RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Equal Opportunities Bill Derailed By Differences

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Oct 19 1999 (IPS) - Bold new laws that were set to wipe out discrimination on gender, political or ethnic grounds in Sri Lanka have run into a storm of protests over provisions relating to school admissions.

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, plantations minister, who was due to present the Equal Opportunities Bill on behalf of Constitutional Affairs Minister Prof Gamini Lakshman Peiris, on Oct. 7 in Parliament backed off, but did not say why.

Coinciding with the Bill’s parliamentary debut, at least 2,000 students of a predominantly Buddhist school in Colombo had demonstrated in the capital against provisions relating to school admissions in the Bill.

Last week, Cabinet spokesman Mangala Samaraweera told reporters that the Bill would be re-examined by a Cabinet sub- committee as some government ministers also had different views on some aspects of the proposed law.

While he declined to elaborate, he denied suggestions that the Bill had been put on hold because of students’ protests.

The Chandrika Kumaratunga government is seeking to end discrimination in admissions to non-religious schools, by providing for enrollment of minority students in a school system which is mostly denominational in Sri Lanka.

The Bill is mostly targeted at the private sector, since the government is bound by Article 12 of Sri Lanka’s Constitution to guarantee equality as a fundamental right.

It provides equal rights of enrollment to all educational institutes but exempts schools run by religious groups, thereby maintaining the status quo.

This has rekindled fears amongst both majority Sinhalese and minority communities — Hindu, Muslim and Christian — that old practices in school admissions were now being legalised.

“What was just a practice and flexible is now being formalised into a law. This is unfair because Muslim schools don’t get the same facilities that the government provides to Buddhist schools. Our children should be permitted to enter any school,” said a Muslim lawyer, who opposes the proposed changes.

Schools run by the government are denominational and cater exclusively to different religions and ethnic groups.

Some of the elitist boys schools in Colombo like Royal or Ananda — both owned by the government — are mainly for Buddhist Sinhalese while Visaka, the top girls school in the country, enrolls only Buddhist Sinhalese.

The convent schools run by the church admit a few students of other faiths but the sprinkling of Muslim schools only register Muslims.

“There should be no discrimination. Everyone should have a right to enter whatever institution of his or her choice,” the lawyer who did not want to be identified said.

A Buddhist monk said this bill would shut the doors to Buddhists seeking to enroll in the well-run Catholic schools.

Many Buddhist Sinhalese fear the government may bow to demands from minorities to set aside quotas for them in schools now exclusively for their children, though the government has sought to dispell these fears.

The government says the Bill will promote ethnic harmony in a country that has been wracked by ethnic violence between Tamil separatists and the government for the past two decades. The government is dominated by the Sinhalese, who account for 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s 18 million people.

The bill bans discrimination on grounds of ethnicity, gender, religious or political convictions, caste, age and disability, and also provides for recourse to justice in case of discrimination.

Women’s groups and human rights activists have welcomed the proposed legislation calling it a landmark bill that would eliminate discrimination against women.

“It’s a good piece of legislation which will encourage the culture of equal opportunities … The workplace will reflect ethnic diversity,” said a senior researcher at a private think- tank institute that helped the government draft the bill.

The researcher, who wished to be anonymous, said a recent study showed women accounted for only 11 percent of public sector employees. And nearly 80 percent were employed in low skilled jobs like stenographers and secretaries with few opportunities of

rising up the ladder.

“This has to change. This legislation will bring in equality as far as gender in concerned,” the researcher said.

Only a few countries in the world — Australia, the United States, Canada and Northern Ireland — have enacted such a progressive law.

Some Sri Lankan lawyers think the country is not ready for the bill. “It is for advanced societies and its provisions on employment can create chaos,” one lawyer observed.

He said with employees and any member of the public being able to file complaints of alleged violations of the new laws, business can be brought to a standstill and strikes would be the order of the day as workers demand their rights.

In Sri Lanka, discrimination particularly sexual harassment at the workplace is a serious problem. Many of the cases are in the free trade zones, where the labour force is mainly female.

The Bill says that within one year of its enactment, private companies employing more than 100 people would be required to formulate programmes to enforce equal opportunities in their institutions and present these proposals to a new Equal Opportunities Commission to be set up under the Act.

Both public and private sectors employers would have to develop policy statements, review human resource policies and practices, establish a strategic plan that incorporates employer’s objectives, strategies and targets, and monitor and evaluate the success of the implementation of the strategies.

The Commission would investigate and settle complaints through conciliation and mediation. It would monitor annual diversity reports, and develop and implement affirmative action programmes when organisation concerned flout equal opportunity principles.

An Equal Opportunity Tribunal would be established to settle disputes referred by the Commission, and conferred with powers to summon witnesses, hear evidence or issue interim orders.

Employers will also be required to submit annual reports on the implementation of equal opportunities issues. Sanctions, including penalties, would be imposed if reports are not submitted when called for by the commission.

Penalties ranging from 50,000 rupees (roughly 715 dollars) to 100,000 (1,400 dollars) could be imposed on errant employers.

The Bill holds out the promise of radically changing rules at the workplace in the private sector, but the government’s decision to hold it back shows it finds it too hot to handle.