Sri Lankan war widows and women in former conflict zones are being forced to sell their kidneys to pay loan sharks, a UN expert said Tuesday, urging government intervention. “I have also learned of cases of borrowers who have tried to sell their kidneys for money to repay loans,” he said without elaborating. Sri Lanka is home to tens of thousands of war widows nine years after the 37-year civil conflict ended, many of them forced to use small “microfinance” loans to survive. Bohoslavsky said that loan sharks are also demanding annual interest rates of up to 220 percent. Official figures show that total outstanding microfinance loans amount to about 9 billion rupees ($56.25 million).

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 11, 2018 10:52 UTC