COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
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. The legitimacy of a child does not have any bearing on educational or
healthcare facilities available. Healthcare is free in Sri Lanka and as long as a child can produce
a birth certificate, they will receive free education in government schools. However, children
born to mixed parents often face religious and racial challenges when it comes to schooling. In
many cases the children are educated in the Sinhala medium; however wealthier families who
can afford to let their children study in English medium, find it more suitable for their children‘s
schooling.
Rural Tamil communities remain deeply conservative and acknowledged birth out of wedlock is
unusual in these communities. Unmarried mothers often face a stigma whatever race or religion
or area of the country they live in, but this depends entirely on family circumstances and the
local community. The Salvation Army spokesperson said that in her opinion the religion or
ethnic background of an unmarried mother did not make any difference in the way that they
were perceived. She added that a majority of the women who come to seek assistance from her
organisation are Tamil.
Government assistance for the victims of rape is weak, although there have been some signs of
improvement. The country has acknowledged it has a problem and several years ago the Sri
Lanka Police Service Children & Women Bureau was created to deal with complaints. An
Inspector of Police (IP) for the bureau told us that there are now 42 Children and Women‘s
Bureau office desks operating across the island and following the end of the civil conflict new
office desks had been opened up in the North and East. The headquarters of the Children and
Women‘s Bureau is situated in Pagoda, Colombo. Female sub Inspector officers have been
assigned to each of the 42 desks and they have received training in how to record a complaint
sympathetically and how to refer a victim to a suitably equipped hospital. There does not appear
to be long-term assistance given to rape victims although there are several NGOs that provide
pastoral care but mainly to victims of domestic abuse. The IP stated that most rape and sexual
assault cases are reported by females aged 16 and under. He commented that relationship
issues led to many assaults due the advanced technology now available to those of that age i.e.
internet, texts, camera phones etc. He was unable to comment on cases reported by those
above the age of 16, as they have not updated their statistics. However, reports from those
above the age of 16 are comparatively lower as many women remain reluctant to make
complaints of rape or sexual assaults. The IP added that professional counselling services are
available for the victims from 08:30 -16:30 daily from Mondays to Fridays.
The director of the NGO Governance of the Family Planning Association (FPA) of Sri Lanka
stated that with the war coming to and end there is more outreach in Northern and Eastern parts
of the country. She explained that during the conflict many Tamil women in the north and east
willingly became pregnant in order to avoid being recruited to fight. Being pregnant allowed
them to safeguard themselves from being a part of the LTTE and allowed them to remain in
their family units. However, many were then separated from their parents and husbands and
remained in IDP camps, some for as long as 3 years, although most have now been re-united
with their families, neighbourhoods and society. One key community project in Mankulam,
Jaffna is jointly managed by the UNFPA and Family Planning Association.
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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