Law: Awareness and activism
Women’s Affairs
Minister Sumedha G. Jayasena speaking at Sunday’s International
Women’s Day function quite rightly made the point that although
plenty of laws exist to protect our women the fact remains that
they are not aware of this.
What is more she said our law enforcement and even judicial
circles are not entirely familiar with these laws enacted to
protect women from abuse and victimisation.
As a result women continue to be subjugated and wallow in
misery resigned to their fate. One doubts even if they are aware
of the laws meant for their protection they would have the
courage to seek justice in a courts of law given the cultural
norms that binds our women to their traditional role.
Leave aside our women, without doubt a large majority of the
public too are not aware of the general laws of the land that
afford them protection against many vicissitudes. True, one
cannot expect an ordinary layman to grasp the intricacies of a
heady subject such as law.
This is however in contrast to the citizens in the more
developed West where topics as consumer protection laws, laws
governing fundamental rights, equality etc are well within their
grasp. The numerous agitations one sees on Television screens by
activists in Western capitals taking their rulers to task on the
infringement of consumer protection laws etc. amply demonstrates
this point.
This is also often seen in the litigation pertaining to
violation of environmental laws where the authorities more often
than not fall foul of citizens groups. In short these citizens
assert their rights before the law instead of remaining passive
spectators to the passing scene.
This is contrast to the lethargy of the Sri Lankan public to
organise themselves against violation of laws with impunity by
various groups be it the state or the private sector that has
had led to the powerful taking our citizens for granted while
investing themselves with a licence to do as they please.
If the public take the trouble to acquaint themselves even
with the basic law of the country they would be in a position to
hold those liable of transgressing the laws at their will and
pleasure.
There was a time when former Justice Minister Vincent Perera
launched on a project to take the law to the grass roots so that
the ordinary man would be enlightened at least with those
aspects of the law that governs his own interest.
As with all such projects this too fell by the way side. A
committed effort should be made by some enterprising group or a
body of civic minded people to educate the public on the laws of
the country.
This by itself is not sufficient. They should be mobilized to
ensure the laws of land are not violated with impunity. How many
of our people collectively object to the filling of flood
retention land flouting all laws. Hence knowledge of the law
also would not suffice if no action is taken to uphold the law.
The people should be taught the basic laws governing their
rights and privileges so that they would be in position to
challenge any infringement. Above all there should be a
mobilisation of the public to protect their rights as guaranteed
by the law and an organised attempt to reflect the voice of the
public by challenging the various enactments that go against the
public interest.
With the present liberalised ethos and unbridled consumerism
the chances are great for riding rough shod over public concerns
by ignoring the laws of the country as mentioned before. In
Western societies the community organises themselves to
challenge draconian laws and in matters especially affecting
their own interests.
This is chiefly due to the fact that they are well-grounded
in the laws of their countries and fuelled by activism to ensure
these laws are implemented as they should be. Sadly in Sri Lanka
we are in a state of drift unable to assert ourselves due to
ignorance on the aspects of law or is it our natural tendency to
let things lie due to ingrained lethargy.
It is time we divest ourselves from this mindset and act
positively to ensure the laws of the country are not abused and
the rights of every citizen are protected.
That Bloemendhal garbage
The Bloemendhal
garbage mountain is once again in the news. A section of this
monstrosity had collapsed damaging several nearby shanties. The
front page picture yesterday depicting this eyesore no doubt
would once again open the debate between the CMC and the
Environment authorities with outcome all too predictable.
It is unimaginable that nothing seem to happening as regard
the fate of this garbage mountain which today sticks out like
sore thumb at the very entrance to the city.
Is it prudent to do nothing at a time of heightened security
in Colombo and edicts going out to clear all garbage dumps in
street corners due to the security threat. Why cannot the
clearing of this stinking behemoth be carried out with some
foreign collaboration if it is beyond the capacity of the CMC.
The ready excuse that is being trotted out is the lack of an
alternate location to supplant this mountain.
So is the city of Colombo which was once described as the
Garden City of Asia going to wallow in this squalid backdrop
forever? What happened to the proposal about recycling this
garbage volume for power generation. It is time that some firm
action is taken to rid the country’s commercial capital of this
obscene sentinel that has marred the city landscape. |