News
Inhumane and degrading living conditions in line houses: UN special rapporteur
View(s):A visiting United Nations rapporteur has urged the government to improve the living conditions of all workers, particularly plantation workers, noting that the community continues to face multiple forms of discrimination based on their origins.
“Child labour is particularly severe in poor rural areas populated by Tamils and some children are forced to drop out of school to support their families,”said Tomoya Obokata, the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery.
Mr Obokata concluded his visit to Sri Lanka this week and in an end of mission statement he said in the plantations, women had to work twice as long as men, to get the minimum wage earned by plucking tea leaves.
“Targets are set by estate or plantation management whereby between 18-22 kilograms of tea leaves have to be plucked, depending on the plantation in question, to earn a daily wage of Rs. 1000. If they do not meet their target, their wages are cut,”he lamented.
“I visited these houses during my trip to the Kandy district and I am seriously concerned about their undignified living conditions. I was told that typically, five to ten people have to share a small space of 10 x 12 feet, and many of the line houses do not have windows or a proper kitchen.”
“There is also a limited number of toilets, with the result that several families have to share one toilet. There is no running water and in some line houses, there is no electricity. While I am aware that some alternative houses are built, for instance in cooperation with the Indian government, I was appalled to see that the inhumane and degrading living conditions in the line houses persist,” he said.
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!