Sri Lanka’s updated National Policy and Action Plan on Migration for Employment Sri Lanka (2023-2027) saw its official launch to the public on 25 October 2023. Presented by the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment, the policy received cabinet approval on 4 September 2023. Developed with technical support from the International Labour Organization through the Safe Labour Migration Programme, and funding assistance from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Policy is a significant step towards protecting the human and labour rights of migrant workers and managing cross-border mobility in a manner that benefits both migrant workers and the country.
The policy was developed following a number of extensive, participatory, and consultative processes across the island, with all relevant stakeholders, integrating a rights-based approach, and informed by data and evidence. Emphasis was also placed on formulating a Policy that considers national and international standards, legal and policy frameworks, as well as ILO Conventions. The policy reflects the intersectionality of labour migration for employment including in the areas of employment, social protection, health, training, and education policies. It also reflects the importance of harmonization, and coordination with a ‘whole of government’ and ‘whole of society’ approach, i.e. policy coherence, collaborative programming, planning, and implementation.
Migration is an important feature of Sri Lanka’s contemporary labour market and of its future of work. A robust migration policy is a means towards ensuring well-governed safe, orderly, regular migration, managing the related complex challenges, and having in place contingency measures for emergencies, like the pandemic. With migration for employment being an extremely important sector in the current economic crisis, a human-centred focus that puts decent work at the heart of labour migration is necessary, and this policy builds on such an approach.
