Half of SL households eating less

16 August 2025 08:10 am Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 25 Bookmark

A A A

People skip meals, eat less preferred food or reduce portion sizes
Malnutrition in children under five increased from 12.2% to 17%
Poverty rate rose to 24.5% almost double 2019 levels
Food prices more than doubled between 2021 and 2024

By Huzefa Aliasger

Colombo, August 16 (Daily Mirror) - In the event of food insecurity triggered by the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, more than half of all households have turned to coping strategies such as skipping meals, eating less preferred food or limiting portion sizes, and over 27 per cent of households consumed inadequate diets, according to the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Quoting the World Food Programme (WFP), the OHCHR said in its report on human rights violations in Sri Lanka -2025 that 16 per cent of households nationwide were food insecure after the impact of the economic crisis.

These have contributed to an increase in malnutrition for underweight children under five, from 12.2 to 17 per cent, the report says.

The OHCHR says “the poverty rate in Sri Lanka was at 24.5 per cent, almost double the figure in 2019. Food prices more than doubled between 2021 and 2024. Despite macroeconomic recovery, employment and real wages remained below pre-crisis levels, resulting in elevated levels of poverty and food insecurity”.

According to the report in the 2025 budget, 8.9 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or almost 60 per cent of Government revenue, was allocated to servicing interest payments on government debt. “The health and education sectors received allocations of 1.83 and 1.88 per cent of GDP, reflecting increases from the previous year, and steps towards the National People’s Power’s election promise of allocations of three and six per cent respectively.”

The report also says that Sri Lanka lacks accountability for past and present human rights violations in Sri Lanka, particularly in cases allegedly involving members of the security forces.

“The unwillingness or inability of the State to prosecute and punish alleged perpetrators is best illustrated by the continued lack of meaningful progress in many emblematic cases,” the OHCHR said.

The council also says that “The Government informed OHCHR that, on April 22, 2025, it had appointed a four-member committee to study the Presidential Commission of Inquiry report for further investigations regarding the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. At the time of writing, over 40 criminal and more than 280 civil cases have been filed in connection with the attacks; most of these cases remain at preliminary stages, and none of them resulted in a conviction,”

The report further says that since its establishment in 2018, the Office on Missing Persons has not clarified the fate and whereabouts of thousands of forcefully disappeared persons and faces a lack of trust from victim communities. “Successive Governments, particularly during 2019-2022, have undermined the institution’s independence by appointing members lacking credibility and independence.” As of December 2024, the Office on Missing Persons traced 18 individuals out of 15,000 cases filed.