The Women Parliamentarians Caucus of the Parliament of Sri Lanka has called on Speaker of the House Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to appoint a special select committee to address issues faced by women in the country.
The female Members of Parliament have made a request in writing to the Hon. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to appoint a Select Committee to look into and report to the 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.
It has been suggested that the Committee and its Chair should be appointed by the Hon. Speaker and that the composition of the proposed Committee should consist of not more than 25 Members.
The report of the Committee is required to be presented to Parliament within a period of one year from the first meeting of the committee and once tabled in Parliament it is expected to be referred to the Minister in charge of the relevant subject to submit their observations and steps taken governing the particulars within a period of eight weeks post being tabled.
The Secretary General of Parliament Mr. Dhammika Dasanayake said that this notice of motion has been included in to the addendum to the Order Book No. 03 of Parliament.
Apart from the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus chair, Hon. (Dr.) (Mrs.) Sudarshini Fernandopulle, the notice of motion has also been signed by Hon. Minister Pavithra Devi Wanniarachchi, Hon. State Minister (Dr.) Seetha Arambepola, Hon. Members of Parliament Harini Amarasuriya, Rohini Kumari Wijerathna, Thalatha Atukorale, Geetha Kumarasinghe, Kokila Gunawardena, Muditha Prashanthi, Rajika Wickramasinghe, Manjula Dissanayake and Diana Gamage. (NewsWire)