SRI LANKA WOMENS ISSUES
10,000 to 12,000 children from rural areas are trafficked and prostituted to pedophiles by organized crime groups.
("Sri Lankan children for sale on the Internet," Julian West, New Delhi, London Telegraph, 26 Oct 1997)
80% of labor migration in 1994 was of women workers.
Job trainees in Korea and Japan have disappeared into underground exploitation, such prostitution.
(CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)
Sri Lanka is one of the favored destinations of paedophile sex tourists from Europe and the United States.
("Global law to punish sex tourists sought by Britain and EU," The Indian Express, 21 November 1997)........
600 advertisements for Sri Lankan children, most boys, appeared on the Internet in October 1997.
Child care experts in Sri Lanka warned that child prostitution was being promoted to foreigners on the Internet, making it one of the worst countries for child abuse.
Local middlemen, mostly from Europe are used to find children of the required age for paedophiles, who then travel to Sri Lanka.
(BBC, 8 Nov 1997)
Sri Lanka tightened laws on the exploitation of children, making paedophilia a non-bailable offense, with the maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and victims entitled to compensation.
(Feizal Smith, "Sri Lanka: Tightening Screws on Paedophiles," IPS, 20 February 1998)
In 1996 the government raised The age of consent from 12 to 16, and made prison sentences, ranging from 10 to 20 years, mandatory for sex offenders.
No arrests have been made.
Campaigners criticise the moves as "cosmetic".
("Sri Lankan children for sale on the Internet," Julian West, New Delhi, London Telegraph, 26 Oct 1997)
Police set up a national desk for child abuse.
Eleven foreigners, mostly Europeans, were arrested.
Most have either been deported, jumped bail, or been given minimal fines.
(Julian West, "Sri Lankan children for sale on the Internet," London Telegraph, 26 October 1997)
Two Europeans were deported to face trial in their own countries last year on charges of being paedophiles under a law that allows extra-territorial jurisdiction.
(Sri Lankan activists, Feizal Smith, "Sri Lanka: Tightening Screws on Paedophiles," IPS, 20 February 1998)
Sri Lanka is a principal source of child pornography for the United States and Europe.
(Laura Lederer, "Sri Lankan children for sale on the Internet," Julian West, New Delhi, London Telegraph, 26 Oct 1997)
Swedish police seized 300 hours of film showing Western men exploiting Sri Lankan children in 1995.
("Sri Lankan children for sale on the Internet," Julian West, New Delhi, London Telegraph, 26 Oct 1997)
5,000 to 30,000 Sri Lanka boys are used by Western pedophile sex tourists in Sri Lanka.
(Sri Lankan activists, Feizal Smith, "Sri Lanka: Tightening Screws on Paedophiles," IPS, 20 February 1998)
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