By Saman Indrajith

The Women Parliamentarians Caucus has submitted a motion seeking the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee to look into gender based discriminations and violations of women’s rights in the country.

The motion now entered in the latest Addendum to the Order Book of Parliament says that the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus chaired by Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle, has resolved the necessity of setting up a mechanism to advocate and mainstream gender equity and equality through their representation, lawmaking, budgeting and oversight functions.

As a result of their resolve they seek for House’s approval to set up a PSC to “look into and report to Parliament its recommendations to ensure gender equity and equality with special emphasis on looking into gender based discriminations and violations of women’s rights in Sri Lanka.

The motion has been signed by Dr Fernandopulle and MPs Dr Seetha Arambepola, Rohini Kumari Wijerathna, Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi, Thalatha Atukorale, Geetha Samanmale Kumarasinghe, Kokila Gunawardene, Muditha Prishanthi, Rajika Wickramasinghe, Manjula Dissanayake, Dr Harini Amarasuriya and Diana Gamage.

The motion says that Article 12 of the Fundamental Rights Chapter of the Constitution recognizes that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled to the equal protection of the law and Article 12(4) provides for affirmative legislative or executive action for the advancement of women’s rights.

The government has ratified several international legal instruments that promote gender equality inter alia Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Ensuring gender equity and equality and empowering all women and girls have become important in the context of sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations for which Sri Lanka is a signatory.

 The PSC is expected to make recommendations in respect of the following in order to address gender based discrimination ensuring that gender equity and equality is promoted and respected, and all women and girls are empowered in Sri Lanka:

“(a) hearing grievances of women on all sorts of gender based discriminations including employment, promotional opportunities and harassments in work place; (b) reviewing and advocating for the allocation of adequate domestic resources in all sectors and at all levels, and access to improved gender equity and equality in Sri Lanka; (c) scrutinizing and reviewing relevant laws, ensuring gender mainstreaming to prevent discrimination and negative impact on the lives of women and girls; (d) lobbying with relevant line Ministries and authorities to ensure gender responsive planning and budgeting; (e) undertaking awareness campaigns and encouraging information dissemination on matters related to achieving equality among men and women; (f) lobbying and advocating for more women representation in decision-making bodies on national, provincial and local level, in public, civil society and in private sectors; (g) reviewing measures for integration of gender equality principles at National, Provincial and Local levels; (h) encouraging public-private partnerships to improve gender equity and equality in Sri Lanka; (i) sharing expertise and experiences among countries at regional and international levels and reviewing lessons learnt from other Parliaments; and (j) consideration of all matters which are connected with or incidental to the above matters. 2. (a) That the Committee and its Chair shall be appointed by the Speaker; and (b) That notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order 101 of the Parliament, the Committee shall consist of not more than twenty five (25) Members comprising all members of the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus in Parliament and other Male Members of Parliament representing all political parties. 3. That the Committee shall have the power to— (a) fix its quorum; (b) summon any person to appear before it, to require any person to procure any document or record, to produce and receive all such evidence, written or oral, as the Committee may think it necessary for the fullest consideration of the matters referred to above; (c) obtain the services of specialists and experts in the relevant fields to assist the Committee; and (d) make interim reports from time to time and to sit notwithstanding any adjournment of Parliament.”

The Committee shall present its report to Parliament within a period of one year from the first meeting of the Committee or within such further period as Parliament may grant. The report of the Committee, once tabled in Parliament shall be referred to the Ministers in charge of relevant subjects who shall submit their observations and steps taken therein contained to the House within a period of eight (08) weeks, the motion said.