Volume : 9

Issue : 106
E Mail : nandmana@sltnet.lk
www.humanrightsofficekandy.org

International Women's day 2018 was organized by the Human Rights Office Kandy Sri Lanka with the participation of the families
of the disappeared, the families of the prisoners, the support group and the staff. Although the event was to be celebrated on the
08th March, it has to be postponed to the 28th March due to the curfew imposed in Kandy District on the 08th March as some
extreme groups created clashes
between the Sinhalese & the
Muslim communities in Kandy.

With the theme “I’m your Mother,

Sister, and Daughter. I have the
Right to travel without being
sexually harassed” stickers were
posted by women in 500 buses in
Kandy. The sticker which was posted on busses
Ninety per cent of women travelling in public transport are
sexually harassed and this appears to be a deterrent for
women accepting jobs that involves long distance travel,
according to a World Bank Report on “Getting to Work:
Unlocking Women’s Potential in Sri Lanka’s Labour Force”
(Sunday Times November 26, 2017)

The initiative of women was well received by the transport

authorities and owners of buses and the general public made
lots of positive comments as women are subjected to
harassment
during travel
in all public
transportation services. The women complain to say that men take advantage of
crowdedness in public transportation to sexually abuse women and often women
suffer silently as complaints are unheard.

Hence the Human Rights Office empowered women with stickers posted in
buses, reminding the abusers that the women have a Right to travel freely
without being harassed or abused. Further the sticker reminds that the “Sexual
abuse” is a punishable offence and that the women should not suffer in silence.
"Don't be ashamed of your story it will inspire others"

"Forgetting is difficult. Remembering is worse"

"I can be changed by what happens to me,

but I refuse to be reduced by it" "Nevertheless she persisted"

"You're not a victim for sharing your story. You are "I am not what happened to me.
a survivor setting the world on fire with your truth” I am what I choose to become"

“You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety,

my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until now"