SPA owners say their rights have been violated

• Spas misconstrued as brothels : operators seek redress from Human Rights Commission   

By Yohan Perera   

Lanka Spa Owners Association yesterday said their rights have been violated as a result of the trend in the society that considers their businesses as brothels. 

 
Lanka Spa Owners Association President Prasanna Munasinghe told media that they have lodged a complaint with Human Rights Commission and that the latter has already begun an inquiry with regard to their issue.   

“Our establishments are considered as brothels lately because of the substandard spas while our workers have been considered as prostitutes. This is because Spas which comes out in in numbers across the nation. This has violated our rights and the rights of our employees,” Munasinghe said.   

“A large number of Spas started coming out after the regulation under which spas had to be registered with a number of state organizations such as Health Department and the Department of Indigenous Medicine was abolished in 2019,” he added.   

“SPA is an internationally recognized business which has got popular over the years. Sri Lanka is facing the danger of losing the business to number of other countries such as Thailand because of the current situation as a result of substandard Spas. Tour guides have become reluctant to recommend SPAs to foreign tourists because of sub standards and frequent police raids,” he also said.   

The Association said the around 400,000 directly depend on spas while livelihood of 1.5 million people depend on them.

•  Our establishments are considered as brothels lately because of the substandard spas while our workers have been considered as prostitutes