The Women and Media Collective (WMC) recently launched the Country Profiles on Universal Access to Sexual and Reproductive Rights and Health Services during a national policy dialogue on Friday 4th December at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies. The event brought together nearly 70 participants from the government, civil society, UN … Continue reading Policy dialogue and launch of SRR and SRH Country Profiles

The Country Profile on Universal Access to Sexual and Reproductive Rights identifies that Sri Lanka has broad policies and legislation in place that cover most women’s health, family health and reproductive health concerns. It discusses some key domestic policies and legislation in place to ensure the implementation of international conventions and domestic goals locally. It … Continue reading Country Profile on Universal Access to Reproductive Rights: Sri Lanka

The task force on violence against women is shocked that a Sri Lankan migrant worker has been sentenced to death by stoning in Saudi Arabia for the crime of adultery. Adultery is not a crime in Sri Lanka. Besides, the Sri Lankan justice system does not recognize the punishment of stoning. Such a punishment is … Continue reading Statement on stoning of migrant worker from the Prime Ministers Task Force on Violence Against Women

සෞදියේ දී ගල් ගසා මරා දැමීමට නියමිත ඇගේ ජීවිතය වෙනුවෙන් ඔබේ හදවතේ ඉඩක් ඇත්නම් දෙසැම්බර් 3 වනදා හවස 4 ට තුම්මුල්ල හංදියේ එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මූළස්ථානය ඉදිරියට එන්න. මේ ගෙවෙමින් ඇත්තේ ඇය වෙනුවෙන් අපට දැනෙන වේදනාව ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට ලැබෙන අවසන් පැය ගනන විය හැකි ය. ඒ වේදනාවට මේ අප්‍රසන්න යථාර්ථය වෙනස් කරන්නට දායක විය හැකි ද? … Continue reading For her life

Source: The Island Women and Child Affairs Minister Chandrani Bandara addressing the media at Colombo Hilton Residences on Thursday. She is flanked by Deputy Justice Minister Dushmantha Mithrapala and Dr. Sepali Kottegoda (Pic by Sujatha Jayaratne) By Shamindra Ferdinando The UN-backed Forum against Gender Based Violence yesterday declared that it wouldn’t back moves being made … Continue reading UN-backed forum against gender based violence opposes death penalty *Deputy Justice Minister calls for devolution of AG’s powers – The Island

Source: Daily Mirror The demand for sex workers is overlooked; laws would protect sex workers from violence and harassment Despite the reluctance to openly discuss this subject, is evident that sex workers are abundant in contemporary Sri Lanka. Although they are condemned in terms of cultural and religious aspects, their existence cannot be denied. No … Continue reading Legal recognition for sex workers in Sri Lanka? – The Daily Mirror

Source: The Sunday Leader by Rose Wanigasooriya and Ashanthi Warunasuriya It has been said that women are the four pillars that hold a house together; that they were created to be of support to the male race, but let us all pause and think for a moment if in reality women have been put in … Continue reading Take pride in being a woman – The Sunday Leader

‘දේශපාලනය තුළ කාන්තා නියෝජනය වැඞි කරමූ’ කාන්තාව සහ මාධ්‍ය සාමුහිකයේ පෝස්ටර් තරගය

ස්ත‍්‍රීපුර්ෂ සමාජභාවය හේතු කොට ගෙන සිදුවන ප‍්‍රචණ්ඩ ක‍්‍රියා තුරන් කිරීම සඳහා 2015 වසරේ දින 16 යේ ක‍්‍රියාමාලාව සඳහා නොවැම්බර් 25 – දෙසැම්බර් 10 අද සිට මසකින් ඇරඹෙන, ස්ත‍්‍රීපුර්ෂ සමාජභාවය පදනම් වූ ප‍්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට එරෙහිවීමේ දින 16 යේ විරෝධතා ක‍්‍රියාමලාව, ගෝලීය වශයෙන් සිදුවන සිද්ධින් අතර ප‍්‍රධාන ස්ථානයක් ගනී. ස්ත‍්‍රී පුර්ෂ සමාජභාවය හේතුකොට ගෙන ප‍්‍රචණ්ඩ ක‍්‍රියාවන් අතිවිශාල සංඛ්‍යාවක් … Continue reading Call for submissions

While the video footage of a Sri Lankan housemaid getting assaulted allegedly by her agents in the Kingdom of Kuwait went viral, questions are being raised as to why the victim, 40- year- old Kanthi Thilakalatha was released by the Sri Lankan mission to the agency before the investigation concluded. Thilakalatha is reportedly under medical … Continue reading Abdicating responsibility – The Sunday Observer