COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
Employment
that: ―Sri Lanka has an established tradition of gender equality in many parts of society.
Women enjoy equal access to health and education and make up the majority of
university students. Sri Lanka ranked 16 out of 134 countries in the World Economic
Forum Global Gender Gap Index 2010.‖
20.19 The USSD 2010 report 350 observed that: ―The law provides for equal employment
opportunity in the public sector. In practice women had no legal protection against
discrimination in the private sector, where they sometimes were paid less than men for
equal work and experienced difficulty in rising to supervisory positions.‖20.20 The
2010 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report 351 noted that ―… gender barriers in the
labour market mean that most women are employed in low-skilled, casual jobs and
traditions of male leadership make it difficult for them to challenge this situation.‖
20.21 The UN Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women, Sri Lanka 352 , observed:
―The Committee is concerned about the persistence of discrimination against women in
the labour market, in particular the concentration of women in low-skilled and low-paid
jobs and the high rate of unemployment affecting women despite the achievements of
the State party in the area of education. The Committee expresses its concern at the
lack of protection of women working in the informal sector and the lack of specific law
on sexual harassment. It is further concerned that, despite the State party‘s ratification
of the ILO Convention No. 100 on Equal Remuneration, the principle of equal
remuneration for men and women for work of equal value has not been reflected in
national legislation.‖
20.22 The UN Concluding observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights 353 noted with concern: ―… that despite the decrease in unemployment in recent
years, the female unemployment rate has remained twice as high as that of males for
the past decades and that almost half of the 15-29 age group, especially educated
youths, remain unemployed.‖
See also Single mothers/widows
http://centralcontent.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/human-rights-reports/accessible-hrd-report-2010 date
accessed 24 May 2011
350 US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report: Sri Lanka (USSD 2010), released on 8 April 2011,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/sca/154486.htm , date accessed 11 May 2011, Section 6
351 Human Rights and Democracy: The 2010 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report - Section VII:
Human Rights in Countries of Concern, released on 31 March 2011
http://centralcontent.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/human-rights-reports/accessible-hrd-report-2010 date
accessed 24 May 2011, p292
352 UN Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,
Sri Lanka 352 , 4 February 2011 http://www2.ohchr.org/tbru/cedaw/CEDAW-C-LKA-CO-7.pdf , date
accessed 25 May 2011, p7
353 UN Concluding observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights , dated 9
December 2010 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/co/E.C.12.LKA.CO.2-4.doc date
accessed 25 May 2011, p5
140 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.