COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
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7 MARCH <strong>2012</strong> SRI LANKA<br />
Country of Origin Information Service<br />
<strong>UK</strong> <strong>Border</strong> <strong>Agency</strong><br />
30 January <strong>2012</strong><br />
Dear colleague,<br />
Re: Mixed Marriages, Single Mothers and Illegitimacy<br />
The British High Commission in Colombo routinely monitors the country situation in Sri Lanka.<br />
This letter supersedes and replaces any previous letters regarding the above subject.<br />
In general, the treatment of persons in mixed marriages, single mothers and illegitimate<br />
children, depends entirely on the area of the country, plus the family and religious background<br />
of each individual case.<br />
Marriages between Sinhalese and Tamils are not uncommon, however, some families still have<br />
firm views on the issue and we are aware of mixed couples who keep their relationship a secret<br />
for fear of upsetting certain family members. The Registrar General‘s Department in Colombo is<br />
the central registry for births, deaths and marriages. We contacted the Statistics Department<br />
and were told that although there are statistical records available regarding marriages from<br />
1997-2008, there had been no specific statistics identifying mixed marriages. They did however<br />
offer a guesstimate that the figure would probably be around 5 in every 100 registered<br />
marriages. For methods of recording marriages in Sri Lanka see;<br />
(http://www.rgd.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=41&lan<br />
g=en)<br />
The Haven & Sunshine <strong>Home</strong>s in Colombo are Salvation Army establishments run specifically<br />
for single mothers. A spokesperson for Salvation Army explained that the only other<br />
organisation in Sri Lanka that offers similar support are the Mother Teresa‘s <strong>Home</strong>s based in<br />
Moratuwa and Wattala on the outskirts of Colombo, which are linked to the Catholic Church. It<br />
was explained that the Haven has 13 beds and is for women over the age of 18 years who<br />
voluntarily attend with babies. Sunshine home is for all ages of women referred to the Salvation<br />
Army by the Courts. She told us that she is seeing an increase in the number of unmarried<br />
mothers being referred and that the main reason that women come to them is because they do<br />
not want to go home to face their families. Each woman admitted has to pay Rs 1,500 a month<br />
(£8.50) to cover costs, although those unable to pay are treated sympathetically and<br />
confidentially.<br />
The main text of this <strong>COI</strong> <strong>Report</strong> contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section<br />
to 2 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
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