By: Staff Writer
Colombo (LNW):The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) with funding support from Japan, has implemented a project to support Sri Lankan migrant workers.
Migrant workers were the most affected by the COVID-19 and were at risk of unemployment and non-payment of wages. Sri Lankan migrant workers who opted to return home required immediate, medium, and long-term interventions to recover from the socio-economic impact, an IOM statement said.
A project to support the socio-economic reintegration of repatriated Sri Lankan migrant workers is being implemented to address s these challenges faced by those workers. ,
It will be getting funding support from the Government of Japan, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to implement this project.
IOM and ILO are in close collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment towards this end. , the IOM statement said.
A Participatory Rural Needs assessment (PRNA) exercise was conducted in consultation with the migrant returnees, host communities and local government officers and 20 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were identified for development.
IOM commenced the project in April 2021 and executed the project activities in 9 districts. Namely, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Kilinochchi, Anuradhapura, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Kurunegala, Kalutara and Galle districts.
Supporting the socio-economic reintegration of Sri Lankan migrant workers repatriated due to the COVID-19 outbreak project was initiated at a very challenging time in Sri Lanka.
Despite the material and equipment shortages due to the aggravated economic crisis in Sri Lanka, IOM was able to do all the constructions, renovations and procure the machinery, equipment, material to support the chosen beneficiaries.
Data Protection Authority comes into force en route to economic digitisation
Sri Lanka is to set up a Data Protection Authority (DPA) soon to protect personal data in its major move towards developing digital economy, while taking measures to implement Personal Data Protection Act, State Minister of Technology Kanaka Herath disclosed .
The government enacted the Personal Data Protection Act recently thereby becoming the first South Asian country to introduce comprehensive data protection legislation providing provisions to establish this independent authority, he revealed.
This data regulator will operate independently and will collaborate with other institutions such as the Central Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL).
It will serve as the statutory body overseeing matters of the act and data protection in general in public and private institutions and especially of personnel data of citisens, he added.
Sri Lanka’s new Data Protection Authority has come into operation following a gazette issued by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as Minister of Technology.
A gazette notification dated July 19 said that provisions of part V of the Personal data Protection act, No. 9 of 2022 comes into operation from July 17 onwards.
.Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL) and all relevant sectoral regulators to ensure a proper governance of personal data.
Sri Lanka parliament enacted the Data Protection Act aiming to promote a digital economy amid concerns raised over the privacy of individuals and adverse impact on media reporting on March 10, 2022
The new authority will oversee the protection of digital payments for government services which will be made mandatory effective from March 01 2023. This also includes considerations for any legal changes and technical assistance to implement this policy
As per the Data Protection Act, No. 9 of 2022, some of the components of the DPA would include a similar approach to that of other state affiliated bodies such as TRCSL.
Accordingly the President will appoint one of the Board members as its Chairperson and will retain the power to remove the appointed member.
DPA will be entrusted with the task of supervising and regulating public and private institutions data, through investigative and corrective powers under the data protection act.
It will provide expert advice on data protection issues and handle complaints lodged against violations of the General Data Protection Regulation and the relevant national laws.
