Young Sri Lankan women who were sent to Oman on the promise of employment have been queued up to be selected by the employers in the offices of the recruitment agents, it was reported.
Some women have been sold for prostitution for millions of rupees. The price is determined according to the age and appearance of the woman.
The investigating teams have revealed that the agencies had paid only a little to the women, even though they were bought by employers for millions of rupees. This has been revealed during an investigation conducted by the officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and State Intelligence Service sent to Oman on the orders of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
One form of smuggling is taking the women as tourists to Dubai, UAE and then taking them to Oman by bus across the border at Al Buraimi. Another plan is to take them to India on tourist visas and then to Oman.
It has also been revealed that most of them were sexually assaulted while being taken to the employment agency office by the traffickers.
The agents take the passport and the mobile phone of the victims. They take a video of the women in order to send them to the employers and bring them to the auction.
It has also been revealed that even the taxi drivers sexually assault these women while they are being taken to the employer.
The women who are bought by the employers are considered as their assets. Besides giving them an unlimited amount of work, they are also employed in their relative’s houses and subjected to sexual abuse.
The women who escape from those houses due to abuse and violence by their employers are unable to report to the Sri Lankan Embassy since they have not been registered under the domestic service of the Foreign Employment Bureau.
It has also been revealed that even though these women went to the Sri Lankan Embassy in Oman, the embassy cannot intervene according to the Omani laws since they have been bought by their employers for many years.
The women who are not able to return to Sri Lanka after obtaining some relief from the embassy, are employed by the agents as prostitutes and sold to foreigners including Bangladeshis.
It has been revealed that a woman who became a victim of this human trafficking was also among the 45 women in the Safe House located near the Sri Lanka Embassy in Oman.
