Labour Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva on Tuesday that Sri Lanka wants to be the first country in the South East Asia to ratify the C190 International Labour Organization’s convention which is aimed at ensuring right of everyone to work in an environment free from violence and harassment.
The Minister said a number of labour laws have to be amended to bring the C190 Convention into force. He said his Ministry has conducted a number of discussions with the Attorney General’s Department and the Legal Draftsman on how laws can be amended to suit the 190 Convention “Amending existing laws is not an easy task and we are not prepared to amend the laws at the whims of certain quarters”, he said.
Minister Silva added that only very few countries in the world have ratified this C 190 Convention.
The Minister was speaking at a ceremony organized by the Nation Union of Seafarers and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation at the Ananda Samarakoon studio yesterday. He added that the government is striving to bring proper legislation devoid of any loopholes.
The Minister added that new Bill will be introduced soon with an objective of ensuring the rights of domestic workers.
“My emphasis is on the migrant workers who are working in the Middle East and other countries.More than 250,000 women are working in these countries under very dire conditions. We need to look into their issues”, he said.
He also said that amendments will also be brought to the Trade Union Ordinance to increase women’s participation at decision making level of trade unions.
He said over 70 percent of those employed in the plantation sector are women but all trade union leaders are all men.
Add new comment