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Sri Lankan women call for stronger measures to protect their rights

Published

4 years ago

2022/10/14

Women leaders from four provinces in Sri Lanka have urged local government authorities to strengthen efforts to protect women, who have been affected by the country’s economic, political, and Covid-19 crisis this year.From March to September 2022, UN Women hosted a series of Multi-party Dialogues on Women, Peace and Security in nine districts to identify and discuss solutions to challenges faced by women there. Close to 200 persons including women leaders participated in the sessions, representing the North Central, Uva, Western, and Sabaragamuwa Provinces.

UN Women organised the first phase of the multi-party dialogues between 2018 and 2022 in 16 districts across five provinces in the country, which focused on strengthening women’s leadership and decision-making role within the peace and security landscape. The current phase of dialogues covered the country’s remaining four provinces and took place in the districts of Anuradhapura, Badulla, Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Monaragala, Polonnaruwa, and Ratnapura.

Participants raised concerns about issues including a shortage of safe houses, lack of awareness about available services, and weak referral systems for survivors of violence. “Over the last few months, complaints on violence against women have drastically increased, and most of the time, these women have no place to go,” said one dialogue participant, a women’s development officer from the Ministry of Women and Child Development and Social Empowerment.

Another participant, a district coordinator from Gampaha District in the Western Province, said: “Because of the economic crisis, many garment factories are closing. Some women have worked in these factories for 20-plus years. On top of that, they are burdened with taking care of their families. As a result, they are unable to find new jobs.”

Ramaaya Salgado, Country Focal Point of UN Women Sri Lanka, said the multi-party dialogues aimed to gather a variety of stakeholders including women leaders, public sector officials, civil society organisations, youth leaders and the media “to collectively promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, and to ensure that there is no rollback of gains made over the years.”

In each of the dialogues, participants developed district-level ‘work plans’ in which they recommended that the local authorities:

Strengthen coordination between front-line government officials and civil society organisations to implement initiatives, on women, peace and security; allocate budgets and other provisions to establish safe houses for women in each district; carry out campaigns to educate rural women about public services such as legal aid and counselling for survivors of violence; provide gender sensitivity training for Police and other law enforcement officers; during the dialogue sessions, the participants also received training on the principles of women, peace and security, which calls for increased participation of women at all levels of decision-making and for ensuring that women and girls are not left behind in relief and recovery efforts.The dialogues are part of UN Women’s three-year programme on supporting the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Sri Lanka, which is funded by the Government of Japan.

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Landslide Early Warnings issued to the Districts of Kurunegala and Ratnapura

Published

4 hours ago

2026/04/23

Priyan

The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has issued Landslide Early Warnings to the Districts of Kurunegala and Ratnapura effective from 16:00 hrs on 23.04.2026 To 16:00 hrs on 24.04.2026

Accordingly,

Level 1 landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Rideegama in the Kurunegala district and Kuruwita, Kalawana, Ratnapura, Nivithigala, Pelmadulla and Eheliyagoda in the Ratnapura district.

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Advisory for Severe Lightning issued for the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-western, North-central, Southern, Uva provinces, and Ampara and Batticaloa districts

Published

6 hours ago

2026/04/23

Priyan

Advisory for Severe Lightning
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology
Issued at 12.00 noon 23 April 2026 valid for the period until 11.30 p.m. 23 April 2026

Thundershowers accompanied with severe lightning are likely to occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-western, North-central, Southern, Uva provinces, and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts after 1.00 p.m.

There may be temporary localized strong winds during thundershowers. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by lightning activity.

ACTION REQUIRED:
The Department of Meteorology advises that people should:
• Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees.
• Avoid open areas such as paddy fields, tea plantations and open water bodies during thunderstorms.
• Avoid using wired telephones and connected electric appliances during thunderstorms.
• Avoid using open vehicles, such as bicycles, tractors and boats etc.
• Beware of fallen trees and power lines.
• For emergency assistance contact the local disaster management authorities.

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Compensation payments and reconstruction activities related to the Ditwah relief measures must be expedited with special attention at the district level – PM

Published

16 hours ago

2026/04/23

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya emphasized that compensation payments and reconstruction activities related to the Ditwah relief measures must be expedited with special attention at the district level. She further stated that all necessary allocations have already been made to Provincial Councils and instructed that the progress of disaster damage assessments and reconstruction efforts be closely monitored at the provincial level.

The Prime Minister made these remarks at a discussion held on Tuesday (21) at Temple Trees under her patronage, aimed at informing Chairpersons of District Coordination Committees and public representatives from disaster-affected districts, in order to accelerate the implementation of the “Rebuilding Sri Lanka” programme. The discussion focused on expediting disaster relief and compensation payments, as well as the swift restoration of infrastructure damaged by the disaster.

The Prime Minister emphasized that Rs. 500 billion has been allocated for damages caused by the Ditwah cyclone, and that all relevant development activities must be completed before the end of 2026. The Prime Minister also instructed officials to pay special attention to resolving issues at the local level that are causing delays in compensation payments.

Senior Additional Secretary to the President, G.M.R.D. Aponsu, stated that the estimated cost for reconstruction following the Ditwah cyclone is approximately USD 3.4 billion. Accordingly, funds have been allocated for compensation across several sectors including housing and social infrastructure, agriculture and livestock, fisheries, industry and livelihoods, and irrigation. He further noted that 99% of the Rs. 25,000 allowance has already been disbursed, while 95% of the Rs. 50,000 resettlement allowance has been paid. Compensation for fully and partially damaged houses is still ongoing, and 99% of temporary relief centres have been closed.

Additionally, attention was drawn to several other measures, including providing Rs. 25,000 to affected schoolchildren, paying Rs. 1 million as compensation for each deceased individual, compensation for children who lost one or both parents, support for persons with disabilities affected by the disaster, compensation for agricultural losses, and expediting resettlement of displaced families. Measures such as allocating land for new housing construction and accelerating the issuance of reports from the National Building Research Organization were also discussed.

Focus was also placed on the reconstruction of affected schools, hospitals, and daycare centres, improving the accuracy and speed of data collection at the local level, and accelerating infrastructure development.

The event was attended by Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure Samantha Vidyarathna, Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government Dr. Chandana Abayarathna, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Namal Karunaratne, Deputy Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperatives R.M. Jayawardena, Deputy Minister of Education Dr. Madhura Senevirathna, Members of Parliament, Chairpersons of District Coordination Committees, Chief of Staff to the President and Commissioner General of Essential Services Prabath Chandrakeerthi, Additional Secretary to the President Jayantha Bandara; and officials of the Prime Minister’s Office.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]