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Summary: General overview of Sri Lanka's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National law on children's rights Status of the CRC in national law Constitution: S. 12(4) allows for special provisions for the advancement of women, children, or disabled persons, stating that such laws will not be considered to violate the right to equality before the law S. 27(13) in laying out the objectives of State powers requires the State “to promote with special care the interests of children and youth” S. 141 makes provisions for the Court of Appeal to direct petitions of habeas corpus in relation to children to courts set up to address the needs of children Legislation: Women's, Young Person's and Children's Act No. 47 of 1956 (as amended in 1999) Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution Act No. 30 of 2005 Prevention of Domestic Violence Act No. 34 of 2005 Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act (as amended in 2006) Corporal Punishment (Repeal) Act No. 23 of 2005 Maintenance Act No. 37 of 1999 National Child Protection Authority Act No. 50 of 1998 Citizenship (Amendment) Act No. 16 of 2003 Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act No. 28 of 1996 Community Based Corrections Act No. 46 of 1999 Legal Research: Case law Case Law Research Compliance with the CRC In depth analysis: More specifically, the Committee has persistently expressed concern about corporal punishment, which remains legal in schools, the home, and alternative care. The legality of marriage in Muslim personal law for girls younger than 12 years old has also been a matter of express concern. While the new legislation on domestic violence has made some important changes to national law, it has made an insufficient impact on the practices of law enforcement bodies. Sexual abuse remains a considerable problem, with high numbers of children involved in the sex trade. In 2010, the Committee recommended that this be addressed in legislation, as the current provisions may act to criminalise rather than protect children. Current legal reform projects
Section 157 of the Sri Lankan Constitution provides that where a treaty is properly ratified by the Parliament, as is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, it shall have the force of law, and no law can be made, nor executive action taken, in contravention of its provisions. There is, however, an exception where a contravening law is passed in the interests of national security. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has noted, however, that the Convention has not been fully domesticated and is hence not yet directly applicable in the courts.
Chapter III of the Constitution of 1978 contains a number provisions affecting the rights of all of the population, but the Constitution contains only three sections that address the rights of children specifically:
Sri Lanka has no comprehensive act addressing children's issues. Although the Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure address most offences committed by and against children, other provisions relating to children are found in more targeted domestic legislation. Relevant acts include, but are by no means limited to:\
The Sri Lankan Parliament maintains an official website (http://www.parliament.lk/) in English, Sinhala, and Tamil, and the government's LawNet website (http://www.lawnet.lk/) provides extensive collections of national case law and legislation. The GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a helfpul introductory guide to legal research in Sri Lanka (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Sri_Lanka.htm), and the U.S. Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/srilanka.php) and World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/264.html) both offer a selection of relevant legal links. The Constitution is available in English through the official government website (http://www.priu.gov.lk/Cons/1978Constitution/Introduction.htm).
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Ministry of Justice maintains an official website for the court system (http://www.justiceministry.gov.lk/index5.htm), and hosts a page for the Supreme Court (http://www.justiceministry.gov.lk/courts%20of%20Law/THE%20SUPREME%20COURT%20OF%20SRI%20LANKA.htm). As mentioned above, the government's LawNet website provides an extensive collection of case law (http://www.lawnet.lk/).
In its 2010 Concluding Observations, the Committee on the Rights of the Child “welcom[ed] the steps taken by the State party to identify inconsistencies in its legislation and harmonize it with the principles and provisions of the Convention”, but also “note[d] with concern that the Convention has still not been fully domesticated in national legislation...to make it applicable in the State party.” The Committee was also “concerned that the enjoyment of child rights continues to be negatively affected by the application of emergency regulations as well as three different sources of law, national laws, Kandyan and Muslim laws.”
Sri Lanka has taken a number of positive steps to bring its law into compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including legislation to address domestic violence and the regulation of child labour. However, several areas of the law remain incompatible with the principles and rights of the Convention. In its 2010 Concluding Observations, the Committee drew attention to the the general absence of the best interests of children and of a right to be heard from relevant legislation. Juvenile justice is also a general area of concern. With limited provision of specialist juvenile courts, a very young age of criminal responsibility (8 years old) and lengthy pre-trial detention in which children are frequently ill-treated by police, the Committee has recommended widespread reform of the juvenile justice system.
At the time of the last report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, a review was underway with the aim of further reforming juvenile justice.