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Combating trafficking: Five-year National Action Plan 

28 Feb 2021

  • Justice Ministry to accommodate legal reforms 
By Sarah Hannan With the draft National Human Trafficking Action Plan for 2021-2025 being approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Justice is looking at accommodating the necessary legal reforms that would assist in tackling human trafficking and child trafficking-related matters in an efficient manner, The Sunday Morning learnt. After a two-year lapse since the National Strategic Action Plan to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking (2015-2019) ended in December 2019, the Ministry of Justice has prepared a National Human Trafficking Action Plan for the upcoming five-year period (2021-2025) with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Sri Lanka and in consultation with the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force.  Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Minister of Justice President’s Counsel M.U.M. Ali Sabry said that the National Human Trafficking Action Plan for 2021-2025 was formulated after reviewing the National Strategic Action Plan to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking and its results during the 2015-2019 period. “In order to draft the National Action Plan for the upcoming five years, after reviewing the National Strategic Action Plan, we also reached out to the IOM country office in Sri Lanka and hosted stakeholder consultation meetings to gather suggestions and recommendations,” Ali Sabry added. Meanwhile, when The Sunday Morning reached out to the IOM Sri Lanka office, a resource person said that implementing the National Human Trafficking Action Plan for 2021-2025 is an undertaking of the Ministry of Justice and the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, while IOM Sri Lanka’s role was to assist in reviewing the necessary reports and furnishing recommendations.  “In 2020, we launched a public information campaign to combat human trafficking in partnership with the Ministry of Justice, which was funded by the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat the Trafficking in Persons. The campaign was launched based on the notion that raising public awareness was essential to combat human trafficking as stated by the National Strategic Action Plan to Monitor and Combat Human Trafficking.” In support of the initiative, IOM Sri Lanka had established district-level anti-trafficking forums in seven districts to reach out to communities to identify and assist victims. These forums brought together local government officers with civil society and community members to discuss issues, identify cases, and build referral mechanisms. Trafficking in persons is a punishable crime under the Penal Code. Also, Sri Lanka ratified the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish the Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, in 2015.  A hotline that would help to counter human trafficking incidents has also been set up by IOM Sri Lanka and the public can raise their concerns or report incidents by calling on 0766 588 688 in the Sinhala, Tamil, or English languages. 


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