- US State Dept. report finds Tier 2 SL not fully meeting minimum standards but taking ‘significant’ strides
The Government of Sri Lanka does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so.
Noting this, the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report issued by the United States (US) State Department added that since the Government has demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with last year (2023), Sri Lanka remains in Tier 2 of the report. Tier 2 includes countries whose Governments do not fully meet the US’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Explaining the areas in which Sri Lanka can improve, the report presented a number of recommendations to improve how the country deals with victims and perpetrators of human trafficking, among others.
Sri Lanka’s situation
According to the report, the efforts made by Sri Lanka include, increasing convictions of labour traffickers, identifying and providing services to more trafficking victims, policy changes to strengthen victim care, reporting that more victims participated in criminal justice proceedings, and cancelling the licences of and blacklisting more recruitment agencies allegedly responsible for facilitating trafficking. The report added that however, the Government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas.
With regard to inadequacies, the report said: “The Government investigated and prosecuted fewer trafficking cases, and sentences for convicted traffickers remained lenient, which undercut efforts to hold traffickers accountable, weakened deterrence, created potential security and safety related concerns for victims, and was not equal to the seriousness of the crime. The Government appeared unwilling or unable to hold allegedly complicit officials accountable for trafficking, even suspected cases of child sex trafficking. The Government did not cooperate with foreign law enforcement on trafficking cases despite many such cases involving migrant workers abroad. The Government also referred fewer trafficking victims to services, and officials did not report ordering restitution for or providing compensation to the trafficking victims. The Government did not eliminate all recruitment fees charged by labour recruiters from workers nor increase the monitoring of licensed recruitment agencies and subagents, and the Government maintained gender based labour migration policies that pushed Sri Lankan women to travel via unlicensed agents, which increased their vulnerability to trafficking.”
“As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Sri Lanka, and traffickers exploit victims from Sri Lanka, abroad,” the report said, adding that the majority of reported Sri Lankan trafficking cases involve traffickers exploiting Sri Lankan migrant workers overseas. It was highlighted that since 2019, economic hardships have driven record numbers of Sri Lankan women and men abroad in search of employment where many faced risks of exploitation, while children and family members remaining in Sri Lanka experienced heightened vulnerability.
Within Sri Lanka, traffickers exploit men, women, and children in forced labour and sex trafficking, although women, children, ethnic minorities, and older individuals are often most at risk, as per the US State Department’s report, which added that traffickers have increasingly used social media to fraudulently recruit victims.
“Before leaving Sri Lanka, many migrant workers accumulate debt to pay recruitment fees imposed by unscrupulous labour recruitment agencies, most of them members of Sri Lanka’s Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies, and their unlicensed subagents. Some microfinance companies and traffickers target Sri Lankan women with existing debts and use promises of a large advance to defraud them into accepting positions abroad. Some recruitment agencies commit fraud by changing the agreed upon job, employer, conditions, or salary after the worker’s arrival. Some recruitment agencies lure workers with promises of work abroad but send them with fraudulent or incorrect documents, including tourist visas instead of work visas, so that victims are subject to penalisation, including jail and deportation, if they seek assistance abroad. Some Sri Lankan migrant workers in the Gulf countries report that employers retained their identification documents, including passports and work permits, which restricted freedom of movement and is a common means of coercion for trafficking. Some Sri Lankan migrants reported indicators of fraudulent recruitment while travelling to Russia to enlist as foreign fighters in Russia’s war in Ukraine.”
Quoting observers, the report explained that women and girls are disproportionately impacted by human trafficking, and that the majority of Sri Lankan female migrant workers seek employment in the Middle East, Japan, and South Korea, and that thousands of Sri Lankan female migrant workers report that employers exploit them in forced labour and sometimes sex trafficking. The domestic work sector, mostly employing women and girls, is largely unregulated with working conditions indicative of forced labour and domestic servitude. In addition, in-house domestic workers experience greater risks of exploitation and abuse. Traffickers also exploit foreign women in commercial sex in Sri Lanka, including migrant workers brought to Sri Lanka on tourist visas.
Observers had further noted that marginalised communities in Sri Lanka continue to face discrimination and consequently greater vulnerability to human trafficking.
Protection and prevention
According to the US State Department report, the Government has slightly increased protection efforts. The Government identified 95 victims, including 53 men, 34 women, five girls, and three boys, compared with 59 victims identified during the previous reporting period. Of the 95 victims, nine were sex trafficking survivors, 78 were labour trafficking survivors, and eight were survivors of unspecified forms of trafficking. Seven victims were Pakistani nationals. It was noted that the Government continued to support the repatriation of potential trafficking victims, including at least nine Sri Lankans from Myanmar, a decrease from 72 potential trafficking victims repatriated in the previous reporting period.
“The Government adopted some changes to its procedures for victim care, including gender sensitive medical examinations and interviews, enrollment in the victim information register, and a special advisory board to allocate compensation to victims of crime. The Government could provide medical assistance, psychosocial care, shelter, and other services to victims of crime, including trafficking. The Government referred at least 20 identified victims to Government agencies and an international organisation for services, including shelter, psychosocial care, and educational services. This compared to 54 identified victims referred to care in the previous reporting period. The Government and partners reported providing services to at least 57 trafficking victims, including seven Pakistani citizens. The Government provided legal assistance to trafficking victims through the Legal Aid Commission of Sri Lanka. The Government also collaborated with the civil society to provide support for foreign trafficking victims, including from Pakistan.”
The report explained that Sri Lankan law did not provide foreign victims with legal alternatives to deportation to countries where they might face hardship or retribution after trial completion. Adding that the Government maintained a victim and witness compensation fund, the report said however that the Government did not report providing any funding to trafficking victims.
“The Government operated shelters and safe houses at Sri Lankan diplomatic missions in some countries, and provided food, lodging, and other support to a reported 288 trafficking victims, compared to 134 migrant workers during the previous reporting period. The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment previously allocated Rs. 100 million (US Dollars 308,830) for such facilities in 2022, but did not report its funding for the current reporting period. However, observers reported that these facilities were insufficient to meet the victims’ needs and migrant workers previously reported poor conditions, including inadequate food, unsanitary living conditions, and insufficient legal assistance.”
With regard to the prevention of human trafficking, the report said that the Government has increased its prevention efforts: “The National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force continued to meet regularly under the leadership of the Ministry of Defence, and worked to increase coordination among the Government and civil society organisations to implement the 2021-2025 national action plan (NAP). The Government did not have a dedicated budget to combat human trafficking or implement its NAP and relied on previously allocated Ministries’ general funding to support anti-trafficking activities. The Government continued to train Ministry officials on victim identification, victim assistance, and anti-trafficking laws. The Government, sometimes in coordination with an international organisation, conducted awareness campaigns through workshops, billboards, and radio, television, and social media programmes. The campaigns targeted students, prospective migrant workers, and the general public. Awareness raising materials were available in Sinhala, Tamil, and English.”
The report claimed that the Government did not robustly enforce its migrant worker policies in an effort to increase remittances and boost the Sri Lankan economy. However, the Government had established a committee to review migration policies to prevent trafficking. The report read that the Government attempted to regulate online activity, but struggled to monitor unregistered employment agencies operating online.
Recommendations
Based on the abovementioned situation, the report recommended that Sri Lanka increases its efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking-related crimes, including labour traffickers and officials allegedly complicit in trafficking, and seeks adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms.
“Increase efforts to proactively identify trafficking victims, including among undocumented migrant workers abroad and women in commercial sex, and ensure that victims are not inappropriately penalised solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked,” the report said, adding that the country should also improve the quality and accessibility of victim-related services, ensure that shelter and specialised services are available for all identified victims, and provide support to victims who participate in trials against traffickers.
Adding that the country should increase the monitoring of licensed recruitment agencies and the regulation of sub-agents, referring allegations of criminal violations to law enforcement, the report said that attention needs to be paid to promoting safe and legal migration, ensuring migration related regulations do not discriminate based on gender, and increasing awareness among prospective migrants of the steps necessary for safe migration and the resources available abroad.
Among the other recommendations were eliminating all recruitment fees charged by labour recruiters to workers, increasing efforts to address extraterritorial child sexual exploitation and abuse within the tourism sector, including the proactive identification of victims and the investigation of complicit establishments, formalising the domestic work sector and increasing the oversight of working conditions, providing sufficient resources for labour inspectors and increasing the identification of labour trafficking and exploitation, and increasing training for the Police, prosecutors, judges, immigration officials, and service providers on human trafficking and victim centred and trauma informed approaches.