VZCZCXYZ0022
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLM #0331/01 0601100
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 011100Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2742
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1188
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0777
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 5623
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 2903
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0083
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 0241
RUEHKU/AMEMBASSY KUWAIT 0431
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 0413
RUEHDO/AMEMBASSY DOHA 0199
RUEHMS/AMEMBASSY MUSCAT 0044
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 0121
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT 0025
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0367
RUEAWJL/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHEFHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000331 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE, SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USAID 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, IWI, SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM ELAB ASEC PREF KCRM KWMN SMIG KFRD CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: THE SIXTH ANNUAL ANTI-TRAFFICKING IN 
PERSONS (TIP) REPORT 
 
REF:  STATE 3836 
 
(U) This message is sensitive but unclassified -- please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (U) Mission's submission for the sixth annual Anti- 
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report for Sri Lanka follows. 
Responses are keyed to questions in Reftel.  Mission point 
of contact is poloff Anamika Chakravorty, telephone 
+94.11.2.448.007 x2425, fax +94.11.2.471.092. 
 
Paragraph 21: Sri Lanka Overview 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) A -- Sri Lanka is a country of transit, a source 
country, and a destination country for a small number of 
internationally trafficked men, women and children. Women 
and children of Sri Lanka are trafficked internally for 
domestic and sexual exploitation. The trafficking takes 
place in government controlled areas as well as in areas 
controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a 
designated Foreign Terrorist Organization under U.S. law. 
The LTTE conscripted children, both through recruitment and 
abductions, for purposes of forced labor and military 
activities. Reports indicate that women from Thailand, 
China, Russia and countries of the Newly Independent States 
are trafficked into Sri Lanka for commercial sexual 
exploitation.  A fair number of Sri Lankan women are 
trafficked to the Middle East countries and a smaller number 
to Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea for hard domestic 
labor and sexual exploitation.  Children are trafficked 
internally. There are no reliable statistics available on 
the magnitude of this issue. The sources of information on 
trafficking in persons can be obtained from the National 
Child Protection Authority (NCPA), the Child Protection Unit 
of the Attorney General's Department, Sri Lankan Police, 
local and international NGOs, and the press. The NCPA 
provides fairly reliable statistics on cases involving 
children. 
 
B -- There is political will throughout the government, 
including at the highest levels, to combat trafficking in 
persons. The government provided human resources to the Anti- 
Human Smuggling Investigation Bureau that was established in 
¶2003. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to assign 
Welfare Officers to Sri Lanka Missions abroad to aid and 
assist women who are victims of trafficking.  However, 
during the year, trafficking has not decreased. 
Nevertheless, officials remained vigilant toward the 
potential of increased child trafficking in the wake of the 
December 2004 tsunami.  NGOs such as the International Labor 
Organization (ILO) held awareness raising campaigns targeted 
at tsunami refugees and other vulnerable populations.  These 
campaigns were largely effective, and there was no 
significant increase in reports of trafficking following the 
tsunami. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
B cont'd -- Victims subjected to trafficking came from poor, 
rural communities, with minimal educational opportunities. 
Some women who came to cities seeking garment industry work 
were trafficked into commercial sex work, and some women 
seeking employment as domestics overseas were taken under 
false premises and forced into slave labor conditions or 
commercial sex work.  Although the Bureau of Foreign 
Employment has a mandate to vet recruitment agents, sub- 
agents are not vetted.  Reports indicated some sub-agents 
acted unscrupulously, recruiting women from villages under 
false pretenses.  The women, often illiterate, were unaware 
of the parameters of the contracts they signed, and many 
times their travel documents were confiscated when they 
arrived at their place of employ.  However, of the estimated 
 
1 million Sri Lankan women who obtain foreign employment, 
statistics indicate only 5 to 10 percent encounter problems, 
including issues unrelated to trafficking per se. 
 
 
C -- The government lacked resources to provide proper 
training to law enforcement officials or adequate 
compensation for trafficking victims.  Law enforcement 
officials addressed the end results of trafficking such as 
commercial sex work or child labor.  However, trafficking 
itself was rarely investigated, perhaps due to police 
unawareness of the degree of the problem, exacerbated by 
limited resources. 
 
 
D -- The Child Protection Unit of AG's Dept and the NCPA, 
supported by the Woman and Child Care unit of the Sri Lanka 
Police, conduct surveys on trafficking issues but currently 
no reliable surveys on trafficking in Sri Lanka are 
available.  Also, the government does not separate 
statistics on human smuggling, abductions, and trafficking, 
making it difficult for NGOs to gain access to accurate 
data. 
 
 
Paragraph 22:  Prevention 
------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) A -- The government in Sri Lanka acknowledges that 
trafficking is a problem in the country.  However, NGO 
representatives noted that the government does not usually 
use existing anti-trafficking legislation to prosecute 
cases.  Rather, perpetrators are brought up on charges of 
abduction or procurement.  While the government maintains 
its commitment to address trafficking in persons issues, the 
GSL devotes much more of its resources to two related 
issues:  human smuggling and domestic violence, which it 
considers more severe. 
 
B -- The government agencies involved in anti-trafficking 
efforts are: the Department of Immigration and Emigration, 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Employment 
and Labor, Sri Lankan Police, Sri Lankan Customs, National 
Child Protection Authority. 
 
C -- The Child Protection Unit of the Attorney General's 
Department is engaged in conducting awareness programs among 
law enforcement authorities, schools and other civil society 
organizations. They have extended their services to UNICEF 
and have provided their resources to train senior police 
officers to handle investigations with greater 
effectiveness. The NCPA, as part of its overall efforts to 
address child welfare, includes child trafficking as part of 
its educational campaigns. The International Organization 
for Migration (IOM) conducts information campaigns and 
workshops, and employs a threefold strategy to combat 
trafficking in persons: prevention, protection and 
assistance to victims and capacity building.  Following the 
December 2004 tsunami, the ILO sponsored training sessions 
on preventing trafficking and funded dance-drama troupes to 
perform anti-trafficking musicals at tsunami relief camps. 
 
D -- The government of Sri Lanka does not actively support 
corollary programs to combat trafficking. 
 
E -- The government, with the limited resources available, 
does support prevention programs, usually in partnership 
with NGOs. 
 
F -- The officials of international NGOs, indigenous 
community-based organizations working to combat trafficking, 
 
and officials of government agencies involved in anti- 
trafficking efforts maintain a positive working 
relationship. 
 
G -- The Sri Lankan government makes every effort to 
adequately monitor its borders, but the government is unable 
to monitor activities in areas controlled by the LTTE in the 
north and east. Emigration and Immigration officials use a 
computerized monitoring system at the airport to monitor 
travel patterns and prevent traffickers from leaving the 
country, if they are the suspects in a current 
investigation. The law enforcement agencies responsible for 
anti-trafficking issues respond appropriately. 
 
H -- The government has an anti-trafficking working group to 
coordinate and communicate among responsible government 
agencies, but there is no task force formed to monitor 
trafficking issues. However, NGO representatives asserted 
that the anti-trafficking group works primarily on human 
smuggling and illegal immigration rather than trafficking. 
The government has a Commission to Investigate Allegations 
of Bribery or Corruption. 
 
I -- The Sri Lankan government is not part of any 
multinational or international working group but is working 
within the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation 
(SAARC) to develop a regional anti-trafficking convention. 
 
J -- The government of Sri Lanka does not have a national 
plan of action to address trafficking in persons. 
 
 
Paragraph 23:  Investigations and Prosecution 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) A -- Section 360C of the Penal Code, amended by 
Act No. 22 of 1995, criminalizes trafficking in persons, 
defined as the buying or selling or bartering of a person 
for money or other consideration; and also doing certain 
acts for the purpose of promoting, facilitating or inducing 
the buying or selling or bartering or the placement in 
adoption of any person for money or any other consideration. 
Under Section 360A of the Penal Code, internal and 
transnational forms of prostitution are also criminalized. 
Additionally, Section 45A(1) of the Immigrants and Emigrants 
Act addresses human smuggling offenses.  The IOM provided 
the Attorney General's office with legal consultation, and 
in January, the office introduced legislation to further 
bolster Sri Lanka's penal code in accordance with UN 
guidelines on trafficking. 
 
B -- Trafficking for sexual exploitation is punishable by 
imprisonment between 2 and 20 years, with fines ranging from 
approximately USD 100 to 500. The amendment to the penal 
code covering trafficking, written in collaboration with IOM 
and introduced in January, calls for labor exploitation to 
be punishable by 2 to 10 years' imprisonment. 
 
C -- For sexual assault, imprisonment ranges between 7 and 
20 years, plus potential monetary compensation to the 
victim. These penalties are similar to those for 
trafficking. 
 
D -- In Sri Lanka, prostitution is not legalized and the 
activities of prostitutes are criminalized. The activities 
of related parties, such as brothel owners, pimps, clients 
and enforcers are also criminalized. 
 
E -- The government has investigated and arrested people for 
cases involving trafficking during the past year. (Note: The 
government has prosecuted and convicted significant numbers 
 
of people involved in migrant smuggling, pedophilia and 
prostitution, who may have been involved in trafficking in 
persons, during the past year.) 
 
F -- Information reveals that individuals and small groups 
are behind trafficking efforts, but no reliable information 
on the issue exists. In cases of illegal migration, evidence 
suggests that some travel agencies may be involved with 
traffickers. There are no reports of profits of trafficking 
being channeled for other purposes other than personal gain. 
 
G -- Notwithstanding its limited resources, the government 
actively investigates cases of trafficking and, by 
implementing a computerized immigration system that enables 
agencies to input names of suspected traffickers, the 
government takes initiative to track down suspected 
trafficking agents. The CyberWatch Project that monitors 
internet sites and chat rooms, instituted by the NCPA, has 
helped to arrest individuals on suspicion of trafficking. 
 
H -- The government does not provide any centralized 
training in trafficking issues.  Individually, police 
bureaus, such as the Anti-Human Smuggling Unit of the 
Criminal Investigation Department and the Women's and the 
Children's Bureau, along with the NCPA, conduct specialized 
training for their staff. 
 
I -- The government of Sri Lanka cooperates with other 
governments in the investigation and/or prosecution of 
trafficking cases. On many occasions, the government has 
worked very closely with the Italian and Pakistani 
governments to combat human smuggling operations. In 
cooperation with the American and the Australian 
governments, the NCPA has prosecuted a U.S. national and an 
Australian national alleged to be pedophiles. 
 
J -- The government has not extradited anyone charged with 
trafficking to other countries, as the situation has not 
occurred. The government would likely extradite any 
foreigner charged with such offenses, if requested by other 
governments. The government has extradition agreements with 
Commonwealth countries. 
 
K -- There is no credible evidence of government involvement 
in, or tolerance of, trafficking in persons. Unsubstantiated 
reports allude to immigration officers in involvement of 
such cases. 
 
L -- There has been insufficient evidence to arrest or 
otherwise prosecute government officials suspected of being 
involved in trafficking in persons. 
 
M - In 2004, the government arrested two foreign nationals, 
an American and an Australian, on charges of pedophilia.  In 
2005, a British citizen was charged with pedophilia.  All 
three are in prison in Sri Lanka awaiting trial. 
 
N -- The GSL ratified the SAARC Convention on Preventing and 
Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution 
in December 2004 
    -- The GSL ratified ILO Convention 105 in January 2003. 
    -- The GSL ratified ILO Convention 182 in February 2000. 
    -- The GSL ratified ILO Convention 29 in 1950. 
    -- The GSL has signed the Optional Protocol to the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of 
children, child prostitution and child pornography. 
    -- The GSL has signed the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress 
and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and 
children, supplementing the UN Convention against 
Transnational Organized Crime. 
 
Paragraph 24:  Protection and Assistance to Victims 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU) A -- The government does not have enough 
resources, capacity and ability to assist victims of 
trafficking. There are rehabilitation camps and community 
centers which offer some medical and counseling services for 
victims of internal trafficking.  In addition, some NGOs run 
shelters and rehabilitation facilities. 
 
B -- The government does not provide funding or material 
support to foreign or domestic NGOs for services to victims. 
To child victims registered with the NGOs, the government 
provides a three USD/per month food supplement. 
 
C -- Children who are victims are transferred to 
institutions such as the Salvation Army under the escort of 
the Ministry of Social Services' Department of Probation and 
Child Care Services. 
 
D - Women arrested on suspicion of being trafficked into Sri 
Lanka for the purpose of prostitution are sometimes released 
upon paying a fine.  There are no reports of harassment of 
victims.  During this reporting period, the IOM helped 
repatriate an Uzbek woman who had been trafficked into 
commercial sex work in Sri Lanka.  The Sri Lankan government 
was cooperative in assisting the IOM on that case. 
 
E -- The government encourages victims to assist in the 
investigation and prosecution of trafficking by providing 
information to arrest the traffickers. Sri Lankan victims 
can file Fundamental Rights cases and seek financial 
restitution. There are no restrictions on obtaining other 
employment or leaving the country if a victim is a witness 
in a case against a former employer. 
 
F -- In connection with some Sri Lankan diplomatic missions, 
especially in Middle Eastern countries, the Sri Lankan 
government operates shelters for Sri Lankans who are victims 
of sexual or labor exploitation.  The Bureau of Foreign 
Employment appoints labor attaches to Sri Lankan diplomatic 
missions abroad to address the concerns of migrant Sri 
Lankan workers, but limited resources sometimes lead to 
heavy caseloads and minimal assistance being provided. 
 
G -- The government does not provide any specialized 
training as such for its officials in trafficking issues. 
Individually, police bureaus, such as the Anti-Human 
Smuggling Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department and 
the Women's and the Children's Bureau, along with the NCPA, 
conduct specialized training for their staff. 
 
H -- For Sri Lankans who are victims of trafficking, either 
through sexual or labor exploitation, the GSL will provide 
some compensation to the victims who registered with the Sri 
Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau prior to departing. 
 
I -- Save the Children Foundation, ESCAPE, Don Bosco, 
Salvation Army, ILO, IOM, American Solidarity Center, Women 
in Media Collective, Caritas, and a number of community- 
based organizations work with trafficking victims. The 
government works closely with these organizations to develop 
a relationship with local authorities, but it is the NGO 
that makes the initial effort. 
 
ENTWISTLE