Sri Lanka’s programme to eliminate forced labour was one reason the United States cut the tariff on Sri Lankan exports from 12.5 percent to 10 percent, Deputy Minister of Labour Mahinda Jayasinghe has said.
Jayasinghe made the claim at a workshop on eliminating forced labour held in the Bentara-Elpitiya area, in the Galle District, on Wednesday. He said there had been reports of forced labour on some estates in the country, and called for collective action to stamp it out.
The rate he referred to is the one set under the US Trade Representative’s Section 301 forced-labour action. Sri Lanka had been placed in a proposed 12.5 percent band — higher than apparel competitors Bangladesh and Pakistan, which were both put at 10 percent — before being moved to the lower 10 percent tier in July, one of 17 economies placed there. In the intervening weeks Colombo tightened customs and labour rules and banned imports of goods made with forced labour.
Jayasinghe said Sri Lanka is targeting export income of US$36 billion by 2030 while pursuing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and that eliminating child labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and forced labour was essential — particularly while the country holds the vice-chairmanship of the UN’s Alliance 8.7.
The International Labour Organisation’s Country Director in Sri Lanka, Joni Simpson, also took part. Labour Ministry Secretary S.M. Piyatissa, Labour Commissioner General Nadeeka Wataliyadda and Southern Province Deputy Labour Commissioner S.M.P. Pascual attended.
What officials told Parliament’s finance committee
Reporting separately on Thursday, the Daily FT set out evidence Labour Ministry officials gave the Committee on Public Finance on 11 August. Officials said the government began work in 2025 with ILO assistance: 30 officers from the Department of Labour, Sri Lanka Police and the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Foreign Employment Section were trained as trainers, after which about 250 officials received training.
Forced labour is already a criminal offence under the Penal Code. Awareness programmes had been run in the Southern Province after Amnesty International published a report identifying forced-labour indicators among tea smallholders. Officials listed the indicators they use: withholding original certificates, retaining part of a salary, delaying wage payments, keeping identity cards, and restricting workers from taking work elsewhere.
The committee also examined the link to US market access. Trade Ministry officials said forced-labour assessments depend on the nature of the goods, with labour-intensive agricultural products carrying a higher labour component than automated manufacturing. Declarations are required from relevant sources, subject to the satisfaction of the Director General of Commerce, and the government is working to institutionalise that mechanism further.
Note: the Daily Mirror renders the ILO country director’s name as “Johnny Simpson”; the ILO’s appointee, and the spelling used in this archive’s earlier coverage, is Joni Simpson.
