Re-imagining vulnerabilities: the COVID-19 pandemic and informalised migrant apparel workers in Sri Lanka

This report gives visibility to the precarious conditions and new vulnerabilities of informal workers in the Sri Lankan apparel industry against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores how the pandemic and the response to it have increased informal apparel workers’ vulnerability to loss of livelihoods, income, failing social relations, and deprivation of citizenship rights. The report demonstrates that the state outsourcing its responsibility of providing livelihood security to the private sector has resulted in invisibilities that exacerbate informal workers’ vulnerabilities. The report calls for regulating informal work and developing livelihood safety mechanisms for informal migrant workers in the apparel industry. It contends that any such plans must take into account gendered insecurities, given that women’s income is closely intertwined with decision-making abilities, social status, and emotional and physical safety.