Sri Lanka’s Malaiyaha Tamils living in inhumane, degrading conditions: U.N. expert

Modern slavery has ethnic dimension in island nation, Special Rapporteur notes during visit

Sri Lanka’s Malaiyaha Tamil workers, whose labour in tea plantations fetches precious foreign exchange to the country, are living in “inhumane and degrading” conditions, a U.N. expert has said.

“Contemporary forms of slavery have an ethnic dimension. In particular, Malaiyaha Tamils – who were brought from India to work in the plantation sector 200 years ago – continue to face multiple forms of discrimination based on their origin,” said Tomoya Obokata, U.N. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, concluding his recent visit to the island nation.

U.N. bodies have consistently highlighted human rights concerns during Sri Lanka’s civil war period and after, pertaining to the Tamils of the war-affected north and east, and more recently to Sri Lanka’s Muslim community over growing fears of persecution, but the plight of the Malaiyaha Tamil community, historically neglected and marginalised, has received relatively less international attention.