COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
―Commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a problem in coastal resort areas.
Private groups estimated that approximately 6,000 children were exploited for
commercial sex in the country and that local citizens were responsible for much of the
exploitation. Other groups believed foreign tourists were more frequently the exploiters
of thousands of children, especially boys, for commercial sex, most of whom were
reportedly forced into prostitution by traffickers. There was little solid data to elucidate
these reports, and some observers stated the problem was much less prevalent than
approximately 10 years ago. The Department of Probation and Child Care Services
provided protection to child victims of abuse and sexual exploitation and worked with
local NGOs that provided shelter.‖
21.12 The UN Concluding observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights 406 , dated 9 December 2010 noted that:
―The Committee is deeply concerned that no effective measures have been taken by
the State party to enforce child labour laws as previously recommended by the
Committee…and that almost one million children continue to be exploited economically
in agriculture or as domestics, the latter being often subjected to various forms of
violence.
―The Committee is deeply concerned that thousands of children remain sexually abused
and exploited including in child sex tourism. The Committee notes with grave concern
that perpetrators of child sexual exploitation and abuse, including child traffickers are
rarely prosecuted, while child victims may still be excluded from protection of the law
and placed on remand for conducting prostitution.‖
21.13 The U.S. Department of Labor‘s 2010 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor 407 ,
dated September 2011, noted that:
―Children in Sri Lanka are engaged in the worst forms of child labor, 5363 including
agriculture.
―Children are also employed in domestic service, a largely unregulated and
undocumented sector. Some child domestics are subject to physical, sexual and
emotional abuse.5366 Children also work as street vendors.
―Children reportedly work in the mining, fishing, construction and manufacturing…‖
―Children, mostly males, are exploited in prostitution in coastal areas as part of sex
tourism. There is limited evidence that some children working in agriculture are subject
to debt bondage and some children, including those younger than age 12, have been
kidnapped and forced to work in the fireworks and fishing industries.‖
405 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
406 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, p8
407 U.S. Department of Labor’s 2010 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor , issued in December
2011 (accessed via ecoinet) http://www.ecoi.net/file_upload/90_1317902661_2011-10-03-usdol-childlabor-2010.pdf
date accessed 1 February 2012, p699
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.
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