Sri Lanka
Population: 21,077,941
Capital: Colombo
Life expectancy: 75 years
GNI per capita: $1,010
Literacy: 90%
HIV prevalence rate: <0.1% of population 15-49 years old
Under 5s mortality: 14 per 1000 live births
Sri Lanka has faced civil conflict between the government and armed rebels for over two decades. Devastating suicide bombings and violence throughout the 1980s and 1990s killed more than 60,000 people and 300,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries. In 2002 a cease-fire was agreed, but it was undermined by regular clashes between government troops and Tamil rebels, and in January 2008 the government withdrew from it.
In 2004 Sri Lanka suffered its worst natural disaster when tsunami waves triggered by an undersea earthquake off Indonesia swept ashore the southern and eastern coastlines killing 30,000 people and leaving many hundreds of thousands homeless.
Economic policies have pushed many farmers off the land, making it dificult for poorer families to feed themselves. Young women are forced to work under exploitative conditions in the Free Trade Zones, where foreign companies operate with exemption from Sri Lankan tax, labour and environmental laws.
Our work
CWS supports fthree partners in Sri Lanka who are involved with:
- Training and income generation
- Home gardens for food production
- Research into sustainable agricultural
- Campaigning on the rights of the poor
- Supporting workers in the Free Trade Zones
Our partners
Devasarana
Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform Read case study
www.monlar.net
Women’s Centre
