<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-container">
<div class="gmail-col-md-12">
<h1 class="gmail-left">Political justice is not enough to rebuild Sri Lanka</h1>
<div class="gmail-meta gmail-left">
by
<a href="http://news.trust.org/profile/?id=003D000001wGXKmIAO">Timothy Ryan</a>
| Solidarity Center
</div>
<div class="gmail-meta gmail-small gmail-left">Wednesday, 28 September 2016 08:21 GMT</div>
<div class="gmail-lead-image" style="background-image:url("http://d2sh4fq2xsdeg9.cloudfront.net/contentAsset/image/a5aea86e-c585-43a2-af7f-16484f3905d8/image/byInode/1/filter/Resize,Jpeg/jpeg_q/70/resize_w/1230")">
<div class="gmail-information gmail-20160928082201-482g5 gmail-left">
<img src="cid:ii_157713e2e6da10ca" alt="Inline image 1" height="74" width="74">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-col-md-3">
<div class="gmail-about-block">
<h2><a href="http://news.trust.org/humanitarian/">About our Humanitarian coverage</a></h2>
<span>
From major disaster, conflicts and under-reported stories, we shine a light on the world’s humanitarian hotspots
</span>
</div>
<div class="gmail-share-block">
<h2><em>Share:</em></h2>
</div>
<div class="gmail-subscribe">
<h2><em>Newsletter</em> sign up:</h2>
<form id="gmail-newsletter" method="get" action="http://surveys.trust.org/s3/Newsletter-Subscription?email=">
<input id="email" name="email" type="text">
</form>
</div>
<div class="gmail-block-listing">
<h2>Most Popular</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://news.trust.org/item/20160926215346-x6o7c/">Mother sues U.S. hospital for discriminating against dead transgender son</a></li><li><a href="http://news.trust.org/item/20160927182008-0bt45/">Americas becomes first region to eliminate measles: health agency</a></li><li><a href="http://news.trust.org/item/20160927120410-sr9t5/">Protecting mangroves, Kenya's fishermen net cash - and more fish</a></li><li><a href="http://news.trust.org/item/20160927171504-7tpb5/">Female Boko Haram victims in Nigerian camps forced to sell sex as food runs out</a></li><li><a href="http://news.trust.org/item/20160927153756-h7rlu/">Dutch retailers paying "starvation wages" to Indian textile workers - report</a></li></ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail-body-text gmail-left">
<p><strong>* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.</strong></p>
<span class="gmail-lead-text">For Sri Lanka, gender equity will be fundamental to a stable, peaceful and equitable future</span>
<p>The civil war that raged for 26 years in Sri Lanka was always
about more than political grievances. The politics were rooted in
economic and social disenfranchisement of the Tamil minority by the
Sinhala majority. A government policy adopted in the mid-1950s that
declared Sinhala to be the country’s only official language may have
been the spark that started the fire, but the impact over decades was a
systemic marginalization in all sectors of politics and the economy that
fueled Tamil grievances and a quest for a separate state.</p>
<p>With the end of the war in 2009, many commentators pointed out that
the war was over but the conflict was not. While this has become a
cliché, the reality is no less true, seven years on.
Rebuilding Sri Lanka's economy, especially in the war-torn Northern and
Eastern provinces, is paramount for the country not only to thrive
politically but also economically. The language policy, long since
rescinded, institutionalized both economic and political discrimination.</p>
<p>A healthy, more equitable economy is key to any society emerging from
a war as bitter as Sri Lanka experienced, and is crucial to mitigating
future conflict. A critical element to address discord is equal
treatment under the law. Yet there is rising concern that, across a
broad range of issues, this equality has yet to be realized. Women in
any society are intrinsic to a vibrant economy and important
stakeholders in post-conflict transitions. For Sri Lanka, gender equity
will be fundamental to a stable, peaceful and equitable future.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SRI-LANKA.Workers-in-Postwar-Jaffna.8.16.pdf">study </a>by
the Solidarity Center titled, "Workers in Post-Civil War Jaffna: A
Snapshot of Working Conditions, Opportunities and Inequalities in
Northern Sri Lanka," points out the challenge not only to providing
opportunities to grow the economy but also to promoting the basic labor
rights that are essential to a well-functioning industrial relations
atmosphere and a sense of equitable development.</p>
<p>For instance, here are some telling findings: In Jaffna, 81 percent
of workers across a range of professions have no written contract
spelling out their working conditions, much less have an opportunity to
engage in collective bargaining. Even more workers, 85 percent, were not
aware there was a legally stipulated minimum wage, which in Jaffna is
now 10,000 Sri Lanka rupees, or only about $69 a month.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, widespread wage discrimination is disadvantaging
women in the region. Survey results demonstrate that the region’s
female workforce experiences gender-specific consequences born of poor
working conditions, weak enforcement of legal provisions and
non-conformity with international labor standards. Nisha Thellipalai, a
volunteer at the Center for Human Rights and Development, a Sri Lankan
nongovernmental organization, recounted one survey interviewee’s report
that she “responded to a job advertisement which exclusively solicited
female respondents. The tasks in the advertisement were not for
traditionally gendered work, but the employer replied matter-of-factly
that they would only hire women because women don’t have to be paid as
much as men.”</p>
<p>The survey also found that 81 percent of workers work more than five
days a week, in violation of national law, and the majority of people
working extra hours were women.</p>
<p>Sri Lanka is one of the rare developing countries in the region that
has had in place, by law, a pension and social safety net for workers.
These two funds are called the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and the
Employee Trust Fund (ETF), and employers are statutorily obligated to
contribute to both. The study in Jaffna revealed that for more than
two-thirds of workers, their employers are simply not paying into the
funds.</p>
<p>This set of conditions in Jaffna, and by extension the Northern
Province, creates an incredibly precarious situation for workers who are
hoping to earn a livelihood that can sustain them and support their
future. It also points to the distinction between enforcement and equal
treatment under the law for the north and other parts of the country.
While implementation of the labor code is problematic countrywide,
unions outside of the north and east have a tradition of challenging
employers and the government in court to ensure the law is fairly
applied and provides some measure of remedy. But despite having
island-wide unions in the public sector—for the postal service,
telecommunications and health sectors—workers in the north and east
still seem to lose. Union activists point to unequal distribution of
funding for the public sector, effectively disadvantaging government
services for the population.</p>
<p>The remedies are not difficult to identify, as outlined by the report.</p>
<p>First, trade unions, NGOs and international development partners can
play a pivotal role in sensitizing the government and business community
to their obligations under national and international labor standards,
while also raising awareness among workers about their rights. Second,
support for unions to conduct worker outreach, which had been severely
curtailed during the war, will improve the effectiveness of dialogue
among workers, employers and government.</p>
<p>Third, the Sri Lankan government should fully adopt and promulgate
the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Decent Work Agenda to
promote inclusive growth, poverty alleviation, shared prosperity and
basic minimum standards of living. The Decent Work agenda is obligatory
for ILO member countries such as Sri Lanka. And that is no accident: The
ILO was founded, following World War I, “to pursue a vision based on
the premise that universal, lasting peace can be established only if it
is based on social justice." The agenda is all the more important
because its elements are fundamental to lasting peace and stability in
the country.</p>
<p>Finally, given the wage and hour disparities between male and female
workers, trade unions, NGOs, and international partners should pay
particular attention to raising rights awareness among women workers and
support targeted outreach to women who can become leaders in gender
equality and non-discrimination against all workers.</p>
<p>“After the survey I learned a lot that I did not know before,” said
Sritharan Easwari, president of the Northern Women Society, who helped
conduct the survey. “We all hear about injustice and exploitation at the
workplace, but it is deeper than that. Myself and other women believe
that these women’s issues in the workplace can be tackled effectively by
forming a union. These problems can be solved if we work together.”</p>
<p><em> Tim Ryan is <a href="http://www.solidaritycenter.org/">Solidarity Center</a> Asia director.</em></p>
</div><a href="http://news.trust.org/item/20160928082201-482g5/">http://news.trust.org/item/20160928082201-482g5/</a><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
</div>