14th December 2023
Yakalla, Ibbagamuwa
In early December, the chairperson of the Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) stated that there are plans afoot to install a walkie-talkie system on all private buses to facilitate passengers to make complaints to the nearest police station on route regarding theft, and/or sexual harassment, and/or any other complaint that requires the intervention of the Sri Lanka Police.
“This will help to minimize harassment, thefts, speeding, careless driving, ill treatment by conductors and drivers, and various other illegal activities happening in buses. Passengers need to have a safe and comfortable travel experience with a free mind… Accordingly, all private buses will be equipped with the Global Positioning System (GPS). Then the passengers can make their complaints to the nearest police station or to the National Transport Commission (NTC) by pressing a button fixed inside the bus.” – Daily Mirror 8th December, 2023
Given that there is currently the provision for passengers to inform the closest police station, it is unclear if passengers will avail themselves of this new service. That said, perhaps a communication device on buses will make the reporting of incidents simpler, and act as a deterrent to perpetrators.
But in context of sexual harassment and sexual and gender-based violence [SGBV] in general, much still needs to be done across the board in building confidence in the system of reporting to the Sri Lanka Police.
The prevalent asking-for-it culture in Sri Lanka, where victims and survivors of sexual violence are held responsible, pervades the Sri Lanka Police too. Revictimization even within Women and Children’s Bureau of the Sri Lanka Police still unfortunately occurs. The bureau is responsible in operating Women and Children’s Helpdesks in most Police Stations across the country, yet limited resources and training opportunities mean that some officers in charge of these desks still revictimize clients who seek help.
DIG Renuka Jayasundara, the head of the Women and Children’s Bureau spoke of this lack of resources and training that affect their service delivery at the Social Dialogue on Technology Facilitated Sexual and Gender Based Violence (TFSGBV) at the University of Colombo on the 7th of December 2023.
In 2020, identifying this requirement, The Sri Lanka Police Commission together with Women in Need, and other civil society partners, including The Grassrooted Trust, developed a Standard Operating Procedure for Policing Cyber Violence for the Sri Lanka Police to respond more positively to clients.
“As expressed early in the document, the attitude of the police, especially at the point of recording the complaint, is extremely important in ensuring that the victim feels safe to come forward and has trust and faith in the police to protect his/her rights and offer protection and support. Professionalism therefore goes beyond, technical capacity and includes a diligent, victim centered approach, in which the victim, and safeguarding his/her rights and dignity is treated as a priority.”
The SOP also championed the use of the existing legal framework to deal with the case directly without kicking the ball down the road to an overstretched Cyber Crime Division of the Criminal Investigation Department, thereby causing a bottleneck and backlog of cases where victims and survivors have to put up with untenable delays. The recent murder of a husband by his wife in Kurunegala for attempting to use their daughter to make money as part of a homemade pornography scheme, underpins how vital it is that we respond without delay.
Due to the COVID19 pandemic that followed, and the ensuing economic crisis, the dissemination and implementation of this SOP was extremely poor.
Currently Grassrooted’s advice to clients who require to report TFSGBV is to inform their lawyer of the Policing Cyber Violence SOP so as to identify the available legal redressal mechanism, and to ensure that the lawyer accompany them to the police station to make the complaint.
This is, in fact, Grassrooted’s general advice to all clients who seek to report any form of sexual harassment or violence to the Sri Lanka Police.
Another best practice that Grassrooted shared at the Social Dialogue on Technology Facilitated Sexual and Gender Based Violence (TFSGBV) at the University of Colombo is the need for civil society to build relationships with local police stations. The Grassrooted Trust, based in the Ibbagamuwa Division of the Kurunegala District work closely with 5 local police divisions – Bogamuwa, Gokarella, Kumbukgete, Maduragoda, and Melsiripura. We work with officers from the Women and Children’s Helpdesks to ensure not only that they have cognized the Cyber Violence SOP but also work with them to respond positively to other instances of sexual and gender-based violence, including domestic violence.
Civil society engagement locally can and does make a difference, yet ultimately it is the training regime of new officers that should be the focus. How do we ensure that our new recruits understand community policing? DIG Ajith Rohana has worked in the past to ensure that police training colleges implement forward thinking training programmes – and currently with the evolution of the discussion around laws that govern people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, with the supreme court granting leave to parliament to amend the law the police appear to be stepping up, as seen with the recent circular issued by the IGP in November 2023.
“The Attorney General’s Department has informed the Court of Appeal that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has issued a circular preventing police officers from conducting training sessions, lectures or seminars which dehumanize and discriminate against the LGBTIQ community in the country.” – Daily Mirror, 21st November 2023
Yet, much more needs to be done to prevent sexual and gender-based violence. At yet another year-end civil society workshop The Family Health Bureau in December stated that 20,000 women had experienced atrocities and violence in 2023. That’s over 50 women a day that have experienced some form of violence in 2023. Those that reported. Those that we know of. How many, seeing no hope of support remain silent and continue to suffer?
The Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus, UNDP, UNFPA and other civil society stakeholders have helped develop a National Action Plan to address Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). Will this go the way of other national action plans, and SOPs which have had no bearing on the status quo of sexual violence?
Also, will this action plan actually transform our education system that currently struggles to even include basic child protection education?
These questions remain unanswered in 2023. Yet, these difficult questions need answering if we are to bring about true lasting change to heal the pain of our women, our children and everyone else who is vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence in Sri Lanka.