A call has been made to bring all matters pertaining to migration to a single digital platform to prevent human trafficking and other rackets.
The ‘Vides Balaya’ organisation questions as to whose influence is preventing the digitization process.
Racketeers are operating at their whim in the absence of a digitized procedure for foreign employment and migration, it said in a statement.
"As the field of foreign employment and migration has not been digitized, various traffickers have got the opportunity to engage in their fraudulent activities without any hindrance. In the past, the number of people leaving for foreign jobs through visit visas has grown. Taking workers for work through visit visas had also fallen into the hands of smugglers and therefore many Sri Lankan workers had faced various difficulties. The young people who came to Dubai on a visit visa in search of jobs today are suffering in the streets, because they could not find work. Also, there was a controversy in Oman recently, which could even affect the existing diplomatic relations between Oman and Sri Lanka. This all happened because this sector was not digitized," it observed.
The group also called for commitment by the state authorities in this regard.
Although this need was recently highlighted by president Ranil Wickremesinghe, subject minister Manusha Nanayakkara seems to be disinterested in this endeavour.
