{"id":51573,"date":"2017-02-22T18:49:25","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T23:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=51573"},"modified":"2017-02-22T18:49:25","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T23:49:25","slug":"lankan-govt-response-to-tough-questions-posed-by-cedaw-experts-dismays-women-rights-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=51573","title":{"rendered":"Lankan Govt Response to Tough Questions Posed by CEDAW Experts Dismays Women Rights Activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dharisha Bastians Reporting from Geneva<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Government of Sri Lanka faced tough questions from the UN women\u2019s rights watchdog in Geneva yesterday, as it presented its four yearly periodic report and pleaded with the Committee to acknowledge advances and improvements on the condition of women in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy all means push us and if we are not doing enough, you are free to say so,\u201d Sri Lanka\u2019s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva told experts on the UN Committee for Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). \u201cHelp us to do things faster, be constructive, that is my plea to you,\u201d he said, urging Committee members not to \u201cimpute motives\u201d to shortfalls in the Government\u2019s reform agenda.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Aryasinha complained during his submission that the many advancements made especially in the past two years on women\u2019s rights was not being given sufficient weightage by the committee. \u201cThe processes and difficulties are not acknowledged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan Government delegation faced a barrage of questions from the UN treaty body about steps taken to demilitarise war-affected regions, the return of women\u2019s lands being held by the military, the repeal of Article 16 that preserves the validity of oppressive personal laws that contravene constitutional protections against discrimination and steps taken to address sexual and gender-based violence.<\/p>\n

CEDAW experts noted \u2018mounting frustration\u2019 about the pace of progress on reforms, during the question and answer session. \u201cWe encourage the Government to seize the momentum and have the political will to implement reforms,\u201d CEDAW Expert Pramila Patten told the Lankan delegation. CEDAW experts raised question even about the hybrid special court to try war crimes, recommended by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, specifically asking the Government delegation if a gender component would be included in the court.<\/p>\n

Patten also asked the Government delegation what action had been taken to address impunity, for sexual violence and atrocities committed during the final stages of the war, highlighted in the Channel 4 documentaries and corroborated by UN experts.<\/p>\n

In response to questions on how the Government was addressing sexual violence perpetrated by the military, Ambassador Aryasinha drew the attention of the Committee to a series of directives by the Ministry of Defence in 2016, which he said instructed the tri-forces commanders to warn their troops of strict action against armed forces personnel committing such crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny instance to us is one instance too many,\u201d the Sri Lankan Envoy to the UN told CEDAW. \u201cWe urge those who have evidence of these crimes to make that evidence available to the Government,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Congregating in the corridors and lobbies of the Palais des Nations, the UN building where the committee on women is meeting, Sri Lankan women\u2019s rights activists were dismayed by the Government\u2019s approach to questions posed by CEDAW experts. The activists expressed grave disappointment about the Government delegation\u2019s unpreparedness to deal with questions being posed by the committee on key issues facing Sri Lankan women.<\/p>\n

Kumuduni Samuel from the Women and Media Collective told Daily FT that the Government had engaged in an attempt at \u201cwindow dressing\u201d at the CEDAW meeting. \u201cThe delegation read from prepared written texts without really answering anything \u2013 and falling back on action plans that have not even been properly adopted,\u201d the women\u2019s rights activist complained.<\/p>\n

Others were equally critical.<\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan Government\u2019s submissions before the UN Women\u2019s committee had been a lesson in how to \u201cobfuscate, confuse, undermine and buy time, without doing anything for women on the ground,\u201d said activist and researcher Chulani Kodikara.<\/p>\n

Kodikara, who was also a senior researcher on the Government appointed Consultations Task Force on reconciliation mechanisms that held public hearings around the country, said that the CEDAW committee was quite a conservative body. \u201cBut even CEDAW noted that the Government was just referencing a plethora of action plans and displaying a lack of political will,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Activists said that the CEDAW meeting was supposed to be a constructive dialogue with the state. But Samuel noted that the composition of the Government delegation itself was disappointing, because many of the officials on the delegation were not working directly on women\u2019s rights work in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

The Government dispatched an all female delegation for the 66th Session of CEDAW, even sending its Ambassador to South Korea Manisha Gunesekera, a career diplomat with experience in multilateral fora to Geneva to participate. Ambassador Aryasinha was the sole male official on the Lankan delegation. <\/p>\n

The CEDAW Committee heard submissions from the Sri Lankan Government Delegation led by Secretary to the Women\u2019s Affairs Ministry, Chandrani Seneviratne. Members of the Government delegation outlined progress made on women\u2019s rights, pointing several times to the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP). <\/p>\n

The Action Plan had special provisions to incorporate provision of the CEDAW convention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe absence of a special law on women does not detract from the constitutional measures and legal framework already in place,\u201d Deputy Solicitor General Ayesha Jinadasa told the Committee yesterday. Jinadasa said the new constitution currently in its drafting stages would include a section on women\u2019s rights in the fundamental rights chapter.<\/p>\n

The delegation made a specific reference to personal laws, including the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act that has been the subject of recent debate in Sri Lanka. \u201cThe Government is mindful that certain personal laws are discriminatory toward women, including the Kandyan Law, Thesawalamai and Muslim marriage law,\u201d DSG Jinadasa said.<\/p>\n

The review of Article 16 that allows laws like the MMDA that contravenes sections of the constitution to exist, had been recommended in the NHRAP, the Government said.<\/p>\n

On several occasions, the Government delegation acknowledged the work left to do on women\u2019s rights, especially pertaining to access to justice and women\u2019s representation in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen obtained the franchise in 1931 and Sri Lanka produced the world\u2019s first female prime minister, but women\u2019s representation in legislative bodies leaves much to be desired,\u201d Ambassador Aryasinha acknowledged.<\/p>\n

The Government was also taking steps to address problems with access to justice and services by women in the North and East, the delegation told the committee. The Police Department was in the process of recruiting 200 Tamil speaking police officers and 2,000 Sinhalese speaking female police officers were also being given Tamil language training to enable their deployment in the war-affected regions, Sri Lanka\u2019s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Samantha Jayasuriya told the women\u2019s rights committee.<\/p>\n

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the body of independent experts which monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. CEDAW Committee consists of 23 experts on women\u2019s rights from around the world.
\n
\nCourtesy:Daily FT<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Dharisha Bastians Reporting from Geneva The Government of Sri Lanka faced tough questions from the UN women\u2019s rights watchdog in Geneva yesterday, as it presented its four yearly periodic report and pleaded with the Committee to acknowledge advances and improvements on the condition of women in the country. \u201cBy all means push us and …<\/p>\n

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