Thondaman urges legal and other reforms to create a safer and more just country for our women and children

CWC leader and Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Minister Jeevan Thondaman told Parliament that his fellow MPs engaged in politicization of rape and sexual violence against women instead of coming up with solutions.

“Politicisation of rape does not address the conditions that lead to rape or deal with its terrible aftermath,” the Minister said.

He said that the solution was to take definitive steps to solve it. First there should be comprehensive sexuality education for children and young adults – that can empower them to take control and make informed decisions on their sexuality and relationships. Second, abortion should be decriminalized so that women are empowered to make decisions on their bodies. Reports from the Health Ministry show that about 650 unsafe abortions take place every day. This means that our laws are putting the lives of 250,000 women at risk every year. Third, there should be increased judicial safety for women and children so that our justice system doesn’t penalise the very people that need its protection. Fourth, there should be speedy resolution of cases pertaining to rape and sexual violence. The average child rape case can take 7-10 years to resolve, leaving the victims in limbo and without any justice. Sri Lanka’s statistics on sexual violence against women and children are alarming.

“In every two hours a child is sexually molested, in every 90 minutes, a woman is raped. It has been found that 62% of women killed were murdered by an intimate partner, ex-partner or family member. A 2013 UN Survey on Male Sexual violence in SL showed that 15% of men interviewed admitted to having raped at least once, with the majority who admitted to rape saying they did so because they were entitled to. Twenty percent of those respondents admitted to raping for fun or out of boredom.

In this country, we have a history of safeguarding oppressors, and it is much the same with rape or sexual violence, where police tend to have more sympathy with the rapists than the victims. This is reflected in the chilling statistic that only three percent of those who admitted to rape in the above study were arrested. And, according to a 2021 University of Kelaniya study, only five percent of cases relating to women murdered between 2013 and 2017 have concluded. These figures should make us ashamed and alarmed. Which is why I am committed to support reforms to create a safer and more just country for our women and children.