At least 948 Sri Lankan migrant workers caught up in the last Gulf War are still to receive compensation for lost income and injuries.
Some 70,000 Sri Lankan maids have been compensated but more than a decade on; some are still to receive cheques from the UN Compensation Commission.
Between 1997 and 2000 the United Nations Compensation Commission delivered US$4000 apiece to roughly 87000 Sri Lankan citizens who suffered displacement and loss of employment due to Iraq’s military actions in Kuwait during the Gulf War.
Like the majority of Sri Lankans caught in the Gulf War these returnees are women from poor rural families who worked as domestic servants in Kuwait.
The balance of Rs. 3,177.56 million was in the Fund Account as at 31 December 2018, which had been maintained in relation to the compensation received from the United Nations Compensation Commission.
This money was remitted by the UN Commission for the payment of compensation for Sri Lankans who had employed in Kuwait during the Gulf War 1990/1999, official data showed
The actual amount that should be paid to the 88,875 claimants had become Rs. 251.45 million after the UN compensation commission received applications in December 1994 from 94,820 out of 120,000 Sri Lankans affected when Iraq invaded Kuwait.
However, the Sri Lanka Foreign employment Bureau had invested the amount without settling it and had collected a total income amounting to Rs. 2,926.10 million.
(LI)