Emerging Trends of Human Trafficking in Sri-Lanka: Trafficking For Forced Criminality

This policy brief has been developed to understand the key features of the new form of trafficking for forced criminality, which has also emerged in Sri Lanka and to make recommendations to combat the crime, effectively protect/assist victims, expeditiously investigate cases and to prosecute the perpetrators.

The primary observations made for the purpose of this policy brief were obtained through IOM's direct assistance to 41 survivors (between January and September 2023) who were trafficked for forced labor in Southeast Asian Special Economic Zones (SEZs). This brief has also been complemented by a range of media reports, articles, open-source information relating to the scam centre crisis, transnational organized crime and trafficking in persons.