Amnesty International on Wednesday released a report alleging that tea workers on private estates in Sri Lanka are being subjected to conditions that “may amount to forced labour,” calling on the government to launch immediate criminal investigations and targeted inspections.
The report, “Abandoned by the State, Trapped in Private Estates,” is based on interviews with 154 workers across 45 privately owned estates in the Galle and Matara districts of Sri Lanka. Malaiyaha Tamils have worked the tea fields of Sri Lanka for generations, often struggling with low pay and limited opportunities. Wednesday’s report documents practices that fall under the International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour Convention, including restriction of movement, physical and sexual abuse, peonage, and the deliberate misclassification of workers as “casual” employees in order to strip them of typical employment-protections.
The report follows previous scrutiny aimed at work conditions in Sri Lanka. In June 2024, a panel of judges from Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal heard testimony directly from plantation workers; the judges said they were “horrified” by what they heard. The judges found that employers had stopped honoring collective bargaining agreements, in violation of both Sri Lankan law and ILO conventions.
Wednesday’s report also raises questions about promises Sri Lanka has made on the world stage. The country signed onto a UN roadmap in February 2024, committing to end child labor by...
WASHINGTON, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- This release is issued by King & Spalding: The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that New York Packaging II LLC, doing business as Redi-Bag USA,...