“Sri Lankan government refuses to protect migrant workers who lose their jobs in Oman”

Job losses have increased in Oman, a Middle Eastern country where many workers from South Asian countries, including Sri Lanka, go in search of work. Those affected include domestic and skilled laborers.

A group of Sri Lankan workers who have lost their jobs and could not find alternative employment started a protest near the Sri Lankan embassy in Muscat demanding that the government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe make arrangements to bring them home.

The Sri Lankan embassy has turned down the request, saying that its government has no responsibility for these workers as they had come to Oman on tourist visas…

… on January 2, Oman police removed the Sri Lankan workers who were in front of the embassy…

…about 80 workers were arrested including 30 women. After the arrest and removal of the workers who had gathered earlier, another group of workers gathered in front of the office…

Since the increase of the number of Sri Lankan migrant workers seeking protection due to visa expiry, job losses and harassment by employers, the number of people staying at the Suraksha Safe House increased to five or six times its capacity…