A new Amnesty International report has alleged widespread child labour, barriers to education, and debt-linked exploitation affecting children from the Malaiyaha Tamil community living and working on Sri Lanka’s private tea estates, with some as young as 14 reportedly being pushed into labour due to poverty, inherited debt, and precarious labour arrangements.
The report, titled ‘Abandoned by the State, Trapped in Private Estates,’ drew on investigations conducted between January 2024 and January 2026 and painted a picture of entrenched poverty, insecure employment, and poor living conditions within parts of the private estate sector. The report was launched last week (28).
According to Amnesty International, low wages and the increasing casualisation of labour created conditions in which families struggled to survive, forcing children into tea-plucking and other work on estates.
The report stated that adult workers on some estates and smallholdings earned between approximately Rs. 1,350 and Rs. 1,750 per day, which Amnesty argued remained below a living wage.
Among the cases highlighted was a 14-year-old girl who reportedly began working to support her mother and younger sisters. Despite receiving a reduced ‘casual’ wage of Rs. 750 because of her age, the report stated that she was still expected to meet adult tea-plucking targets of between 25 kg and 28 kg of tea leaves per day.
Amnesty further alleged that access to education had been undermined not only by poverty but also, in some cases, by management practices on estates.
According to the report, families often struggled to afford transport, uniforms, and school supplies, leading many children – particularly girls – to leave school early.
The report also documented allegations from workers who claimed that some estate managements had discouraged or prevented children from attending school. Amnesty alleged that such practices had been used to ensure families remained on estates, with children effectively becoming a guarantee of continued family labour.
Some parents interviewed reportedly said they concealed attendance at school meetings from estate management out of fear of being penalised for leaving work.
The report additionally highlighted what it described as “replacement labour,” where children were pressured to enter the workforce when a parent became ill, died, or left the estate.
In one case documented by Amnesty, a worker reportedly said estate management had insisted that her 14-year-old daughter replace her ill husband to satisfy rules requiring a minimum number of workers per housing unit.
Debt and dependency formed another major concern raised in the report.
Amnesty alleged that some children had become trapped in cycles resembling debt bondage, with inherited family debts restricting their ability to continue education or leave estate work. According to the report, some children had abandoned schooling specifically to work off debts linked to deceased or departed parents.
Beyond labour concerns, the report raised questions about living conditions and safety on private estates.
Children interviewed by Amnesty reportedly lived in overcrowded line rooms – often century-old, single housing units measuring roughly 10 by 12 feet – lacking adequate sanitation, clean water, and separate sleeping spaces.
The report also alleged verbal and physical intimidation by estate management, including derogatory language directed at children and threats of violence aimed at compelling families to continue working.
Amnesty said the reported practices were inconsistent with protections guaranteed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including safeguards against economic exploitation and the right to education.
The organisation called on the Government to conduct targeted labour inspections and expand housing and land tenure programmes for Malaiyaha Tamil communities to reduce dependence on estate employers. The report noted that under Sri Lankan law, penalties for forced labour offences could rise to up to 30 years’ imprisonment when committed against a child.
Responding to the findings, Ministry of Women and Child Affairs Secretary Tharangani Wickramasinghe told The Sunday Morning that although many plantation companies were privately managed under long-term leases, the Government retained channels for intervention through the Plantation Management Monitoring Division and the Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT), which worked with the ministry on early childhood development and preschool programmes.
She acknowledged awareness of reports involving children allegedly being taken into labour when parents were unable to settle debts and said that the ministry addressed such cases through the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) and the Department of Probation and Child Care Services.
Wickramasinghe also said that the ministry had requested weekly reports from the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on incidents involving children to help identify sensitive cases requiring urgent attention. She urged the public to report child protection concerns through the 1929 helpline and women’s rights violations through the 1938 helpline.
Meanwhile, NCPA Chairperson Preethi Inoka Ranasinghe stated that the authority did not receive many complaints from estates but referred child labour complaints to the Department of Labour, which possessed powers to initiate legal action.