News
Sri Lankan women call for stronger measures to protect their rights
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.
The Indian Naval Ship (INS) Udaygiri departed the Port of Colombo today, 11 September 2026, following the successful completion of a four day official visit.
On her departure, the Sri Lanka Navy bade farewell to the ship in accordance with time-honoured naval traditions.
During the visit, naval personnel from both navies engaged in joint initiatives to strengthen bilateral ties. These included a friendly volleyball match, a beach cleanup along the Galle Face
promenade, and a training exercise on Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) conducted by the Sri Lanka Navy Special Boat Squadron (SBS).
As part of the visit, the Indian Navy handed over a consignment of spares and supplies to the Sri Lanka Navy. Visiting crew members also toured key tourist attractions in and around Colombo.
Official interactions of this nature aim to enhance cooperation and knowledge-sharing between the two maritime forces, supporting joint responses to evolving regional maritime challenges.
A meeting between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and representatives of the Sri Lanka Scout Association was held at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday (10) afternoon .
The President was briefed on the 11th National Scout Jamboree, scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in January 2027, as well as the current status and progress of its organisational arrangements.
The official logo of the National Scout Jamboree was also presented to the President and officially unveiled on the occasion.
Views were also exchanged on the programmes currently being implemented by the Sri Lanka Scout Association and its future plans.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake emphasised the importance of expanding the Scout Movement to more schools and the contribution that the Scout Movement can make to the Government’s programmes to combat drugs.
President’s Senior Additional Secretary Roshan Gamage; Chief Scout Commissioner, Attorney-at-Law Manoj Nanayakkara; President of the Sri Lanka Scout Association Ransiri Perera; Deputy Chief Scout Commissioner (Acting) Kapila Perera; Chairman of the Executive Committee Kamalnath Jinadasa; and Jamboree Co-Organising Commissioner, Engineer Amil Abeysundara, were among the senior representatives of the Sri Lanka Scout Association who attended the occasion.
[President’s Media Division]
A meeting between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Catholic religious leaders, led by His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, was held at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday (10).
Special attention was given to the Government’s programme to strengthen coexistence, peace and reconciliation among all communities in the country and to ensure national unity by preventing any form of racist or religiously motivated hate activity.
The progress of investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks was also discussed.
Lengthy discussions were held on measures that could be taken to prevent environmental damage and destruction affecting the lives of the people.
The Catholic religious leaders commended the measures taken by the Government to safeguard trust among all communities and expressed their fullest support for these efforts.
The issues faced by Catholic communities, including infrastructure development in areas where Catholic people reside, as well as measures that should be taken to address these issues, were also discussed at length.
Rev. Fr. Cyril Gamini, Rev. Fr. Julian Patrick and other priests, as well as Deputy Minister of Religious and Cultural Affairs Muneer Mulaffer, President’s Senior Additional Secretary Roshan Gamage and others, were also present at the meeting.
President’s Media Division (PMD)
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