MP Pack #31 — Malaiyaha Living Wage & ILO Compliance
மலையக ஊதியம் & ILO
UK-facing accountability pack on Sri Lankan tea-sector labour conditions. ILO C87/C98/C111/C190 + UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 §54 + DCTS/GSP+ conditionality + Amnesty ASA37/1011/2026. Companion to MP Pack #10 (up-country-tamils). Frames the file as a UK importer-accountability file, not an Eelam-facing solidarity ask. Doctrine anchor: Parallel Sovereignty (/doctrine/parallel-sovereignty) — the door is open, the seat is named, we will not knock.
Audience & use
Audience: UK MPs · Lords · DBT · FCDO · APPG on Modern Slavery · Business & Trade Committee
Best used for: Modern Slavery Act 2015 §54 statements covering Sri Lankan tea supply chains · Written PQs to DBT on tea-sector labour under UK sourcing · Letters to UK tea brands sourcing from Sri Lanka on living-wage commitments · IDC / Business & Trade Committee briefings · APPG on Modern Slavery submissions
Remembrance frame
This pack does not solicit Malaiyaha institutions to co-sign or co-brand any TLTE work. It cites institutions the Malaiyaha community already trusts (CWC, HRO Kandy, ISD Kandy) at organisational level, and routes UK MPs to ILO CEACR and Amnesty for the underlying evidence. The accountability target is the UK importer — not Colombo, not the Northern Tamil leadership. Two peoples, one 1948 architectural wound, parallel roads.
Two-layer reading
Cited Tier-A evidence is open and unresolved. Statements honour memory; evidence remains under-actioned.
Each anniversary produces tabled PQs, FCDO follow-ups, and a tracked answer.
Evidence anchors (Tier-A)
Policy asks
Sample Parliamentary Questions
- written → DBT
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of living-wage compliance in the Sri Lankan tea sector by UK-sourced brands, with reference to ILO CEACR observations on Conventions 87, 98, 111 and 190. - written → DBT
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what guidance HM Government has issued to UK tea importers on Modern Slavery Act 2015 §54 disclosures covering Sri Lankan estate-sector wage, housing and franchise conditions. - written → FCDO
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations HM Government has made to the Government of Sri Lanka on housing, franchise and citizenship implementation for Malaiyaha (Up-Country Tamil) communities under the Grant of Citizenship to Stateless Persons Act No. 5 of 2003 and its residual second-generation birth-registration gaps. - written → FCDO
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what engagement HM Government has had with the Ceylon Workers' Congress and the Human Rights Office (Kandy) as primary civil-society interlocutors for estate-sector labour, in addition to Sri Lankan state channels. - written → DBT
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment HM Government has made of Sri Lanka's ratification and implementation status of ILO Convention 190 (violence and harassment in the world of work) as it applies to the estate sector.
Pack-specific safety rules
- Never frames the Malaiyaha file as a sub-chapter of the Northern Tamil file. Two distinct civic files, one shared 1948 architecture.
- Never lets Northern Tamil leadership speak for Malaiyaha labour. Primary interlocutors are CWC, HRO Kandy, ISD Kandy.
- Never names individual estate workers, unionists, or Malaiyaha MPs. Cite ILO CEACR, HRO Kandy, ISD, ETP, HRW, Oxfam, Amnesty at organisational level only.
- Always cites ILO Convention numbers verbatim (C87, C98, C111, C190) and links the CEACR observation.
- Never frames this as an Eelam-facing solidarity ask. The accountability target is the UK importer.
- Never solicits Malaiyaha institutions to co-sign, co-petition, or co-brand.
- Held for a later pack: EU CSDDD detail and UK Environment Act 2021 (Schedule 17) forest-risk due-diligence.