Is she Legally Protected?

As we can see now Sri Lankan family is generally not a family in which the husband is the sole breadwinner and the wife essentially a home maker. What appears to be the truth is that in the Sri Lankan family the wife is compelled to be economically active except in the upper income group and the social backward groups. Recently, there is a considerable development in women’s participation in economy both in the formal and the informal sectors of the economy. Now the child rearing is not viewed as being confined to mother. Women in the country have equal opportunities of education and they forms an integral part of the labor force.

Though it is manifest that she has acquired a predominant place in the society still there is a question remaining as to whether she has equal rights in law. Has the law in Sri Lanka kept pace with the transformation of the women’s role in the family? It certainly has not.

When it comes to the post war situation, we know that the prolonged internal conflict in the country has given rise to many single parent families. Now the indications are that among the displaced, single parent families are overwhelmingly headed by women. But the present legal system does not provide the required framework for them to easily step into the role of the guardian and it does not facilitates the traditional customary practices relating to assumption of family responsibility to come into effect[1]. Therefore at the end of the day women are facing great difficulties with these complicated administrative procedures that have been introduced by the government[2]. 

Today women’s decision making capacity with regarding to property matters has been curtailed in two of the customary personal laws, viz. the Tesawalamai applicable to Tamils in the North and the Kandyan Law applicable to the Kandyan Sinhalese. According to these laws the wife acquires no shares in the ancestral property of the husband[3]. As the legislations regulating Tesawalamai has introduced a concept of separate property during the marriage and a division of the acquired property on the termination of the marriage, complete powers of administration is not conferred on her. Thus a women governed under Tesawalamai requires the husband’s consent to dispose or deal with her immovable property[4]. Moreover with regarding to dowry property husband has been considered as the trustee of such property and in that regard too wife’s capacity to deal with such property has been greatly curtailed[5]. In General Law or in Kandyan Law there are no such restrictions. 

Under the General Law of our country the father has a considerable decision making power in relation to the children of the marriage. In the sphere of custody care and control Roman Dutch Law recognized a preferential right in the husband. Although initially the courts were reluctant to interfere with this right with the entrenchments of the best interest of the child standards, the current trend in Sri Lanka is to make his right subordinate to the interest of the child. What is significant however is that the law is based on the premise that it is the father who must take all decisions in relation to the care, custody, and control of the child during the marriage. 

In Muslim Law according to the concept of marriage guardianship, in relation to a female of the Safi sect the consent of the marriage guardian to the marriage is vital. In that regard the father is the person who is legally empowered to act as marriage guardian. The mother appears to rank a very low stage in the order of persons who may succeed the father as a marriage guardian[6]. Thus it is manifest that both the general law as well as the personal laws does not afford the married woman any decision making role in regard to her children. Is this because of the premise that woman are unfit or unqualified to take part in decisions relating to their children? Or is it only her role to physically nurturing their children?

This clearly shows that the changes that have been taken place so far in our legal system have not reflected these issues yet. So it is high time to address these issues while paying a comprehensive review of the existing family law in the country, in order to give a better place to the woman in the society.

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[1] Goonesekara, S, (1998), Children, Law and Justice, A South Asian Perspective, Pp. 101-102.

[2] Soysa, S, Transformation of the Sri Lankan Family and the Challenges of Law Reforms.

[3] Exceptionally when there are no heirs she may be entitled to his ancestral property.

[4] Matrimonial Rights and Inheritance Ordinance (Jaffna) No 1 0f 1911, section 06.

[5] Tambiah, H, W, Laws and Customs of the Tamils of Jaffna, Pp. 173- 174.

[6] Goonesekara, S, Sri Lanka Law on Parent and Child,P.314.

Day after March 08…. Men’s Day????

March 08….

Without being another ordinary day in the calendar, every year, this date is given special attention.

Women’s Day!!! A day to voice for Women’s Rights!!

Every year we hear people yell;

            Freedom for Women!

            Stop Discrimination Against Women!!!

            Women Need Equal Rights!!!

Since 1911 we run behind common themes set out by a particular group of people and scream out requesting “freedom” and “equality”. But as the sun rises the following day on March 9, we completely forget what were we talking the previous day and live the traditional life until March 08 of the following year.

Is there a special requirement to speak of freedom of women, equality for women or discrimination against women in our society???

Ancient Sri Lankan culture has never been discriminative against women, they were given freedom and they were treated equally in the society. Mother is given the prominent place in the family. Even during royal monarchy period women such as Queen Anula and Queen Viharamahadevi have participated in governing the country. The post modern woman has equal access to education, health and employement. She even represents the Parliament and participates in governance. Then why do we need a Women’s Day for Sri Lanka???

Situation of the Sri Lankan woman is different from that of the world. Country’s economy is depending on her strength as the work force in garment industry, plantation sector and migrant work is women. Yet, we have never allocated a day to speak of the problems of garment workers, plantation labourers or migrant workers.

Further it is reported that woman is often a victim of domestic violence. We deliberately avoid speaking of it.

Selective organizations and women groups speak of the above issues on Women’s Day in order to market themselves. Yet, following 09^th of March, they deliberately forget the topic and lead the traditional life.

Even though they witness harassments for women at home, they do not speak of it. Seeing problems of garment workers, migrant workers and plantation workers they remain silent.

If we do not speak of such issues of society at least on Women’s Day, then what is the point of having a day to voice for women? If we simply forget what were preached on March 08 and live as normal as ever during following “Men’s Days” what is the need of spending so much of energy and time to scream for women?

If we know to react at the proper time to persisting problems of women then we will not need a Women’s Day and the rest of 364 days will not be Men’s Days too….

International Women’s Day – 2011

Today is International Women’s Day; a day to celebrate freedom for women. Each year on 08^th March it is celebrated by most of the countries and talks about deprivation of women in access to education, carrier, technology and many more. 

The history of the celebration goes back to hundreds of years; it was first emerged in the honour movement for Women’s Rights in 1910. This year, United Nations has declared a theme of “Equal Access to Education, and Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women”. Sri Lanka has adopted the concept as “Women’s Knowledge and Strength to Uplift the Country”.

Story of Manoj: Let’s not allow this happen to another innocent child*

11 year old Manoj is sitting on the bed of the Trincomalee General Hospital with tearful eyes. He looked at Uncle Kannan standing next to his bed with sympathy. After father died and mother left to Middle-East, Uncle Kanan is the Guardian of Little Manoj. He is suffering from the pain of the scars in the thighs, from tiredness of having to walk for miles for his own escape, and more than that from the fear of incidents happened during past few days.

Little Manoj is been abused by some unknown persons who pretended to take him to a Scout Camp in Colombo.

Manoj is a Scout at his school. The day before the incident happened, he, together with ten more scout friends, were taken to a “Scout Camp” in Vellaimmanel by a foreigner and some unknown persons. After that, they were asked to come to Third Milepost Junction at 9.00am the next day.

Manoj, as asked, waited at the place at the said time. An unknown person arrived from a Van, took Manoj and flew in a second. The person seemed so kind that Manoj was offered a packet of Milk to drink. What is there to suspect about a drink? Little Manoj sipped with happiness. After that, he cannot remember anything happened.

When he woke up suddenly he struggled to identify his where about.  The Person next him injected something again, that Manoj fell asleep. He didn’t know how long it took him to wake up again. But, then he was inside a jungle with these unknown persons. He felt the pain in his thighs from a deep scar.

He realized that he has to escape somehow if he wants to life. What will happen if he weakens himself? How can he see his mother who will come from few years to see him? He started running…… He ran until he come out of the jungle and found way back home. After coming home only he realized he is been missing for two days.

Surely, uncle would not have suspected at all as he was about to go for a Scout Camp in Colombo. That’s what the foreigner told them which in return was informed to Uncle Kanna. So, he had to tell his story……. He couldn’t understand how to explain what happened. But he showed the scars and managed to babble the story.

As a result, today, Little Manoj is in the hospital……

This incident was reported from a village in Trincomalee. Is it another impact of post conflict situation? Or is it a common issue in any rural village in Sri Lana? It is something we need to think of.

Mothers leaving their children for foreign employment are common in the country. Yet whether the children are at safe hands is a question. A child does not receive more strong protection from anyone than from his/her mother. It is because of this reason that we hear many stories where children are been abused or exploited even by the guardians.

If a child is left alone without parents, then he/she is a responsibility of the guardian. In the above case, it is to be noted that the child’s uncle would have been more responsible towards protection of the child that he would have inquired more about said “Scout Camp” from respective persons at his school. If the guardian thought of accompanying the child to where the vehicle would come, sometimes, this chaos would have been prevented.

There may be similar incidents happening all over the country, yet the reported cases are just the iceberg of the actual scenario. Due to lack of awareness, traditional thinking and many more reasons people either fail or ignore to inform such incidents to respective authorities.

National Child Protection Authority, Child Rights Promotion Officers at District Secretariat, Probation Officers and members of District Child Development Committees hold primary responsibility of protection and development of children. At the meantime, they have the legal authority to take actions against the abuser. Yet, the society is very less aware of the role of such institutions. It is important to take necessary steps to educate the public to consult respective authorities at abusive incidents.

If you have a similar stories, and if you have heard of good practices taken to prevent such incidents please make this forum an opportunity to discuss them with us. 

*All the names of persons are imaginary

We meet to Voice Against Violence

With the coordination and facilitation of National Protection and Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons Project of Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, a Forum will held to Voice against Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kilinochchi. 

When?  

2010 12 17 (Tomorrow)

Where? 

@ Conference Hall, District Secretariat, Kilinochchi.

With whom? 

Government and Non-Government officials who would like to voice against SGBV in Kilinochchi. 

Welcome

Commemorating 62nd Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10th, a space was opened to voice for freedom from violence, the blog "A World Free From Violence" is opened to everyone who wish to speak against violence of all kind.