Sri Lankan authorities have decided to carry out island-wide raids in search of individuals involved in human trafficking operations in the country and to punish them regardless of their status.
The decision has been taken during a meeting held between the Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment, Manusha Nanayakkara and the Minister of Public Security, Tiran Alles along with the high-ranking officers of the Police Department.
IGP C.D. Wickramaratne, officials of Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), and the Department of Immigration and Emigration attended the meeting held yesterday (Nov 16).
Accordingly, the raids which are being continuously carried out, based on the information received by the SLBFE in relation to the Sri Lankans involved in human trafficking both domestically and abroad, will be further accelerated, the ministry said in a statement.
Moreover, it has been decided to hold an officer-level progress review every two weeks regarding the progress of measures taken against people involved in human trafficking.Meanwhile, public awareness programmes will also be implemented regarding human trafficking, it said.
According to US State Department report, the Government of Sri Lanka does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.
It demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Sri Lanka was upgraded to Tier 2.
These efforts included slightly increasing investigations, including of several Sri Lankan officials allegedly involved in child trafficking, and establishing a specialized unit to strengthen trafficking investigations.
The government identified more victims, including among migrant workers exploited abroad while enhancing coordination among agencies to further implementation of the 2021-2025 national action plan (NAP).
It has expanded its trafficking hotline services to include online support for referrals and secured a new shelter location to accommodate victims of crime, including trafficking victims.
However, the the relevant authorities did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas as they have prosecuted fewer trafficking cases, and sentences for convicted traffickers remained inadequate.
Law enforcement efforts against labor trafficking were disproportionately low compared with the number of identified labor trafficking victims.
The capacity of local officials to identify trafficking victims remained low, especially among women in commercial sex.
The government did not effectively address vulnerabilities to trafficking faced by migrant workers, including high worker-paid recruitment fees, largely unregulated sub-agents, and policies and procedures that undermined safe and legal migration, the report revealed.
