Sexual abuse on women

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

Around 700 crimes related to sexual abuse on women have been reported to police in 2008. In 2007 the number was 800 and in 2006, there were 900 incidents, Senior Superintendent of Police, Wijaya Amarasinghe said.

He said 83,000 family disputes had been reported in 2008 while 92,000 family disputes had been reported in 2007. The number of family disputes reported in 2006 was 85,000. There were 2,000 minor complaints in connection with harassing women in 2008 and the number of similar complaints in 2007 was 2400. There were 2200 minor complaints in 2006 against women, Amarasinghe said.

He said in Sri Lanka there are adequate laws to protect women and the public are unaware of them. Sometimes even law enforcement officials do not know the relevant laws.

Most law enforcement officers are confused when they arrest prostitutes above the age of 16 and below 18. According to the law, a girl below 16 cannot have sex with a man even if she agrees to and it can be termed as a rape because she is a child. But when it comes to girls between 16 and 18, cases can be filed for illegal trafficking, child labour, forcing to engage in prostitution and selling children, he added. Amarasinghe said the society should always be vigilant to ensure the safety of women.

"Without the cooperation of the society it will be difficult to protect women," he said during a lecture on 'Unite to end gender based violence" to mark the International Women's Day celebration 2009 in Colombo on Sunday.