COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
See also Muslims
20.11 The SIGI Gender Equality and Social Institutions in Sri Lanka 342 , undated (website
accessed on February 2012) recorded that:
―Sri Lanka‘s legal age of marriage is 18 years for both men and women. Early marriage
is less common than in other South Asian countries, but does occur in some
communities that follow certain religious beliefs and cultural practices. For example,
Islamic law argues against the concept of minimum age of marriage.
―Polygamy is illegal in Sri Lanka. However, Islamic law allows Muslim men to take up to
four wives. In reality, only a very few Muslim men have multiple wives, and those that
wish to enter a second marriage must give prior notice to their first wives.‖
20.12 On 24 August 2010 the Daily News 343 reported that ‗premature marriages‘ in Sri Lanka
were showing a diminishing trend.
―This positive growth was achieved due to the high literacy rate and development of the
thinking pattern among children, Peradeniya University social analyst and researcher Dr
M D H Senevirathna said.‖
―Urban girls in Sri Lanka marry later than their rural counterparts. Nearly 60 percent of
the urban girls between 18 to 24 years are married. Marriage at an early age is still a
common practice in most rural areas, he said.‖
20.13 The UN Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women, Sri Lanka 344 observed:
―The Committee is concerned about the preservation of a combination of general,
customary and religious marital laws that contain discriminatory elements against
women. The Committee is concerned that polygamy is not prohibited, that there is no
minimum age of marriage recognized under Muslim personal law, and that Tamil
women need their husband‘s consent to appear in court or undertake any transaction.
The Committee is further concerned about the lack of progress in recognizing no-fault
divorce and women‘s economic rights upon divorce.‖
20.14 The UN Concluding observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights 345 ,dated 9 December 2010, mentioned that ―… the Muslim Personal Law
allowing early marriage of girls as young as 12 years old… ‖ had not been repealed yet
and added that: ―The Committee notes with serious concern that the State party relies
342 Social Institutions and Gender Index, Gender Equality and Social Institutions in Sri Lanka, undated,
http://genderindex.org/country/sri-lanka date accessed 3 February 2012
343 Daily News, Drop in premature marriages, 24 August 2010
http://www.dailynews.lk/2010/08/24/news42.asp date accessed 6 October 2010
344 UN Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,
Sri Lanka 344 , 4 February 2011 http://www2.ohchr.org/tbru/cedaw/CEDAW-C-LKA-CO-7.pdf , date
accessed 25 May 2011, p3
345 UN Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,
Sri Lanka 345 , 4 February 2011 http://www2.ohchr.org/tbru/cedaw/CEDAW-C-LKA-CO-7.pdf , date
accessed 25 May 2011, p4
138 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.