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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 24 COLOMBO 001725 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
PLEASE PASS TO DRL/CRA, SA, SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958:   N/A 
TAGS: PHUM ELAB PGOV PREL KSEP CE
SUBJECT:  2003 Human Rights Report for Sri Lanka 
 
Ref:  State 214438 
 
¶1.  (U) Sensitive but Unclassified entire text. 
 
¶2.  (U) Following is the 2003 Country Human Rights 
report for Sri Lanka. 
 
BEGIN TEXT: 
 
¶3.  (U) Sri Lanka is a democratic republic with an 
active multiparty system.  The popularly elected 
president and 225-member Parliament share constitutional 
power.  The Government and its agents generally 
respected the rule of law.  From 1983 until 2001, the 
Government fought the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE), a terrorist organization fighting for a separate 
ethnic Tamil state in the north and east of the country. 
The LTTE is on the U.S.'s list of Foreign Terrorist 
Organizations.  In December 2001, however, the 
Government and the LTTE each announced unilateral cease- 
fires.  A formal ceasefire accord was signed by the two 
sides in February 2002.  This historic process of 
reconciliation between the Government and the LTTE 
continued during 2002-03 in Norwegian-facilitated talks. 
After holding six rounds of talks, the LTTE withdrew 
from negotiations in April 2003, but the ceasefire 
accord continued to be observed by both sides.  As a 
result of the peace process, there has been a sharp 
reduction in roadblocks and checkpoints around the 
country.  In addition, approximately 300,000 internally 
displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to their points 
of origin in the north and east, and authorities have 
opened investigations into questionable actions by 
security force personnel. 
 
Violence, including at least 50 deaths, and 
irregularities marred the December 2001 parliamentary 
elections in which the United National Front (UNF), a 
coalition of parties led by the United National Party 
(UNP), won a majority in Parliament for a six-year term. 
Stating that it feared possible infiltration by the 
LTTE, the Government prohibited more than 40,000 Tamil 
voters living in LTTE-controlled territories from 
crossing army checkpoints in order to vote.  In 2003, 
the Supreme Court ruled that this action violated the 
fundamental rights of these prospective Tamil voters, 
and cited and fined the government for preventing 
citizens from exercising their right to vote.  The next 
parliamentary elections are scheduled for 2007. 
President Chandrika Kumaratunga, head of the People's 
Alliance (PA) coalition, won reelection in 1999 for a 
second six-year term.  The next Presidential elections 
are scheduled for 2005.  The Government generally 
respected constitutional provisions for an independent 
judiciary. 
 
The Ministry of Interior controls the 60,000-member 
police force, which has been used in military operations 
against the LTTE and is responsible for internal 
security in most areas of the country.  In the past, the 
police paramilitary Special Task Force (STF) also 
engaged in military operations against the LTTE.  The 
STF is also under Ministry of Interior control.  The 
Ministry of Defense controls the 112,000-member Army, 
the 27,000-member Navy, and the 20,000-member Air Force. 
The more than 20,000 member Home Guards, an armed force 
drawn from local communities and responsible to the 
police, provides security for Muslim and Sinhalese 
village communities located near LTTE-controlled areas. 
 
Sri Lanka is a low-income country with a market economy 
based mainly on the export of textiles, tea, rubber, 
coconuts, and gems.  It also earns substantial foreign 
exchange from the repatriated earnings of citizens 
employed abroad, and from tourism.  The population is 
approximately 19.4 million.  Real GDP growth was 3.2 
percent in 2002.  Growth for 2003 was forecast at 5.5 
percent.  Early signs of a peace dividend were visible 
throughout the economy -- Sri Lanka has been able to 
reduce defense expenditures and begin to focus on 
getting its large, public sector debt under control.  In 
addition, the economy has benefited from lower interest 
rates, a recovery in domestic demand, increased tourist 
arrivals, a revival of the stock exchange, and increased 
foreign direct investment. 
 
The Government generally respected the human rights of 
its citizens in 2003, but there were serious problems in 
some areas.  Continuing the improvement seen last year, 
there were no reports of security forces committing 
extrajudicial killings and no reports of disappearances. 
However, the military and police reportedly tortured 
detainees, and there were reports of several deaths in 
custody.  There were reports of rape while in custody, 
and prison conditions remained poor.  There were no 
reports of arbitrary arrest during the year.  During 
2002, the Government released more than 750 Tamils held 
under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and no new 
arrests under the PTA occurred in 2003.  As of September 
2003, only 65 Tamils held under the PTA remained in 
custody.  Observers claim that the PTA, like the 
Emergency Regulations (ER) repealed in 2001, permitted 
arbitrary arrests of Tamils. 
 
There were no reports that security forces harassed 
journalists in 2003.  The LTTE permitted some access to 
the areas of the country it controlled to journalists. 
Some LTTE-imposed restrictions remained on freedom of 
movement, such as from Vavuniya to Jaffna.  Violence and 
discrimination against women, child prostitution, child 
labor, and discrimination against persons with 
disabilities continued to be problems.  There was some 
discrimination and occasional violence against religious 
minorities, and institutionalized ethnic discrimination 
against Tamils remained a problem.  Trafficking in women 
and children for the purpose of forced labor occurred, 
and there was some trafficking of women and children for 
the commercial sex industry.  The Government has taken 
firm steps against the children for sex trade and 
international involvement in the sex trade has declined 
significantly. 
 
In the past few years, the Government has taken steps to 
address human rights concerns.  In 2002, the Government 
named a new chairman for the National Human Rights 
Commission (HRC).  In 2000, the Government established 
an Interministerial Permanent Standing Committee and an 
Interministerial Working Group on Human Rights Issues, 
chaired by senior officials, to investigate human rights 
abuses.  At the same time, the Government established 
the Prosecution of Torture Perpetrators Unit, under the 
direct supervision of the Attorney General. 
 
The LTTE continued to commit serious human rights 
abuses.  The LTTE was responsible for arbitrary arrest, 
torture, harassment, disappearances, extortion, and 
detention.  Through a campaign of intimidation, the LTTE 
continued to undermine the work of elected local 
government bodies in Jaffna.  On occasion, the LTTE 
prevented political and governmental activities from 
occurring in the north and east.  Most seriously, there 
is overwhelming evidence that the LTTE killed more than 
three dozen members of anti-LTTE Tamil political groups 
and alleged Tamil military informants during the year. 
There were also instances of intimidation of Muslims in 
the east by the LTTE, and there was fighting between 
LTTE personnel and Muslims that left several Muslims 
dead.  The LTTE continued to control large sections of 
the north and east of the country.  The LTTE denied 
those under its control the right to change their 
government, did not provide for fair trials, infringed 
on privacy rights, generally restricted freedom of 
movement, used child soldiers, and discriminated against 
ethnic and religious minorities. 
 
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, 
Including Freedom From: 
 
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life 
 
Unlike in previous years, there were no credible reports 
that security forces committed extrajudicial killings. 
 
Security force impunity remained a problem.  Between 
April 1995 and December 2001 when the peace process 
began, several hundred persons were killed or 
disappeared after being taken into security force 
custody.  At year's end, the government continued to 
investigate five cases of rape, 50 cases of torture, and 
approximately 500 cases of disappearance allegedly 
committed by security force personnel.  The Government 
passed indictments against security force personnel in 
several high profile cases, including the Bindunuwewa 
massacre, in which two security force personnel were 
convicted in 2003.  Six security force personnel were 
convicted in the 1996 killing of university student 
Krishanthi Kumaraswamy.  In numerous other cases, 
military personnel may have committed human rights 
violations for which they have not been identified and 
brought to justice. 
In December 2000, nine Tamil civilians were reported 
missing in Mirusuvil after being arrested by the Sri 
Lanka Army (SLA).  One person escaped, and reported the 
incident to police and the local magistrate.  The 
escapee identified two SLA soldiers as the perpetrators, 
and the soldiers admitted to torturing nine civilians 
and murdering eight of them.  Nine soldiers later were 
arrested for the torture and killings.  The army 
commander administratively punished the soldiers by 
having their salaries withheld (see Sections 1.b. and 
1.c.).  The case was transferred to the Anuradhapura 
Magistrate's Court for adjudication in November 2001. 
In November 2002, five members of the army were charged 
with the murders, and the trial continued in 2003. 
 
In October 2000, local villagers killed 27 Tamil men and 
15 others were injured at the Bindunuwewa rehabilitation 
camp for former child soldiers.  The HRC stated that the 
police were guilty of "grave dereliction of duty." 
Police allegedly took part in the killings and did 
nothing to prevent the villagers from entering the 
detention camp.  Violence after the killings continued 
for almost one week before police were able to restore 
order.  Three of the survivors were able to testify at a 
Presidential Hearing, which met regularly throughout 
¶2001.  Many witnesses at the hearing criticized police 
actions at the scene and during the initial 
investigations.  In 2001, all suspects in the case were 
released on bail.  Due to the failure to show at the 
scheduled hearing in November 2002, the court remanded 
all suspects until completion of the trial.  At the end 
of 2002, 10 police officers and 41 villagers were 
indicted and were standing trial.  Twenty-three of the 
accused were acquitted on January 4, 2003.  Five of the 
accused, including two police officers, were convicted 
and sentenced to death in July 2003.  The sentences were 
immediately commuted to rigorous imprisonment, which is 
normal practice in Sri Lanka, of 23 years. 
 
In previous years, some cases of extrajudicial killings 
were reprisals against civilians for LTTE attacks in 
which members of the security forces or civilians were 
killed or injured.  In most cases, the security forces 
claimed that the victims were members of the LTTE, but 
human rights monitors believed otherwise.  In 
Thampalakamam, near Trincomalee, in 1998, police and 
home guards allegedly killed eight Tamil civilians, 
apparently in reprisal for the LTTE bombing of the 
Temple of the Tooth a week earlier.  The Government 
arrested police officers and home guards, charging four 
with murder and 17 with unlawful assembly. At the end of 
2002, eight police officers had been indicted and 
hearings continued in 2003. 
 
A court in 2000 ordered five soldiers arrested for the 
1999 gang rape and murder of Ida Carmelita, a young 
Tamil girl.  Court hearings into the case continued 
during 2003. 
 
At his sentencing for the 1998 rape and murder of 
Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, a Tamil university student, 
former Lance Corporal Somaratne Rajapakse claimed 
knowledge of mass graves at Chemmani in Jaffna 
containing the bodies of up to 400 persons killed by 
security forces in 1996.  The other five defendants 
corroborated his claim of mass graves in the Chemmani 
area, where they allegedly had buried between 120 and 
140 bodies on the orders of their superiors. 
Exhumations in 1999 yielded 15 skeletons.  Two of the 
victims were identified as young men who had disappeared 
in 1996.  In 2001, 13 of the bodies had not been 
identified. Rajapakse and others named a total of 20 
security force personnel, including former policemen, as 
responsible for the killings.  The remaining 
unidentified bodies underwent DNA testing for 
identification purposes.  The Attorney General's office 
has indicated that it was not satisfied with the 
inconclusive initial results and reportedly was 
searching for funds to provide for a more detailed test. 
All suspects in the case have been released on bail. 
The case remains pending in 2003. 
In 1994, the PA Government began prosecutions in several 
extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by members of 
the security forces.  The trial of 21 soldiers accused 
of massacring 35 Tamil civilians in 1992 in the village 
of Mailanthani in Batticaloa district was transferred to 
the Colombo High Court in 1996.  Many witnesses for the 
case live in displaced persons camps, and could not come 
to court to give evidence.  A jury trial, which began in 
January 2002, ended in November 2002 when the security 
forces were acquitted.  In 2003, representatives of the 
victims requested that the Attorney General appeal the 
jury's decision. 
 
In the January 2000 killing of Tamil politician Kumar 
Ponnambalam, two key suspects were killed by unknown 
assailants in early 2003.  Judicial proceedings 
continued with the remaining suspect in late 2003. 
 
Although former paramilitary Tamil groups armed by and 
aligned with the former PA Government committed 
extrajudicial killings in the past, there were no 
credible reports of such killings during the year. 
 
In the past, the military wing of the People's 
Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the 
Razeek group were responsible for killing a number of 
persons; however, there were no reports of such killings 
during the year.  The security forces had armed and used 
these militias and a number of other Tamil militant 
organizations to provide information, to help identify 
LTTE terrorists, and, in some cases, to fight in 
military operations against the terrorists.  The exact 
size of these militias was impossible to ascertain, but 
they probably totaled fewer than 2,000 persons.  These 
groups were asked to disarm following the formal 
February 2002 ceasefire agreement between the Government 
and LTTE.  The militia did hand over some weapons to the 
Government; however, most observers believe that the 
groups kept some arms.  Persons killed by these 
militants in the past probably included LTTE operatives 
and civilians who failed to comply with extortion 
demands. 
 
There is overwhelming evidence that the LTTE killed more 
than three dozen members of anti-LTTE Tamil political 
groups and alleged Tamil informants for the security 
forces during the year, mainly in the north and east of 
the country.  Both current and former members of anti- 
LTTE Tamil political parties were targeted by the LTTE. 
In one high-profile case, the deputy leader of the Eelam 
People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) was shot 
and killed in Jaffna in June.  The LTTE also targeted 
alleged Tamil informants to the military, killing 
several during the year.  One Sri Lankan police officer 
was also killed in Colombo in an apparent LTTE attack. 
 
Unlike in previous years, there were no attacks and 
counter-attacks between government forces and the LTTE 
during the year, although in two incidents in March and 
June 2003, the Sri Lankan Navy sank LTTE ships allegedly 
carrying weapons and ammunition.  Several LTTE personnel 
were killed in each of the incidents.  There were no 
reports of suicide bombings during the year. 
 
Disappearance 
 
There were no credible reports of disappearances at the 
hands of the security forces in 2003. 
 
In 2001, the army, navy, police, and paramilitary groups 
were implicated in as many as 10 disappearances, 
primarily in Vavuniya.  These cases were not confirmed. 
In December 2000, eight Tamil civilians were reported 
missing in Mirusuvil.  Two SLA soldiers were identified 
as perpetrators and admitted to killing eight of the 
civilians.  The soldiers were punished administratively 
by the army (see Sections 1.a. and 1.c.). 
 
In February 2000, a fisherman seen arrested by naval 
personnel near Trincomalee disappeared.  In 2002, the 
Trincomalee High Court ordered a police line up; 
however, the witness did not identify any of the 
suspects.  At the end of 2002, the High Court was 
conducting a habeas corpus hearing in conjunction with 
the case.  There were no further developments in this 
case in 2003. 
Those who disappeared in 2001 and previous years usually 
were presumed dead.  The 2000 U.N. Working Group on 
Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances lists the country 
as having an extremely large number of "nonclarified" 
disappearances.  The Commander of the Army and the 
Inspector General of Police both criticized the 
disappearances and stated that the perpetrators would be 
called to account.  Although there have been few 
prosecutions of security force personnel to date, during 
the year there were indictments and investigations, 
including the case against the security forces involved 
in the Bindunuwewa massacre and the killings in 
Mirusuvil. 
 
The Attorney General's office successfully prosecuted 
four cases in 2002 involving members of the security 
forces on abduction and murder charges.  In November 
2002 the Government formed a new commission to 
investigate disappearances in Jaffna area during 1996 
and 1997.  The commission was expected to begin work in 
2003, but did not take any action during the year. 
 
A U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary 
Disappearances report, released in December 1999, cited 
the PTA and ER as important factors contributing to 
disappearances and recommended the abolition or 
modification of these laws to bring them into conformity 
with internationally accepted human rights standards. 
The ER was repealed in 2001 and there were no arrests 
under the PTA in 2002 or 2003; however, some arrests 
were being made without proper procedures and the 
Government had not released all persons detained under 
the PTA in previous years at year's end (see Section 
1.d.).  The reviewing process for some cases continued 
in 2003. 
 
Tamil militias aligned with the former PA government 
also were responsible for disappearances in past years; 
however, there were no reports during the year.  The HRC 
had no mandate or authority to enforce respect for human 
rights among these militia groups.  It was impossible to 
determine the exact number of victims because of the 
secrecy with which these groups operated.  These 
militias were largely disarmed by the Government in 
¶2002. 
 
The LTTE released 10 people in 2002, including some 
soldiers, to the International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC).  At year's end, the LTTE was not known to 
be holding any prisoners, but many observers believe 
that they are (see Section 1.g.). 
 
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment 
or Punishment 
 
Despite legal prohibitions, the security forces and 
police continued to torture and mistreat persons in 
police custody and prisons.  The Convention Against 
Torture Act (CATA) made torture a punishable offense. 
Under the CATA, torture is defined as a specific crime 
which criminal conviction of carries a 7-year minimum 
sentence.  The High Court has jurisdiction over 
violations.  However, according to a recent Amnesty 
International (AI) report and press release, the CATA 
does not implement several provisions of the U.N. 
Convention; this results in torture being prohibited 
under specific circumstances but allowed under others. 
Consequently, torture continued with relative impunity. 
In addition, the PTA makes confessions obtained under 
any circumstance, including by torture, sufficient to 
hold a person until they are brought to court.  In some 
cases, the detention can extend for years. 
 
Since 2000, the Government has been working on 
developing regulations to prosecute and punish military 
and police personnel responsible for torture.  The 
Attorney General's Office and the Criminal Investigation 
Unit have established units to focus on torture 
complaints; the units forwarded 50 cases for indictments 
during the year, of which 20 resulted in indictments. 
The Interparliamentary Permanent Standing Committee and 
its Interministerial Working Group on Human Rights 
Issues continued to track criminal investigations of 
torture.  In addition, the Government also ceased paying 
fines incurred by security force personnel found guilty 
of torture.  Security force personnel have been fined 
under civil statutes for engaging in torture.  According 
to the Attorney General's Office, members of the 
security forces and police had been prosecuted under 
criminal statutes, but none of the cases had come to 
conclusion. 
Members of the security forces continued to torture and 
mistreat detainees and other prisoners, particularly 
during interrogation.  Methods of torture included 
electric shock, beatings, suspension by the wrists or 
feet in contorted positions, burning, slamming testicles 
in desk drawers, and near drowning.  In other cases, 
victims must remain in unnatural positions for extended 
periods or have bags laced with insecticide, chili 
powder, or gasoline placed over their heads.  Detainees 
have reported broken bones and other serious injuries as 
a result of their mistreatment.  There were reports of 
rape in detention during the year.  Medical examination 
of persons arrested since 2000 continued to reveal 
multiple cases of torture. 
 
In December 2000, the bodies of eight Tamils tortured 
and killed by the army in Mirusuvil were exhumed after 
an individual escaped and notified authorities.  Nine 
soldiers were arrested, and by year's end, a trial had 
begun (see Sections 1.a. and 1.b.).  The military also 
conducted its own inquiry, but the accused were 
discharged.  Five soldiers were indicted in court, 
however, and were standing trial in 2003. 
 
On March 15, 2002, Thivyan Krishnasamy, a student leader 
and an outspoken critic of the actions of security 
forces in Jaffna, was released from custody.  Human 
rights observers claim that he was arrested because of 
his political activism, but the police stated that he 
was connected to the LTTE.  He had been arrested in July 
2001 and, when he was brought before a court in August, 
he complained of being tortured.  In support of his 
allegations of torture, the Jaffna Student Union held 
protests during the fall of 2001.  In response, 
university administrators temporarily closed the 
university to avoid violence.  There were no 
developments in this case in 2003. 
 
During 2001, there were a number of reports of women 
being raped by security forces while in detention.  One 
such case involved two women arrested in March 2001 in 
Mannar who claimed that they were tortured and 
repeatedly raped by naval and police personnel.  The 
women were released on bail in April 2001 and filed 
charges against their assailants.  At the end of 2002, 
the 14 accused were standing trial for rape, torture, or 
both.  Two of the perpetrators in this case were 
acquitted in 2003.  A fundamental rights case (see next 
paragraph) also was opened against the accused.  Four 
other cases in which the security forces are accused of 
raping women in detention were still pending in 2003. 
 
Under fundamental rights provisions in the Constitution, 
torture victims may file civil suit for compensation in 
the high courts or Supreme Court.  Courts have granted 
awards ranging from approximately $150 (14,200 rupees) 
to $1,940 (182,500 rupees).  However, most cases take 
two years or more to move through the courts. 
 
Impunity remained a problem.  In the majority of cases 
in which military personnel may have committed human 
rights abuses, the Government has not identified those 
responsible or brought them to justice. 
 
At the invitation of the Government, the U.N. Committee 
on Torture sent a five-person mission to Colombo in 2000 
to determine whether a systematic pattern of torture 
existed in the country and, if so, to make 
recommendations for eliminating the practice.  In 2001 
the mission had submitted its confidential report to 
President Kumaratunga.  The report has not been released 
to the public. 
 
In the past, Tamil militants aligned with the former PA 
government engaged in torture; however, there were no 
such reports in 2003. 
 
The LTTE used torture on a routine basis. 
 
Prison conditions generally were poor and did not meet 
international standards because of overcrowding and lack 
of sanitary facilities; however, the Government 
permitted visits by independent human rights observers. 
The Government permitted representatives from the ICRC 
to visit places of detention.  The ICRC conducted 69 
visits to 33 government detention facilities, including 
prisons and military jails in 2003.  The HRC also 
visited 690 police stations and 96 detention facilities 
from January to September 2003 (see Section 1.d.). 
 
Conditions also reportedly were poor in LTTE-run 
detention facilities.  The ICRC conducted eight visits 
in LTTE-controlled detention facilities. Due to the 
release of detainees in 2000 and the apparent release of 
the remaining soldiers held by the LTTE in 2002, ICRC 
visited fewer LTTE detention centers than in previous 
years (see Section 1.d.). 
 
Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile 
 
There were no reports of arbitrary arrest and detention 
during the year.  Under the law, authorities must inform 
an arrested person of the reason for arrest and bring 
that person before a magistrate within 24 hours.  In 
practice, persons detained generally appear before a 
magistrate within a few days of arrest, who may 
authorize bail or order continued pretrial detention for 
up to three months or longer.  Security forces must 
issue an arrest receipt at the time of arrest, and 
despite some efforts by the Government to enforce this 
standard, arrest receipts rarely were issued in previous 
years.  Observers believed that the lack of arrest 
receipts in the past prevented adequate tracking of 
cases, which permitted extended detentions and torture 
without making any persons directly responsible for 
those detainees. 
 
Under the ER and the PTA, security forces could detain 
suspects for extended periods of time without court 
approval.  The ER, in force periodically since 1979 and 
in force island-wide from August 1998 until July 2001, 
gave security forces broad powers to arrest and detain 
without charge or the right to judicial review.  ER 
provisions permitted police to hold individuals for up 
to 90 days to investigate suspected offenses, although 
the police had to present detainees to a court within 30 
days to record the detention.  The court was able to 
order a further six months' detention. 
 
In past years, the army generally turned over those it 
arrested under the ER to the police within 24 hours, 
although the police and the army did not always issue 
arrest receipts or notify the HRC within 48 hours.  The 
HRC had a legal mandate to visit those arrested, and 
police generally respected this.  Due to censorship and 
infrequent access, observers could not determine the 
state of affairs in LTTE-controlled areas. 
 
There was an instance of large-scale arrests of Tamils 
in Colombo in June 2003, however, the vast majority of 
those arrested were released shortly thereafter.  In the 
past, many detentions occurred during operations against 
the LTTE.  Most detentions lasted a maximum of several 
days, but some extended to several months.  As of 
September 1, 65 Tamils charged under the PTA remained in 
detention without bail awaiting trial.  The Government 
released more than 750 Tamils arrested under the PTA 
during 2002. 
 
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of 
arbitrary arrests or searches of residents.  In previous 
years, Tamils complained that they were abused verbally 
and held for extended periods at security checkpoints 
throughout Colombo.  The vast majority of checkpoints 
were removed in 2002 and the reports of regular 
mistreatment by security forces largely ceased. 
 
The Committee to Inquire into Undue Arrest and 
Harassment (CIUAH), which includes senior opposition 
party and Tamil representatives, examines complaints of 
arrest and harassment by security forces and takes 
remedial action as needed.  Opinions on the 
effectiveness of the CIUAH were mixed.  Some human 
rights observers believe that the work of the committee 
deterred random arrests and alleviated problems 
encountered by detainees and their families.  Others 
felt that although the CIUAH continued to meet in 2003, 
it took no action during the year. 
The HRC investigated the legality of detention in cases 
referred to it by the Supreme Court and private 
citizens.  Although the HRC is legally mandated to 
exercise oversight over arrests and detentions by the 
security forces and to undertake visits to prisons, 
members of the security forces sometimes violated the 
regulations and failed to cooperate with the HRC. 
 
The Government continued to give the ICRC unhindered 
access to approximately 160 detention centers, police 
stations, and army camps recognized officially as places 
of detention.  Due to the lapsing of the ER in July 
2001, the total number of persons detained in military 
bases at any one time has been reduced dramatically, 
with the military making fewer arrests and transferring 
detainees to police facilities more quickly than in 
previous years.  With the ceasefire agreement, the 
number of arrests by the military has dramatically 
declined. 
 
The LTTE in the past has detained civilians, often 
holding them for ransom.  There were reports of this 
practice during the year, particularly the multiple 
reports of kidnaping of Muslims in the east.  The 
Muslims were usually released soon after being kidnapped 
and often after ransom was paid.  At year's end, there 
were no reports of the LTTE holding Muslims in custody. 
 
The Government does not practice forced exile, and there 
are no legal provisions allowing its use. 
 
Denial of Fair Public Trial 
 
The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, 
and the Government generally respected this provision in 
practice. 
 
The President appoints judges to the Supreme Court, the 
high court, and the courts of appeal.  A judicial 
service commission, composed of the Chief Justice and 
two Supreme Court judges, appointed, transferred, and 
dismissed lower court judges.  Judges serve until the 
mandatory retirement age of 65 for the Supreme Court and 
62 for other courts.  Judges can be removed for reasons 
of misbehavior or physical or mental incapacity, but 
only after a legal investigation followed by joint 
action of the President and the Parliament. 
 
In criminal cases, juries try defendants in public. 
Defendants may be represented by the counsel of their 
choice, are informed of the charges and evidence against 
them, and have the right to appeal.  The Government 
provides counsel for indigent persons tried on criminal 
charges in the high courts and the courts of appeal, but 
it does not provide counsel in other cases.  Private 
legal aid organizations assisted some defendants.  In 
addition, the Ministry of Justice operated 11 community 
legal aid centers to assist those who cannot afford 
representation and to serve as educational resources for 
local communities.  However, these legal aid centers had 
tried no cases by the end of September 2003.  There are 
no jury trials in cases brought under the PTA. 
Confessions, obtained by various coercive means, 
including torture, are inadmissible in criminal 
proceedings, but are allowed in PTA cases.  Defendants 
bear the burden of proof to show that their confessions 
were obtained by coercion.  Defendants in PTA cases have 
the right to appeal.  Subject to judicial review in 
certain cases, defendants can spend up to 18 months in 
prison on administrative order waiting for their cases 
to be heard.  Once their cases come to trial, decisions 
are made relatively quickly.  In 2002, more than 750 PTA 
cases were dropped and the prisoners released. 
 
Most court proceedings in Colombo and the south were 
conducted in English or Sinhala, which, due to a 
shortage of court-appointed interpreters, restricted the 
ability of Tamil-speaking defendants to get a fair 
hearing.  Trials and hearings in the north and east were 
in Tamil and English, but many serious cases, including 
those having to do with terrorism, were tried in 
Colombo.  While Tamil-speaking judges existed at the 
magistrate level, only four high court judges, an 
appeals court judge, and a Supreme Court justice spoke 
fluent Tamil.  Few legal textbooks and only one law 
report existed in Tamil, and the Government has complied 
only slowly with legislation requiring that all laws be 
published in English, Sinhala, and Tamil. 
 
In the past in Jaffna, LTTE threats against court 
officials sometimes disrupted normal court operations. 
Although the Jaffna court suspended activities due to 
security concerns in 2000, it reopened in 2001 and 
functioned continuously throughout 2003.  During the 
year, the LTTE expanded the operations of its court 
system into areas previously under the Government's 
judicial system in the north and east.  With the 
expansion, the LTTE demanded all Tamil civilians stop 
using the Government's judicial system and only rely on 
the LTTE's legal system.  Credible reports indicated 
that the LTTE has implemented the change through the 
threat of force. 
 
The LTTE has its own self-described legal system, 
composed of judges with little or no legal training. 
LTTE courts operate without codified or defined legal 
authority and essentially operate as agents of the LTTE 
rather than as an independent judiciary.  The courts 
reportedly impose severe punishments, including 
execution. 
 
The Government claimed that all persons held under the 
PTA are suspected members of the LTTE and therefore are 
legitimate security threats.  Insufficient information 
existed to verify this claim and to determine whether 
these detainees are political prisoners.  In many cases, 
human rights monitors questioned the legitimacy of the 
criminal charges brought against these persons.  More 
than 750 PTA cases were dismissed by the Attorney 
General in 2002.  The Attorney General's office expected 
a few more of the 65 remaining cases to be dismissed at 
year's end.  The Government claimed that the cases that 
remained will be of those individuals directly linked to 
suicide bombings or other terrorist and criminal acts 
only. 
 
The LTTE also reportedly holds a number of political 
prisoners.  The number is impossible to determine 
because of the secretive nature of the organization. 
The LTTE refuses to allow the ICRC access to these 
prisoners. 
 
Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence 
 
The Constitution provides for the right to privacy, and 
the Government generally respected this provision in 
practice; however, it infringed on citizen's privacy 
rights in some areas.  The police generally obtained 
proper warrants for arrests and searches conducted under 
ordinary law; however, the security forces were not 
required to obtain warrants for searches conducted 
either under the now-lapsed ER or the PTA.  The 
Secretary of the Ministry of Defense was responsible for 
 
SIPDIS 
providing oversight for such searches.  The Government 
was believed to monitor telephone conversations and 
correspondence on a selective basis.  However, there 
were no reports of such activity by security forces 
during the year. 
 
The Government removed the LTTE from proscription on 
September 4, 2002.  This action by the Government meant 
members of the LTTE were no longer subject to arrest 
simply because of their status. 
 
The LTTE routinely invaded the privacy of citizens by 
maintaining an effective network of informants.  The 
LTTE also forcibly recruited children during the year 
(see Section 6.d).  In 2003, the LTTE released 141 
children.  In late 2002, the LTTE handed over 85 
children to UNICEF, stating that the children had 
volunteered to serve, but that the LTTE does not accept 
children (see Section 6.d).  Unlike in previous years, 
there were no reports that the LTTE expelled Muslims 
from their homes. 
 
Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian 
Law in Internal Conflicts 
 
Hostilities between the Government and the LTTE abated 
with the announcement of unilateral ceasefires in 
December 2001, followed by a formal ceasefire accord 
agreed to in February 2002.  Subsequently, a number of 
prisoners were released by both sides and the key road 
connecting Jaffna with the rest of the island was 
opened.  The abatement of hostilities also led to a 
sharp reduction in roadblocks and checkpoints around the 
country, to the return of approximately 300,000 IDPs to 
their points of origin in the north and east, and to the 
opening of investigations into actions by security force 
personnel. 
 
In April 2002, in Nilaveli, on the east coast, naval 
personnel opened fire and injured two Tamil women.  The 
circumstances surrounding the incident remained unclear, 
and the investigation into the incident remained open at 
year's end.  On October 10, 2002, seven civilians were 
killed when security force personnel fired into a crowd 
storming their compound in the east.  Some observers 
claimed the security forces used excessive force in 
repelling a peaceful crowd that was demonstrating 
against the alleged harassment of LTTE cadre earlier in 
the day.  Others claim the security forces were 
justified in repelling what appeared to be an LTTE- 
instigated attack. 
 
In November 2001, the Sri Lanka Army created the 
Directorate of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in the 
army.  The directorate is charged with coordinating all 
human rights activities for the army from ICRC training 
classes (see Section 4) to overseeing the human rights 
cells that are assigned throughout the military.  The 
SLA also states that all of its personnel have completed 
the appropriate training and pledged to adhere to the 
"rules of international Humanitarian Law."  Early in 
2002, the air force and navy instituted similar 
programs.  The armed forces operated under written rules 
of engagement that severely restricted the shelling, 
bombardment, or other use of firepower against civilian- 
occupied areas.  In 2003, the army instituted further 
mandatory human rights training programs for officers 
and enlisted personnel. 
 
The Government continued to provide food relief, through 
the Commissioner General for Essential Services (CGES) 
and the Multi-Purpose Cooperative Societies (MCPS), to 
displaced and other needy citizens, including those in 
areas controlled by the LTTE.  The Government delivered 
food rations to the Vanni area, an LTTE-controlled area 
in northern Sri Lanka, through a checkpoint that is 
controlled on one side by the security forces and on the 
other by the LTTE.  The border into the territory 
controlled by the LTTE remained open during the year. 
 
In previous years, NGOs and other groups that sought to 
take assistance-related items to the LTTE-controlled 
Vanni region needed permission from the Government. 
With the onset of the peace process, NGOs and assistance 
groups could move nearly all items into the LTTE- 
controlled areas without extensive Government oversight. 
 
During 2002, the Ministry of Defense reported capturing 
several LTTE personnel with weapons in government- 
controlled areas in direct contradiction of the terms of 
the ceasefire agreement.  The Government reportedly 
returned most LTTE personnel directly to the closest 
LTTE checkpoint. Some, however, were detained for longer 
periods.  Previously the military sent the LTTE cadre it 
captured or who surrendered to rehabilitation centers. 
The ICRC continued to visit former LTTE members in 
government rehabilitation camps, although the October 
2000 massacre of more than 20 such detainees at a 
government-run detention facility at Bindunuwewa, near 
Bandarawella, led observers to question the continued 
security of residents of these facilities (see Sections 
1.a. and 1.g.). 
 
In view of the scale of hostilities in previous years 
and the large number of LTTE casualties, some observers 
have found the number of prisoners taken under 
battlefield conditions to be low and have concluded that 
many LTTE fighters apparently were killed rather than 
taken prisoner.  Some observers believed that, on the 
government side, an unwritten "take-no-prisoners" policy 
had been in effect.  The military denied this claim, 
stating that other factors limited the number of 
prisoners taken, such as the LTTE's efforts to remove 
injured fighters from the battlefield, the proclivity of 
its fighters to choose suicide over capture, and the 
LTTE's occasional practice of killing its own badly 
injured fighters.  There were no reports of security 
forces personnel executing LTTE personnel during the 
year. 
In previous years, the Government refused to permit 
relief organizations to provide medical attention to 
injured LTTE fighters, although it has offered to treat 
any LTTE injured entrusted to government care. 
According to credible reports, injured LTTE cadres 
surrendering to the Government received appropriate 
medical care. 
 
The LTTE admitted that in the past it killed security 
forces personnel rather than take them prisoner.  Past 
eyewitness accounts confirm that the LTTE executed 
injured soldiers on the battlefield.  At year's end, the 
LTTE reportedly had released all security force 
personnel they were holding.  The LTTE is believed to 
have killed most of the police officers and security 
force personnel it captured in past few years. 
 
The LTTE routinely used excessive force in the war, 
including by targeting civilians.  Since the peace 
process began in December 2001, the LTTE has engaged in 
kidnaping, hijackings of truck shipments, and forcible 
recruitment, including of children.  The LTTE was widely 
believed by credible sources to have increased its 
recruitment during the year.  There were intermittent 
reports through the year of children ranging in age from 
13 to 17 escaping from LTTE camps.  During 2003, the 
LTTE released 141 children (see Section 1.f).  The Sri 
Lanka Monitoring Mission received approximately 130 
complaints about child abductions since January 2003, 
and credible sources say those children are recruited to 
be child soldiers.  High LTTE officials have alleged to 
foreign officials that child soldiers were "volunteers." 
In 2003, the LTTE and UNICEF reached an agreement on the 
demobilization and rehabilitation of child soldiers, and 
began work on an action plan which would address issues 
relating to child labor, including underage recruitment. 
 
The LTTE expropriates food, fuel, and other items meant 
for IDPs, thus exacerbating the plight of such persons 
in LTTE-controlled areas.  Malnutrition remained a 
problem in LTTE-controlled areas as well as in other 
parts of the Vanni region, with nutrition levels falling 
below the national average.  Experts have reported a 
high rate of anemia and a low birth rate, both of which 
indicate lower levels of nutrition.  Confirmed cases of 
malnutrition included hundreds of children. 
 
Landmines were a serious problem in Jaffna and the Vanni 
and to some extent in the east (see Section 5). 
Landmines, booby traps, and unexploded ordnance pose a 
problem to resettlement of displaced persons and 
rebuilding.  At the end of 2002, a U.N. team had begun 
coordinating the process of mapping the mined areas in 
the country and established oversight for a mine removal 
program.  In 2003, a U.N team established a landmine map 
database, which was shared throughout the 12 demining 
agencies that worked in Sri Lanka in 2003.  During the 
year, the Sri Lankan Military and the LTTE removed mines 
in areas they controlled. State Department-sponsored 
humanitarian demining programs were active in clearing 
landmines in 2002 and 2003, and a major USG-funded 
demining training program for the Sri Lanka Army began 
in late 2003.  The Government reported as many as 15 
mine-related casualties among civilians per month during 
the year. 
 
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including: 
 
a. Freedom of Speech and Press 
 
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of 
the press, and the Government generally respected these 
rights in practice in 2003.  In the past, the Government 
restricted these rights, often using national security 
grounds permitted by law.  In 2002, criminal defamation 
laws, which had often been used by the Government to 
intimidate independent media outlets, were eliminated. 
In 2001, the Government officially lifted the censorship 
on war reporting.  However, even when no specific 
government censorship is exercised, private television 
stations impose their own, informal censorship on 
international television news rebroadcast in the 
country. 
Although the Government owns the country's largest 
newspaper chain, two major television stations, and a 
radio station, a variety of independent, privately owned 
newspapers, journals, and radio and television stations 
dominate the media.  Most independent media houses 
freely criticized the Government and its policies.  The 
Government imposes no political restrictions on the 
establishment of new media enterprises. 
 
The President officially eased censorship restrictions 
on foreign journalists in a circular published in June 
2000; however, material for publication or broadcast 
within the country, regardless of author, remained 
subject to government approval until the repeal of 
censorship laws in June 2001. 
 
Human rights observers commented that in the past Tamils 
from the north or east who criticized the Sri Lankan 
military and Government often were harassed and 
sometimes arrested.  They cite the case of Thiviyan 
Krishnasamy, a student leader in Jaffna and critic of 
the military in the Jaffna area.  He was arrested in 
July 2001 and released in March 2002 (see Section 1.c.). 
 
During the year, the defamation laws were repealed and 
all cases pertaining to the defamation laws were 
dropped. 
 
The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) was formed in 
1999 to protect the interests of Tamil journalists, who 
allege that they are subject to harassment and 
intimidation by Tamil paramilitary groups and Sri Lankan 
security forces.  Regional Tamil correspondents working 
in the war zones have complained of arbitrary arrest and 
detention in the past and difficulty in obtaining press 
accreditation.  The SLTMA has filed cases on behalf of 
Tamil journalists, but its cases have not yet succeeded 
in the courts. 
 
The Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka was 
established during 2003 and is designed to provide a 
venue for citizens to bring complaints against media 
outlets.  The Commission is set to begin full operations 
later this year. 
 
Unlike in the previous year, travel by local and foreign 
journalists to conflict areas was not restricted.  The 
LTTE does not tolerate freedom of expression.  It 
tightly restricts the print and broadcast media in areas 
under its control.  The LTTE has killed those reporting 
and publishing on human rights. 
 
In 2002, two air force personnel were convicted of 
forcibly entering the home of a well-known journalist 
who reported regularly on defense matters and 
threatening him.  The two received nine year sentences, 
were released on bail and continued to appeal the charge 
in 2003. 
 
The Government did not restrict access to the Internet. 
 
The Government did not restrict academic freedom. 
 
The LTTE restricted academic freedom, and it has 
repressed and killed intellectuals who criticize it, 
most notably the moderate and widely respected Tamil 
politician and academic, Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam, who was 
killed by a suicide bomber in July 1999.  The LTTE also 
has severely repressed members of human rights 
organizations, such as the University Teachers for Human 
Rights (UTHR), and other groups.  Many former members of 
the UTHR have been killed and others are in hiding. 
 
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association 
 
The law provides for freedom of assembly and 
association, and the Government generally respected 
these rights in practice.  Although the PTA may be used 
to restrict this freedom, the Government did not use the 
act for that purpose during the year.  Numerous peaceful 
political and nonpolitical rallies were held throughout 
the country during the year. 
 
In July 2001, the opposition held a rally that the 
Government claimed was illegal under the 1981 Referendum 
Act, which essentially states that rallies and 
demonstrations of a political nature cannot be held when 
a referendum is scheduled.  Security forces killed two 
persons when the Government confronted the rally with 
force, prompting further demonstrations.  However, the 
Government generally grants permits for demonstrations, 
including those by opposition parties and minority 
groups. 
 
On October 9, 2002, special task force police killed 
eight Tamil civilians during a protest in Akkaraipattu. 
Police and the commission tasked with investigating the 
incident claim that the crowd was trying to forcefully 
enter the police compound and the police were defending 
themselves.  Tamils have disputed this finding, 
asserting that the protest was peaceful.  In April 2001, 
a violent clash between the Sinhalese and Muslim 
communities occurred in Mawanella.  The Muslim community 
protested alleged police inaction concerning an assault 
on a Muslim store clerk.  In response, a group of 
Sinhalese attacked the Muslim protesters.  As the 
conflict escalated, two Muslims were killed, and 
buildings and a few vehicles were destroyed.  Police 
reportedly did nothing to stop the destruction of Muslim 
property.  There were no further developments in the 
case during the year. 
 
The LTTE does not allow freedom of association in the 
areas that it controls.  The LTTE reportedly has used 
coercion to make persons attend rallies that it 
sponsors.  On the Jaffna Peninsula, the LTTE 
occasionally has posted in public places the names of 
Tamil civilians accused of associating with security 
forces and other Government entities.  The Jaffna 
Library, destroyed during the war, was reconstructed and 
was set to reopen in 2003, however, the LTTE prevented 
its reopening.  The LTTE has killed Tamil civilians who 
have cooperated with the security forces in establishing 
a civil administration in Jaffna under a political 
leadership elected freely and fairly in January 1998. 
 
Freedom of Religion 
 
The Constitution accords Buddhism a foremost position, 
but it also provides for the right of members of other 
faiths to practice their religions freely, and the 
Government generally respected this right in practice. 
Despite the special status afforded by the Constitution 
to Buddhism, major religious festivals of all faiths are 
celebrated as public holidays. 
 
Foreign clergy may work in the country, but the 
Government has sought to limit the number of foreign 
religious workers given temporary work permits. 
Permission usually is restricted to denominations 
registered with the Government.  The Government has 
prohibited the entry of new foreign clergy on a 
permanent basis.  It permitted those already in the 
country to remain. 
 
Some evangelical Christians have expressed concern that 
their efforts at proselytizing often meet with hostility 
and harassment from the local Buddhist clergy and others 
opposed to their work.  During the year, there were 
unconfirmed reports of assault on members of evangelical 
Christian groups by Buddhists.    Evangelicals sometimes 
complain that the Government tacitly condones such 
harassment, but there is no evidence to support this 
claim. 
 
Two developments in 2003 raised religious freedom 
concerns.  In July 2003, the Supreme Court issued a 
ruling that the Constitution supports the right to 
practice religion, but does not support the right to 
proselytize.  The Government is also reviewing a draft 
law that would prevent the forced conversion of Hindus. 
Christian groups have expressed deep concerns about 
these developments, asserting that the prevention of 
conversion is an effort to impinge on their religious 
right to proselytize. 
 
In April 2001, four Sinhalese attacked a Muslim cashier. 
When the Muslim community protested police inaction, 
rioting Sinhalese confronted the Muslim persons, and two 
Muslims were killed.  The police investigation into this 
incident remains open and no arrests have been reported. 
There were no developments in this case in 2003. 
 
The LTTE expelled virtually the entire Muslim population 
from their homes in the northern part of the island in 
¶1990.  Most of these persons remain displaced.  During 
the year, the LTTE leadership has met with the leaders 
of the Muslim community to discuss the peace process. 
In the past, the LTTE has expropriated Muslim homes, 
land, and businesses and threatened Muslim families with 
death if they attempt to return.  The LTTE has made some 
conciliatory statements to the Muslim community, but 
most Muslims view the statements with skepticism.  There 
were also instances of intimidation of Muslims in the 
east by the LTTE in 2003, and there was fighting between 
LTTE personnel and Muslims that left several Muslims 
dead. 
 
There continue to be reports of vandalism of buildings 
used by evangelical Christian groups, and members of 
these groups have reported incidents of harassment. 
 
The LTTE attacked Buddhist sites, most notably the 
historic Dalada Maligawa or "Temple of the Tooth," the 
holiest Buddhist shrine in the country, in Kandy in 
January 1998.  In May 2000, an LTTE bombing near a 
temple at the Buddhist Vesak festival in Batticaloa 
killed 23 persons and injured dozens of others. 
 
The LTTE has been accused in the past of using church 
and temple compounds, where civilians were instructed by 
the Government to congregate in the event of 
hostilities, as shields for the storage of munitions. 
 
For a more detailed discussion see the 2003 
International Religious Freedom Report. 
 
Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, 
Emigration, and Repatriation 
 
The Constitution grants every citizen "freedom of 
movement and of choosing his residence" and "freedom to 
return to [the country]," and the Government generally 
respected the right to domestic and foreign travel. 
However, in the past, the war with the LTTE prompted the 
Government to impose more stringent checks on travelers 
from the north and the east and on movement in Colombo, 
particularly after dark.  Tamils had to obtain police 
passes to move freely in the north and east, and 
frequently they were harassed at checkpoints throughout 
the country.  These security measures had the effect of 
restricting the movement of Tamils. 
 
Starting in December 2001, most travel restrictions were 
lifted by the Government and this situation continued 
into 2003.  Areas near military bases and high security 
zones still have limited access.  Some observers claim 
the high security zones are excessive and unfairly claim 
Tamil lands, particularly in Jaffna.  The LTTE limited 
travel on the road connecting Jaffna in the north to the 
rest of the country; however, in April 2002 the 
Government lifted all of its restrictions on travel to 
Jaffna. 
 
By late 2001, there were over 800,000 IDPs in Sri Lanka. 
With the advent of the peace process, however, UNHCR 
reports that 310,000 IDPs have returned to their places 
of origin, leaving roughly 500,000 IDPs in the country. 
An estimated 65,000 Tamil refugees live in camps in 
Tamil Nadu in Southern India.  Approximately 100,000 
refugees may have integrated into Tamil society in India 
over the years.  UNHCR reports that a small number may 
have returned from India during the year. 
 
The LTTE has discriminated against Muslims, and in 1990 
expelled some 46,000 Muslim inhabitants -- virtually the 
entire Muslim population -- from their homes in areas 
under LTTE control in the northern part of the island. 
Most of these persons remain displaced and live in or 
near welfare centers.  There were credible reports that 
the LTTE has warned thousands of Muslims displaced from 
the Mannar area not to return to their homes until the 
conflict is over.  However, it appeared that these 
attacks by the LTTE were not targeted against persons 
due to their religious beliefs, rather, it appeared that 
they were part of an overall strategy to clear the north 
and east of persons not sympathetic to the cause of an 
independent Tamil state.  During the year, the LTTE has 
invited the Muslim IDPs to return home, asserting they 
will not be harmed.  Although some Muslim IDPs have 
begun returning home, the vast majority have not and 
were instead waiting for a guarantee from the Government 
for their safety in LTTE-controlled areas. 
The LTTE occasionally disrupts the flow of persons 
exiting the Vanni region through the two established 
checkpoints.  In particular the LTTE taxes civilians 
traveling through areas it controls.  In the past, the 
LTTE disrupted the movement of IDPs from Trincomalee to 
Jaffna by hijacking or attacking civilian shipping, 
although there were no such reports this year. 
Humanitarian groups estimate that more than 200,000 IDPs 
live in LTTE-controlled areas (see Section 1.g.). 
 
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or 
refugee status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. 
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 
1967 Protocol.  The Government cooperated with the 
office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and 
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. 
The issue of the provision of first asylum did not arise 
during the year.  The Government does not permit the 
entry of refugees into the country or grant first 
asylum, nor does it aid those who manage to enter to 
seek permanent residence elsewhere.  There were no 
reports of the forced return of persons to a country 
where they feared persecution. 
 
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of 
Citizens to Change Their Government 
 
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to 
change their government peacefully.  Citizens exercised 
this right in practice through multiparty, periodic, 
free and fair elections.   Elections were held on the 
basis of universal suffrage; however, recent elections 
have been marred by violence and some irregularities. 
The country is a longstanding democratic republic with 
an active multiparty system.  Power is shared between 
the popularly elected President and the 225-member 
Parliament.  The right to change the government was 
exercised in the December 2001 parliamentary elections 
in which the United National Front, a coalition of 
parties led by the UNP, won a majority in Parliament for 
the next 6-year period.  Stating that it feared possible 
infiltration by the LTTE, the Government prohibited more 
than 40,000 Tamil voters living in LTTE-controlled 
territories from crossing army checkpoints in order to 
vote.  In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that this action 
violated the fundamental rights of these prospective 
Tamil voters.  The Supreme Court ruling cited and fined 
the commander of the Sri Lankan Army, the then- 
Commissioner of Elections, and the government for 
preventing citizens from exercising their right to vote. 
The commander of the Sri Lankan Army claimed he was 
following orders from the government based on 
information that the LTTE was planning to infiltrate 
government-controlled areas on election day. 
 
Following elections held in December 2001, the UNP and 
its allies formed the new Government.  The President's 
party, the PA, now leads the opposition in Parliament. 
Cohabitation ties between the President and Prime 
Minister have been difficult. 
 
The President suspended Parliament from July to 
September 2001 out of concern that her coalition had 
lost its majority in Parliament because of defections. 
The suspension of Parliament angered opposition parties, 
which sponsored numerous demonstrations.  One of these 
demonstrations, ended with the deaths of two marchers 
killed by security forces (see Section 2.b.).  After 
further defections from her coalition, the President 
dissolved Parliament in October 2001, and called for 
elections to take place in December 2001. 
 
On election day, December 5, 2001, 12 supporters of the 
Sri Lankan Muslim Congress were killed, allegedly by 
hired thugs of a PA candidate.  Former PA MP Anuruddha 
Ratwatte and his two sons have been indicted for 
conspiring in the killings.  In addition, 15 others, 
including security force personnel, were indicted for 
their alleged involvement in the murders.  In June 2003, 
Ratwatte and 14 others were granted bail by a five-judge 
bench of the Supreme Court, setting aside the majority 
order of the High-Court-Trial-at-Bar.  Despite an 
extremely violent campaign, including credible reports 
of the use of intimidation by both of the major parties, 
voter turnout exceeded 70 percent.  The People's 
Alliance for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) reported 
755 incidents of violence and 49 deaths; the Center for 
Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) reported 4,208 
incidents, and 73 deaths; and the police reported 2,247 
incidents, and 45 deaths connected to the 2001 
elections. 
 
In September 2001, the Parliament passed the 17th 
Amendment, which established an independent Commission 
on Elections (among other commissions), which is to be 
tasked with ensuring free and fair elections; however, 
implementing legislation has yet to be passed. 
 
A delegation from the European Union monitoring the 2001 
election expressed concern about violence and 
irregularities in the voting, but concluded that the 
election "did to a reasonable degree reflect the will of 
the electorate." 
 
The Commissioner of Elections recognized 46 parties at 
the time of general elections in October 2000; only 13 
parties actually held seats in the 225-member Parliament 
elected during 2001.  The two most influential parties, 
the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (the principal component 
party of the governing PA coalition) and the UNP, 
generally draw their support from the majority Sinhalese 
community.  These two parties have alternated in power 
since independence. 
 
There are 10 women in the 225-member Parliament.  There 
was one in the Cabinet and two sat on the Supreme Court. 
In December 1999, a woman, Chandrika Kumaratunga, was 
elected President for a second term. 
 
There are 28 Tamil and 24 Muslim persons in the 225 
member Parliament elected in December 2001.  The 
Parliament elected in October 2000 had 23 Tamil and 22 
Muslim members. 
 
The LTTE continued to refuse to allow elections in areas 
under its control, although it did not oppose 
campaigning by certain Tamil parties in the east during 
the December 2001 parliamentary elections.  In previous 
years, the LTTE effectively had undermined the 
functioning of local government bodies in Jaffna through 
a campaign of killing and intimidation.  This campaign 
included the killing of two of Jaffna's mayors and death 
threats against members of the 17 local councils. 
During the period of the conflict, the LTTE killed 
popularly elected politicians, including those elected 
by Tamils in areas the LTTE claimed as part of a Tamil 
homeland. 
 
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International 
and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations 
of Human Rights 
 
Several domestic human rights NGOs, including the 
Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA), the 
University Teachers for Human Rights, Jaffna (UTHR-J), 
the Civil Rights Movement (CRM), and the Law and Society 
Trust (LST), monitor civil and political liberties. 
There were no adverse regulations governing the 
activities of local and foreign NGOs, although the 
Government officially requires NGOs to include action 
plans and detailed descriptions of funding sources as 
part of its registration process.  Some NGO workers have 
seen this as an attempt by the Government to exert 
greater control over the NGO sector after previous human 
rights groups' criticisms.  Few NGOs complied with these 
new reporting requirements.  A number of domestic and 
international human rights groups generally operate 
without government restriction, investigating and 
publishing their findings on human rights cases. 
Government officials are cooperative and responsive to 
their views. 
 
The Government continued to allow the ICRC unrestricted 
access to detention facilities (see Sections 1.c. and 
1.d.).  The ICRC provides international humanitarian law 
training materials and training to the security forces. 
The UNHCR, the ICRC, and a variety of international NGOs 
assisted in the delivery of medical and other essential 
supplies to the Vanni area (see Section 1.g.). 
 
In the first six months of 2003, the HRC conducted 690 
visits to police stations and 96 visits to detention 
facilities.  The HRC has 2500 cases of alleged human 
rights abuse pending.  The Commission's investigation 
into the allegations by former Lance Corporal Rajapakse 
about mass graves at Chemmani in Jaffna resulted in 
exhumations in 1999 that provided the basis for the 
ongoing case (see Section 1.a.).  Many human rights 
observers recognized in 2003 that the new leader of the 
HRC was willing to confront other branches of the 
Government on human rights problems and new standard 
procedures.  Activists have expressed some satisfaction 
with the HRC's leadership's prompt investigation into 
the November 2000 Bindunuwewa massacre. 
 
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Disability, 
Language, or Social Status 
 
The Constitution provides for equal rights under the law 
for all citizens, and the Government generally respected 
these rights.  The Supreme Court regularly upholds court 
rulings in cases in which individuals file suit over the 
abridgment of their fundamental civil rights.  The HRC 
and the CIUAH are other mechanisms that the Government 
has established to ensure enforcement of constitutional 
provisions in addition to access to the courts (see 
Section 1.d.). 
 
Women 
 
Sexual assault, rape, and spousal abuse (often 
associated with alcohol abuse) continued to be serious 
and pervasive problems.  Amendments to the Penal Code 
introduced in 1995 specifically addressed sexual abuse 
and exploitation, and modified rape laws to create a 
more equitable burden of proof and to make punishments 
more stringent.  Marital rape is considered an offense 
in cases of spouses living under judicial separation, 
and laws govern sexual molestation and sexual harassment 
in the workplace.  While the Penal Code may ease some of 
the problems faced by victims of sexual assault, many 
women's organizations believe that greater sensitization 
of police and judicial officials is required.  The 
Government set up the Bureau for the Protection of 
Children and Women within the police in 1994 to respond 
to calls for greater awareness and attention; however, 
there was no information on any actions taken by the 
Bureau nor on the number of crimes against women. 
 
In 2003, the police have reported a total of 294 rape 
investigations in the country, and there were no reports 
of cases involving security force personnel.  In the 
previous year, the police reported a total of 865 rape 
investigations in the country.  In 2001 there were a 
number of reports of security forces raping women in 
custody (see Section 1.c.).  In 2002, there was one such 
report.  There have been no convictions in the cases 
involving security force personnel. 
 
Although laws against procuring and trafficking were 
strengthened in 1995, trafficking in women for the 
purpose of forced labor occurs (see Section 6.f.). 
 
The Constitution provides for equal employment 
opportunities in the public sector.  However, women have 
no legal protection against discrimination in the 
private sector where they sometimes are paid less than 
men for equal work, often experience difficulty in 
rising to supervisory positions, and face sexual 
harassment.  Women constitute approximately one-half of 
the formal work force. 
 
Women have equal rights under national, civil, and 
criminal law. However, questions related to family law, 
including divorce, child custody, and inheritance, are 
adjudicated by the customary law of each ethnic or 
religious group.  The minimum age of marriage for women 
was 18 years, except in the case of Muslims, who 
continue to follow their customary marriage practices. 
Different religious and ethnic practices often resulted 
in uneven treatment of women, including discrimination. 
 
There are 10 women in the 225-member Parliament.  There 
was one in the Cabinet and two sat on the Supreme Court. 
In December 1999, a woman, Chandrika Kumaratunga, was 
elected President for a second term. 
 
Children 
 
The Government is committed to protecting the welfare 
and rights of children, but is constrained by a lack of 
resources.  The Government demonstrated this commitment 
through its extensive systems of public education and 
medical care.  The law requires children between the 
ages of 5 and 14 to attend school.  Approximately 85 
percent of children under the age of 16 attend school. 
Education was free through the university level.  Health 
care, including immunization, also was free. 
 
In the period from January 1 to September 2003, the 
police recorded 214 cases of crimes against children, 
compared to 613 cases of crimes against children in 
¶2002.  Many NGOs attribute the problem of exploitation 
of children to the lack of law enforcement rather than 
adequate legislation.  Many law enforcement resources 
were diverted to the conflict with the LTTE, although 
the police's Bureau for the Protection of Children and 
Women conducts investigations into crimes against 
children and women.  In September 2002 the police opened 
an office to work directly with the National Child 
Protection Authority (NCPA) on children's issues to 
support NCPA investigations into crimes against children 
and to arrest suspects based on those investigations. 
 
Under the law, the definition of child abuse includes 
all acts of sexual violence against, trafficking in, and 
cruelty to children.  The law also prohibits the use of 
children in exploitative labor or illegal activities or 
in any act contrary to compulsory education regulations. 
The legislation further widened the definition of child 
abuse to include the involvement of children in war. 
The NCPA is comprised of representatives from the 
education, medical, retired police, and legal 
professions; it reports directly to the President. 
 
The Government has pushed for greater international 
cooperation to bring those guilty of pedophilia to 
justice.  The penalty for pedophilia is not less than 
five years and up to 20 years as well as an unspecified 
fine.  Eleven cases of pedophilia were brought to court 
in 2003.  There were no convictions for pedophilia 
during the year. 
 
Child prostitution is a problem in certain coastal 
resort areas. The Government estimates that there are 
more than 2,000 active child prostitutes in the country, 
but private groups claim that the number is much higher 
(see Section 6.f.).  The bulk of child sexual abuse in 
the form of child prostitution is committed by citizens; 
however, some child prostitutes are boys who cater to 
foreign tourists. Some of these children are forced into 
prostitution (see Section 6.f.). 
 
The LTTE uses child soldiers and recruits children, 
sometimes forcibly, for use in battlefield support 
functions and in combat.  LTTE recruits, some as young 
as 13, have surrendered to the military, and credible 
reports indicate the LTTE has stepped up recruiting 
efforts (see Section 1.g.).  In May 1998, the LTTE gave 
assurances to the Special Representative of the U.N. 
Secretary General for Children in Armed Combat that it 
 
SIPDIS 
would not recruit children under the age of 17.  The 
LTTE has not honored this pledge, and even after the 
ceasefire agreement there were multiple credible reports 
of the LTTE forcibly recruiting children (see Section 
6.d.). 
 
Persons with Disabilities 
 
There was some discrimination against persons with 
disabilities in employment, education, or in the 
provision of other state services.  The law does not 
mandate access to buildings for persons with 
disabilities.  The World Health Organization estimates 
that 7 percent of the population consisted of persons 
with disabilities.  The Department of Social Services 
operated eight vocational training schools for persons 
with physical and mental disabilities and sponsored a 
program of job training and placement for graduates. 
The Government also provided some financial support to 
NGOs that assist persons with disabilities; subsidized 
prosthetic devices and other medical aids for persons 
with disabilities; made some purchases from suppliers 
with disabilities; and has registered 74 schools and 
training institutions for persons with disabilities run 
by NGOs.  The Department of Social Services has selected 
job placement officers to help the estimated 200,000 
work-eligible persons with disabilities find jobs.  In 
spite of these efforts, persons with disabilities still 
face difficulties because of negative attitudes and 
societal discrimination.  The law forbids discrimination 
against any person on the grounds of disability.  No 
cases were known to have been filed under this law. 
 
Indigenous People 
 
The country's indigenous people, known as Veddas, number 
fewer than l,000.  Some prefer to maintain their 
isolated traditional way of life, and they are protected 
by the Constitution.  There are no legal restrictions on 
their participation in the political or economic life of 
the nation.  In 1998 the Government fulfilled a long- 
standing Vedda demand when the President issued an order 
granting Veddas the right to hunt and gather in specific 
protected forest areas.  The executive order granted the 
Veddas the freedom to protect their culture and to carry 
on their traditional way of life without hindrance. 
Under a pilot program, Veddas received special identity 
cards to enable their use of these forest areas.  Some 
Veddas still complain that they are being pushed off of 
their land. 
 
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities 
 
There were approximately one million Tamils of 
comparatively recent Indian origin, the so-called "tea 
estate" Tamils or "Indian" Tamils, whose ancestors 
originally were brought to the country in the 19th 
century to work on plantations.  Approximately 75,000 of 
these persons do not qualify for either Indian or Sri 
Lankan citizenship and face discrimination, especially 
in the allocation of government funds for education. 
Without national identity cards, they also were 
vulnerable to arrest by the security forces.  However, 
the Government has stated that none of these persons 
would be forced to depart the country.  During 1999, the 
Government introduced a program to begin registering 
these individuals; 15,300 tea estate Tamils received 
identity cards between January and September 2001.  Some 
critics charged that the program did not progress fast 
enough.  In 2003, legislation was pending in the 
Parliament that would grant citizenship to a large 
number of these "tea estate" Tamils. 
 
Both Sri Lankan and "tea estate" Tamils maintained that 
they long have suffered systematic discrimination in 
university education, government employment, and in 
other matters controlled by the Government. 
 
Section 6 Worker Rights 
 
a. The Right of Association 
 
The Government respects the constitutional right of 
workers to establish unions, and the country has a 
strong trade union tradition.  Any seven workers may 
form a union, adopt a charter, elect leaders, and 
publicize their views; however, in practice such rights 
can be subject to administrative delays, and 
unofficially are discouraged.  Nonetheless, 
approximately 20 percent of the 6.4 million person work 
force nationwide and more than 70 percent of the 
plantation work force, which is overwhelmingly Hill 
Tamil, is unionized.  In total there were about more 
than 1,000,000 union members.  Approximately 15-20 
percent of the nonagricultural work force in the private 
sector was unionized.  Trade union membership data 
reported by the Sri Lankan Department of Labor of was 
incomplete.  Unions represent most workers in large 
private firms, but those in small-scale agriculture and 
small businesses usually do not belong to unions. 
Public sector employees are unionized at very high 
rates. 
 
Most large unions are affiliated with political parties 
and play a prominent role in the political process, 
though major unions in the public sector are politically 
independent.  More than 30 labor unions have political 
affiliations, but there are also a small number of 
unaffiliated unions, some of which have active leaders 
and a relatively large membership.  The Ministry of 
Labor registered 154 new unions and canceled the 
registration of 154 others, bringing the total number of 
functioning unions to 1,513.  About 500 unions are 
considered to be active.  The Ministry of Labor is 
authorized by law to cancel the registration of any 
union that does not submit an annual report.  This 
requirement was the only legal grounds for cancellation 
of registration. 
 
In 1999 Parliament passed an amendment to the Industrial 
Disputes Act (IDA), which required employers to 
recognize trade unions and the right to collective 
bargaining.  The law prohibits antiunion discrimination. 
This law is being implemented.  Employers found guilty 
of discrimination must reinstate workers fired for union 
activities but may transfer them to different locations. 
Anti-union discrimination is a punishable offense liable 
for a fine of Rs 20,000 (approx $200). 
 
In 2002 the AFL-CIO unsuccessfully petitioned USTR to 
withdraw Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) 
privileges, based on violations of Freedom of 
Association.  In 2003, a complaint was filed in the ILO 
Freedom of Association Committee by the International 
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), based upon a 
flawed referendum in an Export Processing Zone (EPZ) 
facility.  Unions may affiliate with international 
bodies, and some have done so.  The Ceylon Workers 
Congress, composed exclusively of Hill Tamil plantation 
workers, is the only trade union organization affiliated 
with the ICFTU, although a new trade union in the 
Biyagama EPZ is affiliated with the Youth Forum of the 
ICFTU.  No national trade union center exists to 
centralize or facilitate contact with international 
groups. 
 
The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively 
 
The law provides for the right to collective bargaining; 
however, very few companies practice it.  Currently, 
about 50 companies belonging to the Employers' 
Federation of Ceylon have collective agreements.  All 
collective agreements have to be registered at the 
Department of Labor.  Between 2000 and 2002, 121 
collective agreements were registered. 
 
In 1999 Parliament passed an amendment to the IDA which 
requires employers to recognize trade union activities 
and the right to collective bargaining.  The law 
prohibits anti-union discrimination.  Only about seven 
unions are active in EPZs, partially because of severe 
restrictions on access by union organizers to the zones. 
In order to give effect to the IDA and ILO conventions 
on collective bargaining and trade union activity, the 
Board of Investment (BOI) issued a new labor standards 
manual in October 2002 instructing BOI companies, 
including those in EPZs, to recognize Trade Union 
activities and the right to collective bargaining. 
According to the manual, where both a recognized trade 
union with bargaining power and a non-union worker 
council exist in an enterprise, the trade union will 
represent the employees in collective bargaining. 
 
Following these developments, three companies in BOI- 
managed EPZs have recognized trade unions. 
 
In BOI enterprises without unions, including those in 
the EPZs, worker councils--composed of employees, 
employers and often a public sector representative-- 
generally provide the forums for labor and management 
negotiation.  According to the new BOI labor manual and 
BOI sources, the councils have the power to negotiate 
binding collective bargaining contracts, although no 
such contracts have been signed to date.  Labor 
advocates have criticized the employees' councils as 
ineffective worker representatives. 
 
All workers, other than police, armed forces, prison 
service and workers in "essential" services, have the 
right to strike.  By law workers, may lodge complaints 
with the Commissioner of Labor, a labor tribunal, or the 
Supreme Court to protect their rights.  These mechanisms 
were effective and new reforms placed limits on the 
amount of time allowed to resolve arbitration cases; 
however, there continued to be substantial backlogs in 
the resolution of cases.  In the past, the Government 
periodically has controlled strikes by declaring some 
industries essential under the ER (which lapsed in 
2000).  The President retains the power to designate any 
industry as an essential service.  The ILO has pointed 
out to the Government that essential services should be 
limited to services where an interruption would endanger 
the life, personal safety, or health of the population. 
 
Civil servants may submit labor grievances to the Public 
Service Commission (PSC).  If not satisfied with PSC 
decisions, they may appeal to the Administrative Appeals 
Commission set up in July 2003, under the 17th Amendment 
to the Sri Lanka Constitution.  They can also seek 
protection under fundamental rights protection 
provisions in the Constitution and make submission to 
the Supreme Court.  Government workers in the 
transportation, medical, educational, power generation, 
financial, and port sectors have staged brief strikes 
and other work actions in the past few years.  There 
were numerous public sector strikes during the year. 
 
The law prohibits retribution against strikers in 
nonessential sectors.  Employers may dismiss workers 
only for disciplinary reasons, mainly misconduct. 
Incompetence or low productivity were not grounds for 
dismissal.  Dismissed employees have a right to appeal 
their termination before a labor tribunal. 
 
There were approximately 125,000 workers employed in 12 
EPZs/Industrial Parks run by the BOI, a large percentage 
of them women.  Under the law, workers in the EPZs have 
the same rights to join unions as other workers.  Few 
unions have formed in the EPZs, partially because of 
severe restrictions on access by union organizers to the 
zones.  While the unionization rate in the rest of the 
country is approximately 25 percent, the rate within the 
EPZs was under 10 percent.  Labor representatives 
alleged that the Government's BOI, which manages the 
EPZs, including setting wages and working conditions in 
the EPZs, has discouraged union activity.  The short- 
term nature of employment and relatively young workforce 
in the zones makes it difficult to organize.  Labor 
representatives alleged that worker councils in the EPZs 
only have the power to make recommendations.  The recent 
BOI manual stated Employees' Councils could represent 
workers in collective bargaining and industrial 
disputes.  Labor representatives alleged that the Labor 
Commissioner, under BOI pressure, had failed to 
prosecute employers who refuse to recognize or enter 
into collective bargaining with trade unions.  While 
employers in the EPZs generally offer higher wages and 
better working conditions than employers elsewhere, 
workers face other concerns, such as security, expensive 
but low quality boarding houses, and sexual harassment. 
Some employers in the EPZs and factories located outside 
the Western Province have established boarding houses 
and provide transport.  In most instances, wage boards 
establish minimum wages and conditions of employment, 
except in the EPZs, where wages and work conditions are 
set by the BOI. 
 
Prohibition of Forced or Bonded Labor 
 
The law prohibits forced or bonded labor; however, there 
were reports that such practices occurred.  ILO 
Convention 105 was ratified in 2003.  The law does not 
prohibit forced or bonded labor by children 
specifically, but government officials interpret it as 
applying to persons of all ages (see Section 6.d.). 
There were credible reports that some rural children 
were employed in debt bondage as domestic servants in 
urban households, and there were numerous reports that 
some of these children had been abused. 
 
 
Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for 
Employment 
 
The law prohibits labor by children under 14 years of 
age, but child labor still exists in the informal 
sectors.  The NCPA combats the problem of child abuse, 
including unlawful child labor.  The Ministry of Labor 
is the competent authority to set regulations and carry 
out implementation, and monitoring.  The minimum age for 
employment is 14, although the law permits the 
employment of younger children by their parents or 
guardians in limited family agriculture work or to 
engage in technical training.  A recent amendment to the 
Employment of Women and Youth Act (EWYC) prohibited all 
other forms of family employment of children below 14. 
The Compulsory Attendance at Schools Act, which requires 
children between the ages of 5 and 14 to attend school, 
has been in effect since January 1998, although it still 
is being implemented.  A child activity survey carried 
out in 1998 and 1999 by the Department of Census and 
Statistics found almost 11,000 children between the ages 
of 5 and 14 working full time and another 15,000 engaged 
in both economic activity and housekeeping.  The survey 
found 450,000 children employed by their families in 
seasonal agricultural work. 
 
The EWYC and the Factories Ordinance govern employment 
of young person between 14 and 18 years of age. Persons 
under age 18 may not be employed in any public 
enterprise in which life or limb is endangered.  There 
are no reports that children are employed in the EPZs, 
the garment industry, or any other export industry, 
although children sometimes are employed during harvest 
periods in the plantation sectors and in non-plantation 
agriculture.  The Trade Union Ordinance of 1935 allows 
membership only from the age of 16. 
 
Many thousands of children were believed to be employed 
in domestic service, although this situation is not 
regulated or documented.  A 1997 study reported that 
child domestic servants are employed in 8.6 percent of 
homes in the Southern Province.  The same study reported 
that child laborers in the domestic service sector often 
are deprived of an education.  Many child domestics 
reportedly are subjected to physical, sexual, and 
emotional abuse. 
 
Regular employment of children also occurs in family 
enterprises such as family farms, crafts, small trade 
establishments, restaurants, and repair shops. 
Government inspections have been unable to eliminate 
these forms of child labor (see Section 5), although an 
awareness campaign coupled with the establishment of hot 
lines for reporting child labor has led to an increase 
in the prosecutions regarding child labor violations by 
the Labor Department.  The Labor Department reported 161 
complaints regarding child labor in 2002, with 72 of 
these cases withdrawn due to lack of evidence or faulty 
complaints.  The Department prosecuted 23 cases during 
the year.  In the first 7 months of 2003, the Labor 
Department reported 102 complaints, with 14 cases 
withdrawn and 23 prosecuted.  According to the Ministry 
of Labor, there were 26 prosecutions for child labor 
(below the age of 14) during 2002.  Penalties for 
employing minors were increased from about $11 (1,000 
rupees) and/or 6 months imprisonment to $100 (Rs. 
10,000) and/or 12 months imprisonment. 
 
Although forced or bonded labor by persons of any age is 
prohibited by law, some rural children reportedly have 
served in debt bondage (see Sections 5 and 6.c.). 
 
The LTTE continued to use high school-age children for 
work as cooks, messengers, and clerks.  In some cases, 
the children reportedly help build fortifications.  In 
the past, children as young as age 10 were said to be 
recruited and placed for 2 to 4 years in special schools 
that provided them with a mixture of LTTE ideology and 
formal education.  The LTTE uses children as young as 13 
years of age in battle, and children sometimes are 
recruited forcibly into the LTTE (see Section 5).  A 
program of compulsory physical training, including mock 
military drills, for most of the population of the areas 
that it controls, including for schoolchildren and the 
aged reportedly still functions.  According to LTTE 
spokesmen, this work is meant to keep the population 
fit; however, it is believed widely that the training 
was established to gain tighter control over the 
population and to provide a base for recruiting 
fighters.  Despite repeated claims to the contrary by 
the LTTE, there were credible reports that the LTTE 
continued to recruit forcibly children throughout the 
year.  Individuals or small groups of children 
intermittently turned themselves over to security forces 
or religious leaders saying they had escaped LTTE 
training camps throughout the year.  In 2003, the LTTE 
released 141 children.  In late 2002, the LTTE handed 
over 85 children to UNICEF, stating that the children 
had volunteered to serve, but that the LTTE does not 
accept children. 
Acceptable Conditions of Work 
 
While there is no universal national minimum wage, 
approximately 40 wage boards set up by the Department of 
Labor set minimum wages and working conditions by sector 
and industry.  These minimum wages do not provide a 
decent standard of living for a worker and family, but 
the vast majority of families have more than one 
breadwinner.  The Ministry of Labor effectively enforces 
the minimum wage law for large companies through routine 
inspections; however, staffing shortages prevent the 
department from effectively monitoring the informal 
sector.  The Department of Labor did not report average 
minimum wage rates for 2002.  The minimum wage in the 
garment industry was approximately $27 (Rs. 2,800) per 
month.  The minimum wage in the hotel industry was 
approximately $20 (Rs. 2,100). 
 
In July 2002, the daily wage rate (fixed by a collective 
agreement) in the tea plantations managed by plantation 
management companies was increased from Rs. 121 to Rs. 
¶147.  In the rubber sector, the daily wage was raised 
from Rs. 112 to Rs. 131. 
 
Most permanent full-time workers are covered by laws 
that prohibit them from regularly working more than 45 
hours per week (a 5 1/2-day workweek).  Overtime has 
been increased to 100 hours per year from 60 hours per 
month under a recent ruling.  Labor organizers are 
concerned that the new legislation does not include a 
provision for overtime to be done with the consent of 
the worker.  These workers also receive 14 days of 
annual leave, 14 to 21 days of medical leave, and 
approximately 20 local holidays each year.  Maternity 
leave is available for permanent and seasonal or part- 
time female workers.  Several laws protect the safety 
and health of industrial workers, but the Ministry of 
Labor's small staff of inspectors is inadequate to 
enforce compliance with the laws.  Health and safety 
regulations do not meet international standards. 
Workers have the statutory right to remove themselves 
from situations that endanger their health, but many 
workers are unaware of, or indifferent to, health risks, 
and fear that they would lose their jobs if they removed 
themselves. 
 
Trafficking in Persons 
 
The law prohibits trafficking in persons; however, Sri 
Lanka is a country of origin and destination for 
trafficked persons, primarily women and children for the 
purposes of forced labor, and for sexual exploitation. 
Sri Lankan women travel to Middle Eastern countries to 
work as domestics, and some have reported being forced 
into domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.  A 
small number of Thai, Russian, and Chinese women have 
been trafficked to Sri Lanka for purposes of sexual 
exploitation.  Some Sri Lankan children are trafficked 
internally to work as domestics and for sexual 
exploitation. 
 
The Government has ratified ILO Convention 182 on the 
elimination of the worst forms of child labor.  Sri 
Lanka was in the process of identifying these forms of 
child labor that existed in the country during the year. 
 
The law provides for penalties for trafficking in women 
including imprisonment for two to 20 years, and a fine. 
For trafficking in children, the law allows imprisonment 
of five to 20 years, and a fine. 
 
Internal trafficking in male children was also a 
problem, especially from areas bordering the northern 
and eastern provinces.  Protecting Environment and 
Children Everywhere (PEACE), a domestic NGO, estimated 
that in 2003 there were 6,000 male children between the 
ages of 8 and 15 years who were engaged as sex workers 
both at beach and mountain resorts.  Some of these 
children were forced into prostitution by their parents 
or by organized crime (see Section 5).  PEACE also 
reports that an additional 7,000 young men aged 15 to 18 
years are self-employed prostitutes; however, some 
organizations believe the PEACE numbers to be inflated. 
 
The NCPA has adopted comprehensive national policy and a 
national plan to combat the trafficking of children for 
exploitative employment.  The project was part of a 
regional project funded by the ILO.  On a local level, 
in October 2002, the police opened an office to work as 
part of the NCPA in children's issues, including 
trafficking in children. 
The country had a reputation in the past as a 
destination for foreign pedophiles.  This problem 
appears to have declined significantly because of 
improved law enforcement by the Government.  In 
addition, increased publicity on the issue seems to have 
worked to scare off foreign pedophiles.  Child sexual 
exploitation by locals and by foreign pedophiles still 
continued, however. 
 
The Government has undertaken several initiatives to 
provide protection and services to victims of internal 
trafficking, including supporting rehabilitation camps 
for victims.  In addition, the Government has initiated 
some awareness campaigns to educate women about the 
dangers of trafficking; however, most of the campaigns 
are through local and international NGOs and somewhat 
through the Bureau of Foreign employment. 
 
END TEXT. 
 
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