[STATEMENT] Stop Modern Day Slavery of Migrant Domestic Workers and End Impunity of Diplomats
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Statement of the IMA Asia Pacific on the exploitation of a Sri Lankan and Indian domestic workers by their diplomat employers
27 December 2024
Reference: Fajar Santoadi, Member of IMA International Coordinating Body
The International Migrants Alliance (IMA) Asia Pacific is extremely shocked by a news reported by www.abc.net.au1 on labour exploitation amounting to modern day slavery of Ms. Priyanka Danaratna, a Sri Lankan domestic worker by her employer, former Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner to Australia, Ms. Himalee Arunatilaka. Ms. Arunatilaka has been ordered by Federal Court in Canberra to pay Ms. Danaratna’s unpaid wages amounting to AU$374,000, plus another AU$169,000 in interest.
Ms. Danaratna has undergone multiple exploitation that consists of several key indicators of human trafficking until she escaped from the precarious working condition such as wages much lower than minimum wage (less than 90 Australian cents per hour), unpaid wages, long working hours (working from 6am to 10pm), working without weekly off day, confiscation and withholding of her passport, and limiting her freedom of movement. Ms Arunatilaka has no longer been in Australia, and now holds the position as the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland.
Another similar case in Australia of the exploitation of Ms. Seema Shergill, a domestic worker in the diplomat residence of the former Indian High Commissioner, Navdeep Suri Singh has also been reported in March 2024. Mr. Singh has been ordered to pay unpaid wages about AU$136,000 plus interest to Ms. Shergill.
More disturbing is the fact that foreign affairs of both Indian and Sri Lankan governments have denied the allegations. Sri Lanka’s foreign affairs denied the Australia’s Federal Court authority over the matter.2
We, IMA Asia Pacific, are deeply concerned that oppression and exploitation against migrant workers committed by diplomats appears to be an iceberg phenomenon.
The two are not isolated cases as there have been more reports of exploitation of domestic workers by government diplomats3. These are alarming realities and a display of gross exploitation of domestic workers by persons with high authority who are supposed to perform the duty of protecting their citizens. Sadly, most are not punished accordingly due to their diplomatic immunity status.
Domestic workers around the world continue to face multiple exploitations and abuses. As of August 2023, only 35 countries have ratified ILO convention 189 on domestic workers. Domestic work still is not recognized as work with dignity and equal to other types of professions.
IMA Asia Pacific strongly urges the international community, United Nations and its member states to uphold higher moral responsibility to ensure that all diplomats are chosen with integrity proven by their past track records of freedom from violating workers’ rights and human right principles in general. The diplomats must receive legal punishments when they commit exploitation and crimes against their domestic workers. All diplomats must be subject to continuous evaluation while performing their duties. Diplomatic immunity should not be used as a tool to exploit the citizens to whom they are called to serve, nor evade legal action in human trafficking cases and any human rights violations.
It is now timely for all countries to ratify ILO Convention 189 and Convention 190 (Convention concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work including gender-based violence and harassment) for the dignified life of their citizens, particularly domestic workers wherever they work.
Endnotes:
3https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/report-shows-abuse-domestic-workers-diplomats
