{"id":6545,"date":"2015-07-22T14:19:21","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T08:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/?p=6545"},"modified":"2015-07-22T14:19:21","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T08:49:21","slug":"to-all-political-parties-these-are-our-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/ta\/to-all-political-parties-these-are-our-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"To all political parties: These are our concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Sunday Observer<\/a><\/p>\n

Ensure women\u2019s rights and gender equality<\/h2>\n

By Women and Media Collective<\/p>\n

There are selected issues concerning the rights of women that all political parties are requested to commit to address:<\/p>\n

Independent National Commission on Women<\/em><\/p>\n

There is an urgent need to set up a strong formal institution with legal powers to address specific issues to ensure the upholding of the rights of women. We call on all political parties to ensure:<\/p>\n

– the setting up of a well resourced, independent women\u2019s commission<\/p>\n

– formulate a women\u2019s rights act that will be a firm foundation for a holistic policy on women which includes commitments made in the Women\u2019s Charter of 1993 and incorporates Sri Lanka\u2019s international treaty commitments<\/p>\n

Ending violence against women<\/em><\/p>\n

The three decades of war in Sri Lanka has left a society heavily marked bya pervasive culture of violence that has continued to affect women and meneven 6 years after the ending of the war in 2009.<\/p>\n

Since the end of the war,reports of sexual and gender based violence against women have risenphenomenally, in the north as well as the south and the east of thecountry. We call on all political parties to:<\/p>\n

-Formulate and implement a policy of zero tolerance on violence against women<\/p>\n

-eliminate the practice of giving suspended sentences to those<\/p>\n

found guilty of acts of violence against women<\/p>\n

-criminalize marital rape<\/p>\n

Increase Political Representation of Women<\/em><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has the lowest rates of women\u2019s representation in the political arena among all the countries of South Asia.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s representation is less than 7% in Parliament is less than 6%, in Provincial Councils and less than 2% in Local Government. We call on ALL political parties to ensure:<\/p>\n

– Minimum 30% nominations for women in electoral reforms.<\/p>\n