Sri Lanka

Is selling sex criminalised?
Selling sex is legal if in private but it is illegal to solicit in a public place under the Vagrants Ordinance - "every common prostitute wandering in the public street or highway, or in any place of public resort, and behaving in a riotous or in decent manner;"
Is buying sex criminalised?
No
Is organising/managing criminalised?
Yes - brothel keeping is criminalised under the Brothels Ordinance 1889 and procuring is criminalised under Article 360A of the Penal Code
What other laws are used disproportionately against sex workers?
The Vagrants Ordinances are used against sex workers. It is this legislation that is used mostly to target sex workers.
Is there mandatory HIV/STI testing?
No
Is there mandatory registration?
No
Is sex work recognised as work?
No
Is sex work decriminalised with limited regulation?
No
Sources/further reading
Vagrants Ordinance - http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/srilanka/statutes/Vagrants_Ordinance… Brothels Ordinance - http://www.aidscontrol.gov.lk/web/images/web_uploads/Policy_or_Law/Brot… Sri Lankan Penal Code, available at https://www.lawnet.gov.lk/penal-code-consolidated-2/ Miller, J. (2002). Violence and coercion in Sri Lanka's commercial sex industry: intersections of gender, sexuality, culture, and the law. Violence Against Women, 8(9), 1044-1073.
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