Tougher penalties for sexual harassment in public transport/spaces

Women and Child Affairs Minister Saroja Paulraj recently launched a national campaign aimed at tackling sexual harassment in public transport and public spaces. Sexual harassment in some form or another is something almost every woman and girl has experienced in their lifetime, Paulraj said at the launch of the campaign.

It was jointly launched in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and the Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation, and technically supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Sri Lanka with funding from the Government of Japan. The aim is to create safer, gender-sensitive public spaces and ensure dignity and safety for all commuters, especially, women and girls.

This is not the first time we have had such programs launched. Many such projects have been undertaken in the past, with lofty targets set but the problems persist.

Public transport is a place where many women suffer the most from sexual harassment, unwarranted touching, having filth whispered in the ears, suggestive comments and vulgar gestures; these are some of the forms of sexual harassment girls and women face. Years have gone by, but the situation still remains the same despite women making many strides in all fields including education and in workplaces.

Recently Minister of Transport Minister Bimal Ratnayake said that steps to install CCTV cameras inside private buses will be taken to address this issue.

“We are embedding safety into the heart of transport reforms, from operations and oversight to technology and training, so that safety is not a luxury, but a right. Sexual harassment has no place in our buses, trains, or stations. Safety is our duty, and we must act now to make it a reality,” he said.

How practical this could be is questionable given that buses are jam-packed and it’s impossible for any camera to spot what exactly is happening inside a bus or train. Namely, this would be of little use to stop the sick behaviour of some men.

A UNFPA study few years ago found that around 90% of women and girls in Sri Lanka who use public transport have been subjected to some form of sexual harassment. It reports that sexual harassment in public transport is so normalised that only 4-5% of victims report the harassment they faced to the police.

It’s likely that 100% of women and girls who use public transport have been subjected to sexual advances and harassment unless they were riding in a near-empty bus or train. Then too they could still come under unwelcome advances.

The extent of sexual harassment women in Sri Lanka face on public transport is only spoken in hush-hush voices. It’s a silent epidemic that many don’t want to accept and women themselves choose to keep silent than face embarrassment of speaking on such issues.

In Sri Lanka people mostly do the right thing for fear of the law. They avoid breaking traffic laws only when they see a policeman or a camera. There are people who boast they have circumvented the law and avoided paying taxes or got away scot free after breaking some law or the other. Many like to wear illegal acts as a badge of honour, a great achievement.

Hence the only way those who harass girls and women in public transport or any other places may refrain from such behaviour in this manner is if there were strict laws to deal with it. This should include short-term jail time and hefty fines as well as naming and shaming so that other perpetrators would get the message.

The unfortunate sad reality of the country is however good the intentions are in launching such programs, unless the issue is dealt with the seriousness it deserves, we will not see an end to this menace.