The Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Ambassador William Lacy Swing expressed his appreciation for Sri Lanka's active role in the preparations for the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration as well as the role in the Migration Health discussions during the meeting between Deputy Minister of Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara and the Director General of IOM on 10 October 2017 at the IOM Headquarters in Geneva. During the meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral cooperation between Sri Lanka and the IOM. In particular, the Deputy Minister spoke of the training and capacity building requirements of Sri Lanka.
Justice and Foreign Employment Minister Thalatha Athukorala visited UAE in her capacity as the Chairperson Abu Dhabi Dialogue and met the Human Resources and Labour Minister Saqr Ghobsh.
The Minister said that he is willing to extend all support to strengthen the relationship between the two countries during the time Minister Athukorala is holding the Chairperson of Abu Dhabi Dialogue.
Minister Athukorala also had discussion with all the ADD Ambassadors who are resident in Abu Dhabi.
Source : www.news.lk
The Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha has called on Colombo Process (CP) member states to bring together consular representatives from Asian migrant sending countries in the GCC region, to share experiences and best practices in meeting the day-to-day consular support needs of migrants. Noting that low and semi-skilled migrant workers from the CP countries in the GCC faced similar issues, and recalling the decision of the CP Ministerial Meeting held in Colombo in August 2016 to embark on ‘Consular Cooperation’ as a new thematic area among CP countries stationed in GCC, he welcomed the operationalization of this process through the recent convening of an IOM sponsored Migrants in Countries in Crisis Initiative’s (MICIC) workshop in Kuwait to address the emergency aspects of ‘Consular Support’. He urged that the idea to bring together consular staff from CP countries in destination countries should be replicated in other GCC countries as well, and must also focus on the day-to-day consular support needs of migrants and to collaborate with destination countries for mutual interest .
Abu Dhabi Dialogue (ADD) chaired by Sri Lanka met in Dubai for a two day Special Workshop from 4-5 July 2017 at senior officials and experts level representing the member Governments of the ADD and including observers from civil society, the private sector, and international organizations. The main objective of the workshop was to operationalize the four (04) collaborative tracks that were approved by the ADD Ministers at the Inter-Ministerial Consultation in Colombo in January this year, namely, alternative model for labour recruitment, certification of skills and recognition, comprehensive information management and Technology in the Governance of Labour Mobility. The outcome will be shared with the ongoing UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration as ADD best practices in consultation with the ADD Members States.
ADD represents one of the largest regional migration corridors.
Please see the full report on the workshop proceedings.
26th July 2017
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the USA, Prasad Kariyawasam, who has been a member of the UN Committee on Migrant Workers since its inception in March 2004, and the first Chair of the Committee , was re-elected for the fourth time at the Election held at the UN in New York on 28 June 2017, at the 8th Meeting of State Parties to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative in Geneva Mrs. Samantha Jayasuriya said that ‘as a country with a sizeable number of its citizens working abroad, the Government of Sri Lanka places migration high in its national development policy’ and have made considered efforts to improve its national labour migration policies and governance, at national, bilateral, regional as well as international levels.
Highlighting the positive dividends migrant health agenda could contribute to both the individual migrants and to their host countries, Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha emphasised that the Migrant Health be an essential element of the 2018 final Global Compact on Migration (GCM) document. Ambassador Aryasinha made these remarks during Sri Lanka’s intervention on 8th May 2017, at the first informal thematic discussion on development of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, held from 8 -9 May 2017 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, which focused on human rights of migrants, including their social inclusion and cohesion and all forms of discrimination, including racism, xenophobia and intolerance. During the session, Sri Lanka also officially tabled the ‘Colombo Statement on Migrant Health’ adopted at the 2nd Global Consultation on Migrant Health, held in Sri Lanka from 21-23 February 2017, as an input to the GCM process.
- IOM Chief commends Sri Lanka’s dynamism and perseverance as the Chair of the Colombo Process
- The ‘Colombo Statement’, first ever political commitment agreed by countries to advance the migrant health agenda
- Sri Lanka chaired Abu Dhabi Dialogue’s proactive engagement on the Global Compact on Migration commended