The Political Economy of Conflict and Violence against Women by Kumudini Samuel

The Muslim Personal Law continues to render Sri Lankan Muslim women and girls as secondclass citizens. Furthermore all women expecting to migrate for work have to provide a Family Background Report, this does not apply to men. For example – Women with children under the age of 5 are prohibited from migrating for overseas employment. Equal pay for work of equal value is denied to women in all sectors.įrom top right: Anushani Alagarajah, Kumudini Samuel,Hyshyama Hamin and Rosanna Flamer-Calderaĭiscriminatory concepts such as ‘head of the household’ nuclear ‘happy families’ inform a number of policies. They are denied protections afforded to the formal sector.

The majority includes rural, fisher, agricultural and domestic sectors. Women comprise 54% of the informal economy. The Fundamental Rights Chapter of the Constitution must include an explicit section on Women’s Rights.ĭiscriminatory Laws, Policies and Practicesĭespite Sri Lanka’s international treaty obligations and commitments, including to CEDAW, discriminatory provisions in the Penal Code relating to consensual same sex relations statutory rape (exemptions for married girls between the ages of 12- 16) impersonation provisions in the Land Development Ordinance and State Lands Ordinance that grant state land in single ownership, instead of joint or co ownership personal laws including the Muslim Personal Law and Thesawalamai Vagrants Ordinance and Brothels ordinance continue to be enforced, and must be repealed.įemale labour force participation is half that of men (34%). We would now like to highlight the following:Īrticle 16 of the present Constitution prohibits judicial review of legislation and supersedes the guarantees of equality and non-discrimination, and we call for its repeal.įundamental Rights Chapter of the Constitution We urge the committee to keep this context in mind in your deliberations. We would like to begin by drawing attention to the fact that Sri Lanka is engaging in a process of transitional justice and constitution making as we speak. The Sri Lanka session will be held on 22nd March and its report will be published on 7 March 2017.

Image: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations by its resolution 34/180 almost 30 years ago on 18 December 1979.Īctivists and 8 women’s rights organisations of Sri Lanka made collective oral intervention related to women’s human rights issues at the informal session of the 66 session of the CEDAW – Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women being held in Geneva from –.

The Political Economy of Conflict and Violence against Women by Kumudini Samuel