A review of National Legislation on Trafficking in Children was carried out by Renuka Senanayake, Shermila Antony and Tina Senanayake of the Legal Unit for the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This research assesses the adequacy of existing legislation, in keeping with the definition of trafficking as expressed in the 'Protocol to Prevent Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children'. This Protocol supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime introduced in 2000. The findings of the study were presented at a Workshop held on 3rd April 2002 titled “Child Trafficking in Sri Lanka : The Legal Challenge”.
On completion of the study a Prevention of Child Trafficking Act was drafted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives addressing the inadequacies in the existing legal framework.