With ‘Mathata Thitha’:

Bringing solace to women and their families- Women’s Empowerment Minister

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

Extracts from an exclusive interview with Child Development and Women’sEmpowerment Minister Sumedha G. Jayasena

Q : What will be the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day and how does your Ministry plan to celebrate it?

Child Development and Women Empowerment Minister Sumedha G. Jayasena. Picture by Saman Sri Wedage

A : This year’s theme is ‘Let us unite to end harassing women’. The national ceremony will be held on March 8 at Royal College, Colombo 7 under the patronage of First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa. This year’s celebration will be different.

A large number of rural women will take part in the ceremony and about 1,000 such women will arrive in Colombo. Women from the North will also take part in the ceremony.

Apart from this, awards will be presented to women who have excelled in different fields such as in Armed Forces, medicine, law and sports.

It will be an encouragement for them and other women to excel in various other fields.

Women police officers attached to the Children and Women’s Bureau have rendered a significant service to children and women in this country and their service will also be recognised at this ceremony.

Q – What is the most common request made by Sri Lankan women at the moment?

A : A common request made by the majority of rural women is to find good local and foreign markets for their products. Various types of loan facilities are available for all rural women and the majority of them have already started self employment projects and similar ventures.

Some Non-Governmental Organisations engaged in women’s welfare are assisting them. They demand markets for their products.

Q : What is the gravest problem faced by Sri Lankan women?

A : One can think it is violence against women, sexual harassment or something similar. But it is not. Violence against women, sexual harassment and similar crimes have gone down drastically during the past year. One of the main reasons for this situation is Mathata Thitha concept introduced by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Now a large number of families that had been affected by alcoholic fathers, live in peace because alcohol consumption is very much less in villages now. Earlier it was Thanamalwila Divisional Secretariat which recorded the highest suicide rate in the world (not only in Asia).

Now the suicide rate has drastically gone down and even the families destroyed by alcoholism and suicides are doing well. The work done by the Security Forces to eradicate illegal drugs by destroying cannabis cultivations has also helped significantly for the betterment of these villages.

Women have shown their strength by constructing tanks themselves without the assistance of men. Women are well ahead of men now. They have more will power, dedication and understanding. It is men who need to be educated and need to attend awareness raising programs.

The gravest problem lies with the women in the LTTE clutches. What the LTTE is doing right now is very inhuman and against all the rules and ethics of the world.

I strongly condemn the use of that 12 year old girl as a human bomb. She begged for mercy from the Armed Forces just minutes before the LTTE activated her suicide jacket and killed her. Our Armed Forces are doing their best to ensure the safety and welfare of women.

They sometimes carry pregnant women in their arms. Obtaining adequate sanitary needs was another major problem faced by women in welfare camps. The Child Development and Women’s Empowerment Ministry has sent two lorry loads of such items to them so far and continues to send them.

The other problem is stranded LTTE terrorists killing and injuring innocent people in the areas such as Yala. Since the LTTE is going to be eradicated very soon, they are desperate and are killing innocent civilians. Very recently, such terrorists killed several women and children in a village and also killed several farmers who were working in a chena.

Q : What happened to the Cabinet Paper presented by you seeking death penalty for criminals who murder children and women?

A : I presented that Cabinet paper and obtained Cabinet approval to impose life imprisonment on murderers of children and women. I made the request for the death penalty but I think life imprisonment has a better impact on that type of criminals because then they have the time to realise the gravity of the crimes they committed. So the punishment is adequate for the time being.

Q : What is the latest development in connection with increasing female participation in politics?

A : Many women contested the last Provincial Council Elections and they all won and only one or two were defeated. One of them was among the top ten of the 18 elected members. It shows that more women are coming into politics.

There is a Parliamentary Forum on this issue and I hold the Chairmanship of that forum. All women Parliamentarians are in that forum representing all political parties. Even Tamil women MPs are there.

The members of this forum went abroad to study the situation of those countries.

They saw that many countries have already allocated 30 per cent representation for women in their Parliaments. Women hold very important ministries such as Defence and Justice and in some countries women hold the post of Speaker of Parliament.

Women are very powerful and in top decision making positions in countries such as South Africa and Uganda. In comparison with such countries Sri Lanka stands lagging behind.

Women do not like to come into active politics under the existing system because it needs a large amount of funds and most of the time money wins over hard and good work.

The Ministry had a UNDP assisted project on increasing women’s representation in politics.

Q : You held the same post more than once in the past. Apart from various services done for the betterment of women and children, what else can you do to ensure their safety and well-being?

A : It is the law. Law is the problem. Sometimes the delay in legal procedures causes more problems for victimized girls than doing any good to them. Such Court cases drag on for over 20 years. For example a 14-year-old-girl was raped and there was a Court case in connection with the incident.

Rural women contribute largely to the national economy

When years passed by somehow the victim managed to get married and had two kids.

While she was leading a happy married life, the Court case came up again after many years. The girl faced a very unfortunate situation and her married life was destroyed because of that case. Medical reports get delayed for years.

The DNA test result of the girl who was murdered in a paddy field a long time ago is still pending. This is how our judiciary functions sometimes.

I personally made a request to the Chief Justice to get rid of all unnecessary delays caused by existing laws in connection with women’s issues.

I requested him to formulate a system to solve such cases at least within a period of two years.

Discussions had also been conducted with the Justice Ministry and other relevant institutions in this regard. We cannot let the victimised females subject to more verbal and mental harassment because of the delays in litigation.

Q : How are you going to assist women and children affected by terrorism?

A : Various types of assistance have been made available for the children and women affected by the LTTE terrorists. They have been given scholarships and houses.

The children who lost parents will be educated. The NCPA is also rendering a significant service for them. A special program will be formulated shortly to assist the displaced women. Any woman in Sri Lanka can submit her problem to the Child Development and Women’s Empowerment Minister every Wednesday from morning to evening.

All such problems will be looked into or forwarded to relevant institutions if the Ministry itself cannot solve such a problem.