No letup in abuse of domestic workers, says Lankan diplomat

No letup in abuse of domestic workers, says Lankan diplomat | Arab News — Saudi Arabia News, Middle East News, Opinion, Economy and more. Last updated 1 hour 1 min ago HomeSaudi ArabiaMiddle EastWorldEconomySportsLifestyleOpinionIslam in PerspectiveCartoonsCareer Normality in BangladeshMerkel follows SchumacherBJP cannot be trusted187 million in US shiver as ‘polar vortex’ arrivesMattek-Sands upsets top seed Radwanska in SydneyAustralia feted for Ashes triumph at Sydney Opera HouseRonaldo dedicates goals to Eusebio in Madrid winPeterhansel hits back to lead after 2nd stageZach Johnson is champion of ChampionsLeave my family alone, Schumacher’s wife entreats mediaAl-Nassr reaches agreement with Bastos‘Slight improvement’ in Schumacher’s condition: sourceSony launches SmartBand with life-logging appRadwanska suffers Sydney shock, Hewitt out of KooyongThousands celebrate Ashes cricket win by AustraliaRescued Antarctic group due in Australia in two weeksSouth, East brace for polar temps, wind chillsSpaceX launches second commercial satelliteSyria peace meet must seek future without Assad: Turkey PMDownhill queen Vonn to miss Sochi Winter Olympics No letup in abuse of domestic workers, says Lankan diplomat?

In this May 2013 file photo, Sri Lankan women wait outside a Ministry of Labor office in Riyadh to have their work status legalized.

JEDDAH: FADIA JIFFRY

Published — Tuesday 7 January 2014

Last update 7 January 2014 9:37 pm

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Around three complaints are filed daily by Sri Lankan domestic workers against their Saudi sponsors, according to a statement issued by the Sri Lankan Consulate.
M.B.M. Zarook, consul for labor affairs, said the complaints are mostly regarding lack of salary payments, the renewal of the domestic workers’ contracts without their consent and some instances of beatings and physical abuse.
“Fifty Sri Lankan domestic workers made escape attempts in 2013,” said Zarook. “Cases involving sexual harassment among women workers transpire very rarely and do not exceed one case in every 1,000 workers.”
At present, around 350,000 workers and drivers reside in the Kingdom, with domestic workers representing 80 percent of them.
Zarook said the Sri Lankan government is providing training courses for domestic workers for three weeks in Sri Lanka prior to their traveling to Saudi Arabia.
“Workers receive language training, etiquette of hospitality training, lessons on how to run washing machines and home appliances, cooking lessons, and training on how to care for the elderly and children,” he said.
Early this month, the Kingdom decided to sign agreements with six labor-exporting countries to recruit domestic helpers as part of a comprehensive plan to streamline the domestic service sector.
Ahmed F. Al-Fahaid, deputy labor minister for international affairs, confirmed that Sri Lanka would ink a labor treaty in Riyadh on Jan. 14.
Mangala Randeniya, deputy general manager and media spokesman of the Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment, said the agreement aims to reduce the cases of abuse and guarantee fair and humane treatment of domestic workers.
He said the contract would cover 12 groups of workers, including house drivers, cleaners, housemaids, janitors, tutors and waiters working for individuals or families.
However, the contract would only permit employment of domestic workers through licensed recruitment agencies, which act in accordance with the Kingdom’s regulations. It also extends to a protection mechanism, including insurance, especially for domestic workers.
Commenting on the visa rates, Zarook said it was an open market, and that the consulate had nothing to do with that. He confirmed that the rates depend on the brokers as well as the intermediary groups who travel between Sri Lanka and the Kingdom to raise the fare of visas and misuse the demand of families and scarcity of labor.
“The consulate plays a vital role by informing the recruitment offices and the workers in Sri Lanka about the importance of following work regulations in the Kingdom,” said Zarook

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Sky-high airport fees choking domestic aviation: IATA chief

Mumbai: Increasingly expensive airports and poor infrastructure are acting as deterrents to the growth of the civil aviation sector in the country, global airlines body IATA has said.

"India's airports are becoming increasingly expensive. We have seen a 346 per cent increase in charges at Delhi, 164 per cent increase in aeronautical charges in Mumbai, 219 per cent in Kolkata, and a 269 per cent hike in Chennai. These are huge increases," IATA director general and chief executive Tony Tyler told reporters at his Geneva headquarters recently.

"But we have had some victories. They have rolled back some charges in Delhi," the International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief said. 

Stating that the poor infrastructure and high taxes work as a deterrent to the development of the aviation sector, he said aviation is a huge economic enabler of growth.

"Look at Mumbai, which is probably the most important commercial centre of the country. Frankly, its airport is inadequate. We have been talking about the Navi Mumbai airport for years, but where is the progress on that?," he asked.

High taxes on the jet fuel, which goes up as high as 40 per cent in some states, coupled with higher airport charges in the form of user-development and airport development fees jack up air fares.

These have had a negative impact on the passenger demand in the country.

Pointing out that sectoral regulator Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has been doing a good job, he said, "I think, within the scope of its authority, the AERA has been as tough as it could be. But the system of regulation leaves something to be desired."

He also flayed the government for taking away a larger revenue pie from private airport operators and blamed it as one of the reasons for higher airport charges.

"The share of the government revenue is ridiculously high. I discussed this with the regulator. You cannot blame the airports to make money when the government takes away 46 per cent from the GMR-run Delhi airport," he said.

The Delhi and Mumbai airports were handed over to GMR and GVK, respectively on a 30-year lease in 2006 with an option of extending it by another 30 years.

Under the privatisation agreement, the state-owned Airports Authority gets a revenue share of 45.99 per cent from Delhi and 38.7 per cent from the Mumbai operators on their gross revenue, even though the government agency owns only 26 per cent in these two airports.

Stating that it makes difficult for the private airport operators to generate a return for the investors, Tyler said, "So he is going to have to increase charges wherever he can and as result it is the end-user, the passenger, who pays for it."

However, he said the entry of new players into the aviation space- AirAsia, Singapre Airlines and Etihad- reflects the confidence of investors in the long-term growth of the aviation sector.

Tyler, however, said Singapore Airlines-Tata joint venture, which will cater to the full service space, may pose competition to the other two players in the segment-Air India and Jet in which the gulf carrier Etihad owns 24 per cent.

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