Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières
“I am here because I don’t have another option,” says Semini*, as she waits in line at the pawnbrokers. It’s nearing noon and the air conditioning is barely adequate against the unforgiving April sun outside the small pawnshop space.
Semini is 28 years old and a single mother. She is here to pawn (...)
In response to Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis, and the consensus across the political spectrum and even social classes that an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail-out and structural adjustment programme is the only short-to-medium term exit or at least breathing space for citizens, the (...)
Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic crisis in its post-independence history. Widespread food and fuel shortages are crippling the lives of people. Such a situation that has already lasted several weeks is now resulting in widespread protests which are being repressed violently. We anticipate (...)
Nearly three years have passed since the deadly 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. While failing to prosecute the actual perpetrators, the state has single-handedly used the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act No. 48 of 1979 (PTA) as a cudgel to persecute the entire Muslim minority. As (...)
Despite previous assurances from the Ministry of Justice that an Amendment Bill to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) would be presented to Parliament by January this year, it is learnt that the Bill to be tabled in the House will be further delayed. This is despite activists urging the (...)
When is the right time? How many more children and adolescents need to be savaged by this system? How many more women need to be unfairly punished and thrown onto the streets to beg and children enrolled in madrasas that only teach to memorize the Quran. Now especially is not the time for (...)
A woman’s right to decide what happens to her body is at the core of her right to equality, human dignity, and choice. This right is identified as one’s bodily autonomy. By criminalising abortion, Sri Lanka’s law undermines a woman’s right to exercise her bodily autonomy. Despite this (...)
Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum and Muslim Personal Law Reform Action Group welcome move
Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum and Muslim Personal Law Reform Action Group in a joint statement have welcomed the news that the Advisory Committee on Muslim Law Reforms has submitted its (...)
This is the rallying cry of Muslim women who want their voices heard and a speedy reform to Sri Lanka’s Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA)
A few weeks before Yasmin’s nikah ceremony, there was a flurry of news articles announcing reforms to Sri Lanka’s Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). (...)
Sri Lanka’s media minister Keheliya Rambukwella informed reporters his ministry would not launch an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment in media institutions despite a significant number of women journalists sharing their experiences on Twitter. The International Federation of (...)
This week’s Kuppi Talk takes off from an earlier piece on ragging that drew attention to the anti-democratic culture that breeds violence within the university system. Shamala Kumar linked this violence to the lack of democracy within universities, and society more broadly.
When we talk about (...)
Ongoing protest against microfinance the latest from Rajapaksas’ support base
M. Champa Irangani is in no mood to celebrate ‘Avurudu’, or New Year, the biggest annual festival that Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhalese community observes mid-April, while Tamils celebrate the Tamil New Year around the (...)
The recent use of the Vagrants Ordinance against four women for “idling” at night caused a social media backlash against police for targeting women who are on the streets during late hours.
But police do not apply the Vagrants Ordinance against women in general, a spokesman insisted, and the (...)
On International Women’s Day (IWD) 2021, in a small tent located at the Polonnaruwa Raja Sabha Mandapaya, women sat down to begin a satyagraha against the microfinance debt that has crippled rural economies and left them helpless. Current statistics say that more than 2.8 million people are (...)
A review of Meena Kandasamy’s ’The Orders Were to Rape You: Tamil Tigresses in the Tamil Eelam Struggle’.
Meena Kandasamy’s The Orders Were to Rape You: Tamil Tigresses in the Tamil Eelam Struggle contains three narratives; that of the author, the story of ‘a Tamil Tiger’s wife’, and that of a LTTE (...)
“All my experience left me no choice. I had to fight.” —Kokilapathmapriya (Priya) Nadesalingam
The story of one Tamil refugee family, abducted from their Queensland home by Border Force agents three years ago and forced into detention, is now well known. The wilful disregard of their rights and (...)
Findings from Women’s Wellbeing Survey 2019 is only the tip of the iceberg
Despite being the first country in the world to elect a female Prime Minister 60 years ago, Sri Lanka’s current track record in women’s rights and welfare is quite dreary. While over half the country’s population is female (...)
Findings from Sri Lanka’s first dedicated National Survey on Violence against Women and Girls reveal that women in Sri Lanka are more than twice more likely to have experienced physical violence by a partner than by a non-partner.
According to the Women’s Wellbeing Survey conducted by the Census (...)
While the health crisis continues to ravage the country, Sri Lanka cannot ignore the socio-economic inequalities that are widened as a result of the COVID-19 situation. Unsurprisingly, women have received the shorter end of the stick and are more vulnerable to the lasting negative impacts of (...)
“I work every day from 5 a.m. until about 10 p.m. I wake up in the morning, cook for everyone, send them off to work and school, clean, wash clothes, cook dinner, and take care of my parents. This is all just a simple load of work that I am responsible for every day. The rest of my family helps (...)
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