Women play pivotal role in society - Swiss Ambassador

Sarath MALALASEKERA

COLOMBO: “If the Child Protection Society of Sri Lanka did not exist, it would need to be invented. How else would all these innocent boys and girls be sheltered from threats, forced labour and violence, said Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ruth Flint at the 76th annual general meeting of the Child Protection Society held at the Auditorium of the Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration recently.

The Swiss Ambassador said,” I have been in Sri Lanka for only one year, and I can see how hard child protection society president S.S. Wijeratne works for the children and citizens of Sri Lanka.

She said in any society, women are the pillars, through their role in the family, in the transmission of value from one generation to the other.”

“If women are in trouble, the country will also be in trouble. In Sri Lanka, women play an even more important role, beyond feeding their families, They contribute a great extent to the well-being of the country and play a pivotal role in society.”

Flint emphasised that the two main sources of income in Sri Lanka in terms of foreign exchange are export products in the textile industry-manned mainly by women.

“The remittances sent here by Sri Lankans abroad also mostly come from women. Each sector contribute about 7 to 8% to Sri Lanka’s GDP) Without these two sources of income, the Government would have great difficulty balancing its budget.

Their great contribution cannot be taken for granted.”

“Any violence and threats against girls jeopardises their future role as support of the family and society, leaving psychological scars, which can handicap them as much, if not more than physical scars,” the Swiss Ambassador added.

“Boys and girls can be subjected to different forms of violence like sexual abuse, forced labour, ragging in universities, violence at home and violence on TV.

“How can we imagine that these young people - our future - can come out of it untouched and unharmed.

“And how can we imagine that they will not want to inflict the same in due course on the younger ones ? This is what is called conditioning, though all religious and moral teachings insist on the power of forgiveness.

“Let us hope that an awareness of this problem and of its long-lasting effects on the balance and well-being of the Sri-Lankan population will increase, and that everything possible will be done to work on the root causes and the consequences of these damages,” the Swiss Ambassador said.