Sri Lanka has told the UN Human Rights Council that it is taking concrete steps to combat violence against women, reports ColomboPage.

In a statement at a clustered interactive dialogue with he UN's Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, Sri Lanka's representative said:

"We believe that in national policy formulation to combat violence against women, it is necessary to focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women to enable them to fully enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms."

A senior police official from Jaffna has said that anyone gathering in groups unnecessarily will be arrested, reported the Uthayan.

Vimalasena said that gatherings around public places, such as temples, will not be allowed.

The official asked the public to report any such incidents to the police, adding that those gathered are behind murders, thefts and robberies.

The world renowned songwriter and hip hop artist, M.I.A (Mathangi Arulpragasam) and the human rights advocate, Bianca Jagger, called for justice for Tamils who had been raped by the Sri Lankan military.

A survey by the UNHRC in parts of Sri Lanka’s Northeast found nearly 40% of women feel they are not safe at home, with militarisation being a key reason, press reports quoted the UN Population Fund’s representative in Sri Lanka, Alain Sibenale, as saying.

Sibenale was speaking Wednesday at an event at the British High Commission in Colombo to mark the ‘End Sexual Violence in Conflict’ conference being held in London.

See reports by Daily Mirror and Colombo Telegraph.

 

“This [sexual violence] is an issue that has affected every part of Sri Lanka but at the same time, we need to recognize that the North and East have specific degree variations of vulnerability that do differ from the rest of the country,” he said.

 

Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, hailed Buddhism as the "foundation for the culture and way of life of our people" and central to the building of the country, in a message marking the Buddhist festival of Poson today, the Daily Mirror reported.

"Even today we are on the correct path as we earnestly believe that there is no other path to build the country other than the teachings of the Buddha brought to us by Arahath Mahinda," President Rajapaksa said.

Sandra Beidas, a senior official previously with the UN mission in South Sudan, has been appointed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to coordinate the investigative team examining mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, reports Al Jazeera.

According to the news agency, the team will comprise 12 members, including two experts in forensics as well as a legal analyst and a gender specialist. The investigation is intended to commence later this month and last for ten months.

Condemning the on-going militarisation of the North, the Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, C.V. Wigneswaran, said in an interview with The Hindu today, the province was "overwhelmed by an occupying military force" and said there was "an urgent need" to prevent military's on-going encroachment on civilian life.