Sri Lankan migrant workers suffer abuse
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Map of Sri Lanka and environs
Sri Lankan migrant workers, many of whom are women who work in the Gulf region, suffer abuses at on the job, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The agency is supporting authorities in the country as they design a comprehensive national migration health policy to help Sri Lankans who work abroad.
IOM spokesperson Chris Lom says that very large numbers of Sri Lankans migrate to work abroad.
" The estimated number is about two million, roughly ten per cent of the population. They leave at the rate of about a quarter million a year. The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment is responsible for the welfare of these migrant workers and their families. In 2010 they had reports of 313 deaths including 18 suicides and thousands of incidences of harassment and sickness. The vast majority of these migrants are actually women and they’re working in the Gulf." (Duration: 26")
Last year the agency and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health commissioned a survey of 1,100 migrants and found that one in six had suffered some sort of abuse in the work place.
