Sri Lanka, Jan. 22 -- Bilesha Weeraratne, PhD.
While the bedrocks of migration in Sri Lanka - foreign employment and remittances - are settling, other aspects are unsettling in 2025. The year 2024 closed with estimates of over 311,000 departures for foreign employment and over USD 6.5 billion in remittances. In December 2024, 115 Rohingya people, including 78 adults and 25 children, were rescued while traveling on a multi-day trawler off the coast of Mullaitivu. The group was seeking asylum in Sri Lanka, and 12 men were identified as having facilitated the voyage. Similarly, three batches of Sri Lankan migrants who were trafficked for forced criminal activities in cyber scamming compounds in East Asia were repatriated in 2024. Many "were c...