Sri Lanka said it would bar women of all ages from travelling abroad to work in menial jobs, following an international outcry over the beheading of a young Sri Lankan nanny in Saudi Arabia.
Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella announced that women under 25 were now banned from going to the Arab state to work as maids, it was the first step towards a worldwide travel ban for low-paying jobs.
The move was in response to the execution earlier at a prison in Riyadh of Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafik, who was only 17 when she was charged with smothering a four-month-old baby in Saudi Arabia in 2005.
Nafik was beheaded after she was found guilty of smothering an infant in her care after an argument with the child's mother.
The US and the United Nations led international condemnation of the Saudi authorities over the January 9 execution.
Nearly 1.7 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad and the USD 6 billion they sent home last
year is a key source of foreign exchange for the government.
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