News
Women parliamentarians submit motion seeking PSC to probe gender based discrimination
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.
By A.J.A Abeynayake
The Supreme Court (SC)issued an interim injunction yesterday (06) preventing the implementation of the Gazette Notification issued by the Ranil Wickremesinghe government, to increase the annual fees for liquor licences.
The notification, Gazette No. 2024/1, was challenged by the Sri Lanka Liquor Licence Holders Association through a fundamental rights petition. The petition was considered by a bench consisting of Justices Dilip Navaz, Kumuduni Vikramasinghe, and K. Priyantha Perera.
The petitioners’ legal representatives, President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris and Sanjaya Jayawardena, presented arguments in the case. After considering their submissions, the Court granted permission to proceed with the petition.
The petitioners argued that the significant increase in the licence fee by more than 50% — raising the annual fee to Rs. 20 million — would cause them severe injustice and violate their fundamental rights. The petition also named several respondents, including the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance.
The petitioners were represented by Attorney-at-Law Neelshanta Siriwimanna, and President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris and Sanjaya Jayawardena. On behalf of the respondents, Deputy Solicitor General Rajiv Perera appeared representing the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and other respondents.
The petitioners also requested that the SC to order the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance to issue a directive in line with the provisions of the Gazette Notification issued in 2017, regarding the collection of licence fees.
Govt. insists on capping its members to ensure functionality
In the previous Parliament, where there were six Opposition parties, 10 slots were allocated for the Opposition at the Committee on Parliamentary Business.
However, there were now 12 Opposition parties represented in Parliament but only four slots had been allocated for them in the same Committee, Chief Opposition Whip, SJB MP Gayantha Karunathilaka told Parliament on Friday (06).
“We met Speaker Ashoka Ranwala Friday morning to discuss this. How can we manage with four slots?” he asked.
Meanwhile, MP Ramanathan Archchuna, representing Independent Group 17 from Jaffna, urged the Speaker to allocate to him at least 30 seconds in each session because the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa would not allocate time for him to speak. “As you know I can’t go to his office to talk to him. Please consider my plight and give me some time during each session. Even 30 seconds is enough,” he said.
Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa said the standing orders of Parliament would not be violated by increasing the number of members in the Committee on Parliamentary Business. “This won’t increase expenses. I urge the government to increase the number of Opposition MPs. I can guarantee that the Opposition MPs won’t just try to disrupt,” he said.
Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) said that although he was an Opposition MP, he did not have a working relationship with the main Opposition. Most of the political parties in Parliament only had a single MP, he said. “Standing orders were created when there was effectively a two-party system. These do not accommodate the reality of the present Parliament. The Committee on Parliamentary Business must have at least one member from each party in Parliament,” he said.
Chief Government Whip, Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the Committee on Parliamentary Business was the most important Committee in Parliament. According to Standing Orders, the Committee should comprise seven ex officio members and 12 other MPs.
“When we increase the non ex officio members to 16, the Committee on Parliamentary Business will have 23 members. I think we have to cap the number at this point. The number of political parties represented in Parliament may increase or decrease depending on the election. The number of parties can go up to 20 even. If we keep on increasing the number of members, we won’t have functioning committees. We can’t have 50 members in the Committee on Parliamentary Business,” he said.
Jayatissa said the Opposition leader and the Chief Opposition Whip are already included in the seven ex officio group. The government has agreed that four other MPs should be included in the non ex officio group. “There are six slots for the Opposition. It’s up to the Opposition to divide these slots among the MPs. If there is a problem with the Opposition not having enough time to express themselves in Parliament, we are willing to discuss and allocate some of our time. However, we urge the Speaker not to increase the number of members in the Committee on Parliamentary Business to more than 23,” he said.
Leader of the House, Bimal Rathnayake said they agree to allocate one more position at the Committee to the Opposition and the Opposition Leader must talk to the parties and appoint an MP. “By default, an additional slot will be given to the government, bringing the number of members in the Committee on Parliamentary Business to 16, excluding seven ex officio members” he said.
Minister Rathnayake said the Committee on Parliamentary Business must not be conflated with the party leaders group. This is also not the only Committee in Parliament. “The Parliament may someday decide that all political parties in Parliament must be represented in the Committee on Parliamentary Business. However, no such decision has been taken. There is an ad-hoc grouping called the party leaders meeting. The Committee on Parliamentary Business can’t accommodate everyone. The Committee is limited to a certain number of experienced, reasonable groups for a reason. The Committee on Parliamentary Business must start and end at a stipulated time. Our opinion is that this Committee must have a limited number of MPs. We can’t accommodate every party. This is the reality. I urge you to accept this reality,” he said.
Given that the Opposition Leader and the Chief Opposition Whip represent the SJB, the other four slots can be given to Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), New Democratic Front (NDF), Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and to one other party.
“We have decided to give the Chairmanship of the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) to an Opposition MP. We have also increased the number of members of COPA. People who can’t enter the Business Committee can join COPA because we think oversight should be increased. However, we will keep the Chairmanship of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) because we need to investigate what the previous government has done. We can’t let a former Minister sit at the helm of COPE,” he said.
The NPP government was planning to increase the allowance for differently abled individuals from the current Rs 7,500 to Rs 10,000, said Sugath Wasantha de Silva, Sri Lanka’s first visually impaired MP, in his maiden parliamentary speech yesterday.
“This increase will be implemented from the 2025 Budget. I must emphasise that this is not intended to foster dependence on the state. We will also take steps to ensure the differently abled community is socially empowered and actively participates in the country’s workforce. This is a responsibility that the NPP is committed to fulfilling,” he said.
MP de Silva highlighted that while Sri Lanka ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on 8 February 2016, successive governments have failed to introduce the necessary legislation to give it practical effect.
He further stated that the government intends to lower taxes on equipment designed to improve the lives of differently abled individuals within the next five years.
Showers or thundershowers may occur at several places in Western, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces and in Nuwara-Eliya and Kandy districts during the evening or night
Supreme Court issues interim injunction on liquor licence fee hike
Opposition demands more slots on Parliamentary Business Committee
-
Editorial6 days agoGreed for diplomatic appointments
-
News5 days agoAKD gladdens Ranil’s heart
-
Business5 days agoCentral Bank aware of upside and downside risks to its inflation projections
-
Business6 days agoDialog sets new standards in AI-driven creativity
-
News5 days agoSJB questions NPP over MPs’ perks and privileges
-
Features6 days agoCompensating a ‘parlour’ owner in Cambodia
-
Features5 days agoInside the ancient Indian ritual where humans become gods
-
Editorial5 days agoCorruption and hypocrisy