Sri Lanka - Poor rights enforcement in export processing zones (2012)

Labour inspection labour inspection An authority responsible for ensuring compliance with labour laws and legal provisions relating to protection of workers through the inspection of workplaces. is clearly inadequate in the Export Processing Zones (EPZs), as government inspectors are not allowed to carry out unannounced visits to EPZ factories. In addition, when complaints are received by the competent government body, employers rarely turn up to the hearings, and, when they do so, they often flout the rulings with impunity. The government has proved incapable of enforcing these rulings.