යහපාලනෙන් පොන්නයෝන්ටත් සමතැන.
Sri Lanka’s LGBTIs are hopeful new President will act to protect their rights
Sri Lankan LGBTI rights group Equal Ground hope the incoming government of President Maithripala Sirisena will be more open minded to the needs of sexual minorities and transgender people
19 January 2015 | By Andrew Potts
Photo by www.maithripala.com
A leading Sri Lankan LGBTI rights group has expressed hope that Sri Lanka will move forward to protect the needs of sexual minorities and transgender people now that the New Democratic Front coalition have taken power.
President Maithripala Sirisena was swept into power at the start of this year with the backing of Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim and Tamil communities and rural Sinhalese voters that had become disenchanted after 10 years of government by outgoing president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
President Sirisena has pledged to implement a 100-day reform program to reinforce the powers of Sri Lanka’s judiciary and parliament and to fight corruption and investigate allegations of war crimes in the country since 2009.
The executive director of Sri Lankan LGBTI rights group Equal Ground is hopeful the president’s reforms can also include better protection of the rights of LGBTI people in the country and hope the government will be prepared to listen to them in drafting any reform.
‘These are really early days for the new President and Prime Minister and the newly appointed Cabinet,’ Equal Ground executive director Rosanna Flamer-Caldera said.
‘However, we are confident they will definitely make moves to secure everybody's civil liberties sooner rather than later. Already, people feel less threatened and we are now able to voice our opinions quite freely without fear.’
Flamer-Caldera said that she hoped that Equal Ground’s relationships with many lawmakers in the new government that had started while they were in Opposition would continue to be fruitful.
‘We have been working closely with many of the new Ministers and Deputy Ministers these past few years and we are confident that the time is close for an overall change in the Constitution and the Legislature which will allow LGBTIQ citizens of this country to live free and fulfilling lives without fear and discrimination,’ she said.
‘The bottom line is we can work with this Government, we do not fear this Government, and we wholeheartedly support this Government. We are confident they will do the right thing!’
Equal Ground hopes the new government will decriminalize consensual sex between adults of the same sex, pass laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, introduce hate crimes laws protecting LGBTIs and develop policies and programs to protect LGBTI people from vilification.
Flamer-Caldera’s sentiments were shared by Asia Pacific focused regional LGBTI advocacy group Kaleidoscope Australia - who submitted a shadow report to the UN Human Rights Committee with Equal Ground in 2014 which lead to the previous Sri Lankan Government admitting for the first time that non-discrimination provisions in the country’s Constitution covered LGBTI people.
‘I was in Sri Lanka in 2013, at the time of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and witnessed first-hand the repressive nature of the previous government,’ Kaleidoscope Australia president Dr Paula Gerber said, ‘Prospects for reform looked very bleak then.’
‘With a new reformist government in place I am feeling more optimistic that progress can be made in respecting the human rights and dignity of LGBTIQ Sri Lankans.’
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/...president-will-act-protect-their-rights190115
Sri Lanka’s LGBTIs are hopeful new President will act to protect their rights
Sri Lankan LGBTI rights group Equal Ground hope the incoming government of President Maithripala Sirisena will be more open minded to the needs of sexual minorities and transgender people
19 January 2015 | By Andrew Potts
A leading Sri Lankan LGBTI rights group has expressed hope that Sri Lanka will move forward to protect the needs of sexual minorities and transgender people now that the New Democratic Front coalition have taken power.
President Maithripala Sirisena was swept into power at the start of this year with the backing of Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim and Tamil communities and rural Sinhalese voters that had become disenchanted after 10 years of government by outgoing president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
President Sirisena has pledged to implement a 100-day reform program to reinforce the powers of Sri Lanka’s judiciary and parliament and to fight corruption and investigate allegations of war crimes in the country since 2009.
The executive director of Sri Lankan LGBTI rights group Equal Ground is hopeful the president’s reforms can also include better protection of the rights of LGBTI people in the country and hope the government will be prepared to listen to them in drafting any reform.
‘These are really early days for the new President and Prime Minister and the newly appointed Cabinet,’ Equal Ground executive director Rosanna Flamer-Caldera said.
‘However, we are confident they will definitely make moves to secure everybody's civil liberties sooner rather than later. Already, people feel less threatened and we are now able to voice our opinions quite freely without fear.’
Flamer-Caldera said that she hoped that Equal Ground’s relationships with many lawmakers in the new government that had started while they were in Opposition would continue to be fruitful.
‘We have been working closely with many of the new Ministers and Deputy Ministers these past few years and we are confident that the time is close for an overall change in the Constitution and the Legislature which will allow LGBTIQ citizens of this country to live free and fulfilling lives without fear and discrimination,’ she said.
‘The bottom line is we can work with this Government, we do not fear this Government, and we wholeheartedly support this Government. We are confident they will do the right thing!’
Equal Ground hopes the new government will decriminalize consensual sex between adults of the same sex, pass laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, introduce hate crimes laws protecting LGBTIs and develop policies and programs to protect LGBTI people from vilification.
Flamer-Caldera’s sentiments were shared by Asia Pacific focused regional LGBTI advocacy group Kaleidoscope Australia - who submitted a shadow report to the UN Human Rights Committee with Equal Ground in 2014 which lead to the previous Sri Lankan Government admitting for the first time that non-discrimination provisions in the country’s Constitution covered LGBTI people.
‘I was in Sri Lanka in 2013, at the time of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and witnessed first-hand the repressive nature of the previous government,’ Kaleidoscope Australia president Dr Paula Gerber said, ‘Prospects for reform looked very bleak then.’
‘With a new reformist government in place I am feeling more optimistic that progress can be made in respecting the human rights and dignity of LGBTIQ Sri Lankans.’
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/...president-will-act-protect-their-rights190115
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