In April, the chairman of a presidential task force told Reuters that a study had found that 20 percent of boys in one area had been sexually abused. Enforcement of laws against child prostitution is weak, and Sri Lanka has become a destination for foreign pedophiles. Conditions in asylums are often inhumane. NGOs criticized a March amendment to a law that allows authorities to take control of welfare-oriented NGOs suspected of fraud. Partisan violence on campuses periodically leads to university closings.
Religious freedom is respected.
However, private disputes occasionally turn into religious and ethnic confrontations, with attacks on Tamils, Muslims, and Christians. Trade unions are independent, and collective bargaining is practiced. State workers cannot strike. Labor violations are reported on the tea plantations, where many of the workers are descendants of colonial-era migrant workers and have difficulty obtaining citizenship and identity documentation.