The government of Sri Lanka and international financial institutions must also conduct human rights impact assessments before implementing economic reforms it remains unclear as to whether these have been or will be conducted. The Sri Lankan authorities and donor States must ensure that they meet their obligations under international human rights law by safeguarding the rights to health and adequate food in all aid agreements. The Government of Sri Lanka, donor States, and international financial institutions are putting in place programs and economic reforms to address the economic crisis. A doctor told Amnesty International, “People can’t come into work because they are stuck in fuel lines… I have seen ambulances parked in front of fuel stations for hours for fuel.”
We are using a Panadol for our illness.”įuel shortages have also impacted health workers and ambulances. Tickets also increased massively… If we have fever, we are not able to see a doctor. If we use public transport, it is fully crowded nowadays and people like my mother cannot travel in the public transport because she very old. Due to the fuel shortage, this became more challenging. “Before the crisis, I used my personal vehicle. Padam, a member of the MalaiyahaTamil community, told Amnesty International that he faced difficulties when taking his mother to the nearest hospital which was 15 km away. Those who couldn’t just went home and came back worse.”įuel shortages have also rendered transport either unavailable or extremely expensive, making it difficult or impossible for people to access healthcare services, particularly those from the Malaiyaha Tamilcommunity who live and work in plantations that are historically poorly served by essential services. One doctor told Amnesty International: “But not everyone could afford it. In some cases, people in need of healthcare supplies were advised to purchase medicine or equipment from private pharmacies, because government hospitals had run out of supplies. This is dangerous for the nurse and the patient.” From shortages of gauze, intravenous antibiotics and insulin to requests to re-use catheters or endotracheal tubes, the last few months have brought shocking challenges to Sri Lanka’s healthcare system.Ī healthcare worker told Amnesty International, “Nurses are drawing blood without gloves. Life-threatening shortages of medicine and essential equipment are major concerns in Sri Lanka as the economic crisis deepens. The report details the recovery measures that Sri Lanka’s leaders and the international community must put in place to safeguard human rights in their responses to the situation, such as increasing the amount of international assistance, ensuring comprehensive social protection, and considering all options for debt relief, including debt cancellation.īetween June and September 2022, Amnesty International conducted interviews with 55 people across a broad spectrum of society: people in precarious employment daily wage workers those working in the fisheries sector and plantations people from the Malaiyaha Tamil community, who are likely to be particularly impacted public health workers staff members from civil society groups, humanitarian organizations and international NGOs and individual experts. The Sri Lankan authorities and the international community must act quickly to mitigate the widespread human rights cost of the crisis, which has cruelly stripped away people’s access to their rights,” said Sanhita Ambast, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. “For months now, the people of Sri Lanka have been suffering from severe shortages of food and have struggled to access healthcare, while sky-high inflation has exacerbated already existing patterns of inequality. The report, “We are near total breakdown”: Protecting the rights to health, food and social security in Sri Lanka’s economic crisis, explores the catastrophic impact of the crisis on the economic and social rights for the people of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan authorities and the international community must fully incorporate human rights into their responses to the country’s economic crisis, Amnesty International said in a new report today, as people in the country face serious concerns around access to healthcare while being driven to the brink of starvation, widespread malnutrition, and deep poverty.
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