The United Nations has revealed that more than 200 Sri Lankan women have committed suicide after failing to pay interest on loans to finance companies that were not subject to any scrutiny.
The extent of the devastation wrought by the microfinance scheme that kills rural women in Sri Lanka was revealed by a UN special envoy who visited the island at the invitation of the government.
“Many women fall prey to debt because of the high interest rates charged on loans. As a result, more than 200 women have been reported to have committed suicide in the past few years, ”Tomoya Obokota, UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Slavery, told reporters in Colombo.
He met with representatives of the Human Rights Commission, civil society organizations, trade unions, as well as human rights defenders, academics, migrant workers and victims of labor exploitation, according to the Sri Lankan embassy in Sri Lanka.
President Gotabhaya Rajapakse’s election promise was to save hundreds of thousands of rural women from the debt trap.
“Hundreds of thousands of homeless women have been put under pressure by various microfinance programs that some banks have not even had a legal right to, and some financial institutions that have in the past provided even more oppressive firefighters across the country without any regulation. Unjustly given micro loans will be cut to provide quick relief to such women, ”the ‘Vision of Prosperity’ election manifesto said.
However, information revealed by the UN Special Rapporteur shows that this promise has not been fulfilled.
“I am deeply saddened that the government has so far not taken any effective or timely action to regulate and monitor these exploitative microfinance companies. The result is that they are allowed to continue their work without hindrance, ”said Tomoya Obokota.
The Special Representative said that the Government of Sri Lanka had taken into account a number of recommendations made during his visit and assured that steps would be taken to legislate to regulate these lending institutions.
The final report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Slavery, Tomoya Obokota, will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next September.
