Sri Lanka is preparing a new Foreign Employment Bill, while work is also underway on a mechanism intended to allow Sri Lankans living overseas to exercise their voting rights, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Arun Hemachandra says.
Hemachandra outlined the initiatives while addressing an International Labour Organization programme in Colombo focused on social protection in the South Asia–Gulf migration corridor.
Foreign Employment Bill under development
The Acting Minister said a new Foreign Employment Bill is being prepared as part of efforts to strengthen protection for Sri Lankan migrant workers.
The announcement should be understood as a legislative initiative under development.
No enacted new Foreign Employment Act should be inferred from the statement, and the final provisions cannot be known until the Bill text and subsequent legislative process are available.
Hemachandra also said death compensation for eligible registered migrant workers has been increased to Rs.2 million and that work is continuing on a contributory pension scheme.
He highlighted worker protection, skills development, safer migration, social security and reintegration as areas of policy focus.
Overseas voting mechanism also being developed
The Acting Minister separately said work is underway to establish a mechanism enabling Sri Lankans overseas to exercise voting rights.
No detailed voting mechanism or implementation date was announced in the material available for this article.
The announcement therefore does not mean overseas voting is currently operational.
Any such mechanism would have to operate within Sri Lanka's applicable electoral and legal framework.
Two initiatives should remain distinct
The proposed Foreign Employment Bill concerns the legal and policy framework governing foreign employment and migrant-worker protection.
The overseas-voting initiative concerns electoral participation by Sri Lankans abroad.
Although both were discussed in the same address and concern Sri Lankans overseas, they should not be presented as though overseas voting is itself a provision of the proposed Foreign Employment Bill unless a published Bill later establishes that.