Sexual harassment in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka ended with us as a country with two faces. People are amazing in this country and so friendly. The nature is beautiful, and you will have everything from mountains till beaches. However there are also some stories going on and you need to be aware of this.

Recent Events

In April 2018, two Dutch women were sexually harassed in a club at Mirissa beach. Currently those clubs have been shut downed by the government as well due to some illegal activity that was going on. With shut downed, I meant literally destroyed, nothing has been left of this place, besides junk from the destroyed building.

When we were there we heard a story from a police officer, that a tourist was sexually harassed in a boat tour. There were multiple people on the boat and the guide just tried to touch the woman on private places when the other people weren’t looking.

Also be aware when you go alone as a woman or even with a group with for example snorkelling. I know someone who got during our trip sexually harassed during snorkelling. Touched on parts that hasn’t had anything to do about trying to save her life.

What to do?

Please don’t let those stories scare you away from Sri Lanka. As I told you till the last day, our experience with the people in Sri Lanka is literally amazing. The good thing is that the government is aware of the issues.

Currently there is campaign going on in Sri Lanka, which is called Act Now. This motivates women society to report anything to police what they are experiencing. And they take this really seriously.

The woman who was harassed during snorkelling reported it to the tourist police. The place where you need to go if you have similar experiences as a tourist. The next day in the morning she had to come back when the officer in charge was back in office. The guide was arrested, ended up in jail till she was gone. And he isn’t allowed to visit the beach anymore or be a snorkel guide for the next year.

Hopefully those interventions, and the awareness that is created in the country, will hopefully change the mentality and behaviour in the country. Because how amazing Sri Lanka is, unfortunately there are some of these examples that will keep it riskier for female travellers to travel around in Sri Lanka.