26 housemaids return to SL from Kuwait

Twenty-Six Sri Lankan housemaids, who have allegedly been mistreated by their Kuwaiti employers, have flown back to Sri Lanka yesterday (31) after Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Minister Thalatha Athukorala intervened on their behalf.

The housemaids claim that they have been kept beyond the termination of their employment contracts, were unpaid, and were subjected to harassment. Others were returning because of ill health.

The housemaids were from Vavuniya, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Ampara, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, and Kandy Districts. The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) reported that the housemaids had been temporarily housed at the ‘Suraksha’ home maintained by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Kuwait and a Kuwait Government camp, prior to being flown back to Colombo.

The SLBFE says there are 121 more housemaids accommodated at both these places, and they will be flying back to Sri Lanka before long.