long waiting list for free Government quarantine facilities that were in place until April, 2021, left thousands of migrant workers, predominantly low income earning semi-skilled and low-skilled workers, stranded in the Gulf for approximately a year.
A recently released study report, titled, ‘Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Sri Lankan Migrant Workers in the Gulf Region’, raised concern about these issues. The report issued by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES), has been authored by Researcher, ICES, Anoji Ekanayake and Senior Professor in Economics, University of Colombo, Economics Department, Kopalapillai Amirthalingam.
The study examined the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Sri Lankan migrant workers in the Gulf region, and also various types of pandemic led challenges encountered by the Lankan migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the coping mechanisms employed by these migrant workers to overcome the challenges, the support extended by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) and the Sri Lankan Missions in the Gulf region to address these challenges, and the impact of Covid-19 containment policies implemented by the Sri Lankan Government on the level of severity of these challenges faced by the Lankan migrant workers. It classified the challenges into two categories, i.e. health related difficulties and financial difficulties.
Nature of the problem
As per the study report, the most common financial challenge that Sri Lankan migrant workers across the skill spectrum had reported was pay cuts, followed by delays in salary payments, cuts and delays in payment of allowances and gratuity, and job losses. In addition, migrant workers who faced extreme financial hardships reported difficulties covering the costs of food, accommodation and other daily basic needs. While all migrant workers, irrespective of their skill level, had faced health related issues, as can be expected, the financial repercussions of the pandemic were borne mainly by semi-skilled and low-skilled workers, the report noted. The study had found that overall, Sri Lankan migrant workers who had to undergo the harshest challenges were the semi- skilled and the low-skilled workers whose contracts were terminated after the closure of Sri Lankan borders on 19 March, 2020.
“Some of these migrants had submitted their resignation letters in February and early March, 2020, hoping to return to Sri Lanka at the end of March or early April, 2020. The rest were either laid off or resigned in the early months of the pandemic due to deteriorating working conditions or their desire to be with their families in Sri Lanka during the unprecedented global health crisis. However, even though the contracts of these migrants were terminated, resulting in the expiration of their visas, they could not immediately return to Sri Lanka due to the Covid-19 containment measures implemented by the Lankan Government, which considerably exacerbated their financial and mental health woes. Unlike laid off high skilled and skilled migrants who, in general, have some financial savings to survive several months without a source of income, semi-skilled and low-skilled workers earning meagre salaries in the Gulf, in general, do not have sufficient financial resources to survive in the Gulf for several months without an occupation. Therefore, as the Government of Sri Lanka continued to keep the country’s borders closed and prioritised the repatriation of other categories of migrants, such as students and stranded pilgrims, migrant workers in the Gulf seeking to return home had to face harsh conditions during the first year of the pandemic,” the study noted.
Financial challenges
The study found that migrant workers faced with financial challenges utilised various coping mechanisms to offset or reduce their income related losses. These included borrowing, moving to accommodation with lower rentals and sharing accommodation, while those faced with severe financial setbacks resorted to extreme measures such as, drastic reduction in food related expenses and asking family members in Sri Lanka to remit money. As per the report, the in depth interviews had indicated that even though Sri Lankan migrant workers faced extreme financial difficulties during the pandemic, the support extended by Sri Lankan Missions in the Gulf countries was abysmal. Migrant workers had complained of having to stay in long queues just to gather information about the availability of repatriation flights. The interviews had also indicated minimal support for these migrant workers when they eventually returned to Sri Lanka, the report underscored. “Even though some Sri Lankan migrant workers in the Gulf successfully coped with the financial struggles brought about by the pandemic by cutting down on their expenses, others were not as lucky. Several migrants, mainly low-skilled and semi-skilled workers, who lost their jobs, had to resort to seeking help from their families.”
In addition, the study discussed how various health, economic and other forms of policies that were prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic had affected Sri Lankan migrant workers planning to return and who returned to the country during the pandemic period.
Finding solutions
As a country with many migrant workers in the volatile Middle Eastern region, the report said that Sri Lanka should have had better plans for repatriation in emergencies. Noting that in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic, which the report said is a unique situation, there have been instances in the past such as, the Gulf war of 1990 and the Lebanon war of 2006, which required the repatriation of thousands of Lankans during a short period, and it was pointed out that the Sri Lankan Government’s inefficient repatriation efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic indicate that the country had failed to learn from the prior experiences.
Taking this into consideration, the report presented several courses of action to improve the conditions of migrant workers for any emergencies they would face in the future, whether they are large scale emergencies affecting hundreds of migrant workers or personal emergencies arising due to job losses and poor working conditions.
Among the recommendations was the establishment of a toll free, dedicated helpline in all Sri Lankan Missions in key foreign employment destinations that migrant workers can dial during emergencies. It was further recommended that this line should be separate from the primary contact number of the Sri Lankan Mission in the respective country and should be managed by a trained officer who can provide migrant workers with the information they need during any emergency. In addition, the report recommended the implementation of a centralised digital database with the details of all current migrant workers maintained by the SLBFE in coordination with the Sri Lankan Missions in key migration destinations, and that this database should be updated regularly in order to ensure that the most current details of migrant workers are available.
Another recommendation that focused on the SLBFE’s role was that the SLBFE should establish mechanisms to provide financial support to the migrant workers’ kith and kin in Sri Lanka during crises that workers face in their host countries. This financial aid could be drawn from an insurance scheme using the registration fee that the SLBFE collects from migrant workers before their departure, it explained.
Yet another recommendation was the establishment of accommodation centres (safe houses) managed by Sri Lankan Missions in key foreign employment destinations that can be used to house Sri Lankan migrant workers facing issues such as harassment by employers. The report said these centres could be used to house migrant workers during large scale emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic.