Labour Migration

Cross-border migration and its impact on nation-states is receiving an unprecedented amount of focus in public and academic discourse. Global tensions and reservations on migration flows are transmitted to countries in the Global South through international conventions, multi-lateral agreements, and the promotion of the “migration for development” paradigm. These in turn are largely taking focus away from the South-South bound migration for work and the more subtle, invisible forms of migration that take place within national borders. Despite rapid changes taking place within outward and inward labour migration in Sri Lanka, research and practice have not kept pace with these changes. Specifically, the constant mobility of internal and external migrant workers and the underlying implications of their migratory patterns are largely ignored in both policy and research. This includes the more opaque elements such as the presence of human trafficking, labour exploitation, discriminatory government policies and the more visible, yet ignored elements of impact on household economy, the right to mobility and ensuring decent work. The primary focus of this thematic is on examining the socio-economic and political underpinnings of labour migration within/from/to Sri Lanka, thereby questioning and challenging the linear narratives about Sri Lankan migrant workers.