New push to register all Sri Lankans living in Bahrain
March 26, 2011 10:20 am
A campaign is underway to trace every Sri Lankan living in Bahrain. It had been launched after officials struggled to contact people to give them updates on the situation during the country’s unrest, Bahraini media reported today.
Sri Lanka honorary consul general P B Higgoda said with no diplomatic mission in Bahrain, only a limited number of expatriates were traced.
“We have an online expatriate registration form which all Sri Lankan nationals are advised to fill in,” he said.
“In case of domestic workers, we do not have additional details and find it difficult to locate them.”
Mr Higgoda said officials were now contacting manpower agencies to provide them with details of Sri Lankan housemaids so that their details can be registered.
He said it was important to register the details of all Sri Lankans, which could be used in case of an emergency.
Important
More than 14,000 Sri Lankans live and work in Bahrain out of which 3,500 are domestic workers and the rest skilled and semi-skilled workers in garment factories, technical staff and engineers.
Meanwhile, Mr Higgoda said a temporary travel ban on new-hire housemaids travelling to Bahrain was expected to be lifted in the next few weeks.
He said an average of 200 maids from Sri Lanka arrived every month to work in Bahrain.
Earlier this month, Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau temporarily suspended housemaids from coming to Bahrain because of the unrest.
“I would like to clearly state there is no visa ban or any travel restriction for our nationals,” said Mr Higgoda.
“There is only a temporary ban on newly recruited domestic workers coming to Bahrain, which will be soon lifted.”
Mr Higgoda said no Sri Lankan had been attacked or killed during the unrest of the past few weeks, which has seen gangs of thugs assault Asian expatriates.
“Our nationals are safe and no unfortunate incident was registered by us,” the Gulf Daily News reported him saying.
“We thank the Bahrain leadership for ensuring the safety of Sri Lankans.”
Sri Lanka honorary consul general P B Higgoda said with no diplomatic mission in Bahrain, only a limited number of expatriates were traced.
“We have an online expatriate registration form which all Sri Lankan nationals are advised to fill in,” he said.
“In case of domestic workers, we do not have additional details and find it difficult to locate them.”
Mr Higgoda said officials were now contacting manpower agencies to provide them with details of Sri Lankan housemaids so that their details can be registered.
He said it was important to register the details of all Sri Lankans, which could be used in case of an emergency.
Important
More than 14,000 Sri Lankans live and work in Bahrain out of which 3,500 are domestic workers and the rest skilled and semi-skilled workers in garment factories, technical staff and engineers.
Meanwhile, Mr Higgoda said a temporary travel ban on new-hire housemaids travelling to Bahrain was expected to be lifted in the next few weeks.
He said an average of 200 maids from Sri Lanka arrived every month to work in Bahrain.
Earlier this month, Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau temporarily suspended housemaids from coming to Bahrain because of the unrest.
“I would like to clearly state there is no visa ban or any travel restriction for our nationals,” said Mr Higgoda.
“There is only a temporary ban on newly recruited domestic workers coming to Bahrain, which will be soon lifted.”
Mr Higgoda said no Sri Lankan had been attacked or killed during the unrest of the past few weeks, which has seen gangs of thugs assault Asian expatriates.
“Our nationals are safe and no unfortunate incident was registered by us,” the Gulf Daily News reported him saying.
“We thank the Bahrain leadership for ensuring the safety of Sri Lankans.”
