Sri Lankan migrants end up in Iraq

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

GENEVA, Feb 6 (Reuters) A group of 17 Sri Lankan migrant workers who paid 2,000 dollar each for jobs in Gulf countries have returned home after discovering that they had been taken to Iraq, an international aid agency today said.

The men, who had signed contracts with a Sri Lankan employment agency to be domestic or textile workers, were unknowingly flown to Arbil, northern Iraq in mid-December and left in a house with no water, heating or sanitation, it said.

''It was up to two weeks before they actually realised that they were not in a country in the Gulf but actually in Iraq,'' Jemini Pandya, spokeswoman of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), told a news conference in Geneva.

''They insisted on going back home to Sri Lanka but their demands were met with abuse and threats, amongst which was the threat of being taken to Baghdad and dumped there ...'' A month later, the migrants were being moved when they noticed a sign for a United Nations office in Arbil, she said.

The next day they managed to reach the UN office that handed them over to IOM. IOM organised their papers and safe return to Colombo, Sri Lanka yesterday, said the spokeswoman.

''Although they face difficult times upon returning home because obviously they've come back home with no jobs and significantly poorer -- despite having gone through official channels to get their jobs abroad -- they were very happy to get back home after more than six weeks,'' Pandya said.

Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, IOM has evacuated more than 6,000 foreigners in difficult situations under a programme funded by the US State Department.

''Their story has highlighted that migrant labour is commanding a premium in Iraq ... The demand for labour is encouraging smuggling activities and abuse with some recruitment agencies being complicit in the practice,'' Pandya said.

A group of Nepalese migrant workers fell into a similar trap two years ago and had to be evacuated from Iraq, IOM said.

It declined to identify either the Sri Lankan agency which had offered the work contracts or the Gulf countries.

''The men were clearly upset at the situation their recruitment agency back home had put them in,'' said IOM's Vincent Houver, responsible for evacuations from Iraq.

REUTERS SY PM1947

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