Lanka failed to address human trafficking

Friday, 21 Jun 2013

The 2013 Trafficking In Persons (TIP) report released by the US State Department has criticized Sri Lanka for failing to address issues of human trafficking and has placed Sri Lanka among Tier Two Watch list countries.The report asserts the Government of Sri Lanka has made limited progress to protect and prevent human trafficking in the last year, adding that law enforcement efforts to combat human trafficking were weak during the reported period. Sri Lanka does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking according to the report.

The report further notes, “Government employees’ complicity in trafficking offences remained a problem. Many recruitment agencies were run by politicians or were politically-connected. Some sub-agents cooperated with Sri Lankan officials to procure forged or modified documents, or real documents with false data, to facilitate travel abroad.” The report also goes on to say, “The government did not report any prosecutions of government employees for alleged complicity in trafficking-related offences during the reporting period.”

Tier Two countries are those that do not fully comply with the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), but are making significant efforts to comply with those standards. A Tier Two country is placed on the Watch List, if the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is significant while there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking from the previous year.

The report has recommended the Sri Lankan Government to fully implement procedures to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations and refer them to care facilities and to strengthen the training of local and national government officials. It also calls on the government to expand the Bureau of Foreign Employment’s mandate to include the regulation of subagents.

“The government needs to promote safe and legal migration rather than imposing discriminatory policies that discourage migration or impose age restrictions on migrants,” the report noted. Speaking to Ceylon Today, Spokesman for the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), Mangala Randeniya, said, “We have made significant progress in combating human trafficking and I am surprised the report indicates limited progress on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka.” He also noted, “In 2009, the SLBFE Act was amended to increase its scope so as to take action against illegal recruitment agencies. Furthermore, several grassroots level awareness programmes have been conducted to educate the public on safety during migration and on human traffickers.”

Randeniya added, “In terms of prevention, the monitoring of agents is done to the greatest possible extent.”  He also said discussions are currently underway to amend legislation that will require all sub-agents to be registered as per the recommendations in the report.