COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
―With regard to the children, we asked the Salvation Army spokesperson if she was
aware if they were discriminated against solely because of their illegitimacy. She said
she was not. We further asked if she was aware of any particular problems regarding
illegitimate children born from mixed relationships, including those born to women who
had been abused by their Middle Eastern employers and were of mixed Sri Lankan –
Arab appearance. Again she had no knowledge of any discrimination against them. She
added that there were always prospective parents for a child of Sri Lankan – Arab
appearance because generally they were attractive looking children.‖
20.09 Information on national laws on children in Sri Lanka is available from a dedicated
section of the website of Child Rights International Network (CRIN), Sri Lanka,
accessible from here.
VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN
See also Childcare and protection for information about problems with the protection
system.
21.10 The US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report: Sri Lanka (USSD 2010) 404 ,
released on 8 April 2011 noted that:
―Under the law the definition of child abuse includes all acts of sexual violence against,
trafficking in, and cruelty to children. The law also prohibits the use of children in
exploitative labor or illegal activities, or in any way contrary to compulsory education
regulations. It also defines child abuse to include the involvement of children in war.
―NGOs attributed the problem of exploitation of children to the lack of enforcement,
rather than inadequate legislation. The BPCW [Bureau for the Protection of Children
and Women] conducted investigations into crimes against children and women, and the
National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) included representatives from the education,
medical, police, and legal professions and reported directly to the president. During
2009 the BPCW received 1,974 complaints of grave violent crimes and 986 of minor
crimes against children.
―The government advocated greater international cooperation to bring those guilty of
sexual exploitation of children to justice. Although the government did not keep records
of particular types of violations, the law prohibits sexual violations against children,
defined as persons less than 18 years of age, particularly in regard to child
pornography, child prostitution, and the trafficking of children. Penalties for violations
related to pornography and prostitution range from two to five years' imprisonment. The
penalties for sexual assault of children range from five to 20 years' imprisonment and an
unspecified fine. By the end of 2009 the government opened 1,575 files, of which 497
resulted in indictments for sexual assault and exploitation of children, including
kidnapping, cruelty to children, rape, and statutory rape; 299 cases were dismissed, and
303 cases were referred to the police for further investigation. The remaining were
pending at the end of 2009, and no further details were available at year's end.‖
21.11 The USSD 2010 report 405 continued:
404 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
158 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.