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by Jayanthi Liyanage

On March 1, the CMC will launch a campaign to tell its ratepayers about making Colombo a "Women and children friendly city." More programs are planned for International Women's Day on March 8. What exactly was the area of responsibility of agencies enforcing law, when it came to shielding women from sexual harassment and violence?

In this context, the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC)'s move to declare the City of Colombo as a "Women and children friendly city" falls in line with the best practices of modern, urban planning for improved public health. Such measures are meant to counter the destructive effects of fragmenting family and community systems, considered by some social scientists to be a by-product of rapid urbanisation.

"An excellent idea," comments Savithri Wijesekera, Executive Director, Women-In-Need (WIN), an NGO which has served abused women and children for the past 14 years and trained the CMC doctors, nurses, mid-wives and health workers to work with women at grass roots level. "Currently, the city has very little support services for abused women and children. Last year, we had 6,000 clients and 80% of them were victims of domestic violence," she said.

Though many would rather make a scapegoat of "alcohol" as the cause of domestic violence, the highest incidence of wife battering in the last couple of years came through the husband being involved in extra-marital affairs, adds Wijesekera. The Domestic Violence Act still being in the pipe line; cases of domestic violence are treated as "grievous hurt" which might not mete out exacting justice to an offender.

The concept of a "Women-children-family friendly city", working against the evils of rape, incest, murder, eve-teasing, sexual harassment, domestic violence and employer abuse, with publicly funded social services, is gaining credibility in many parts of the developed world.

A few key members of the committee to prevent "Abuse of women and children" met recently to examine the concept. The committee, headed by its founder Sharmila Gonawala consists of Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Mahinda Balasuriya - Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health, film actor Lal Weerasinghe, a female lawyer, social service activists and media personnel.

"This endeavour can only succeed if the CMC manages to reach out to the citizens of Colombo," cautions Sunila Abeysekera, Executive Director, INFORM. "One can have ambitious plans on paper, but when it comes to improving the lives of Colombo's women and children and making the city safe for them, you cannot do it unless channels of outreach carried the services to them."

The Mayor's proposal to run the CMC's Maternity Homes as dropping-in-centres for the abused women and children of the Colombo's poorest is one outreach, she points out, saying, "60% of the votes in Colombo comes from the urban poor and the CMC has a commitment towards them. The CMC also has a great advantage in outreach in that it is the provider of services to the poor."

Since the Mayor has deemed that no legislative or local government policy changes will be required to successfully implement the project, it is a question of using urban space in a manner more amenable to women. Examples can be cited as well-lit roads which expose miscreants, and toilet facilities at every junction or bus stand for the convenience of the female commuter.

Moves in this direction have the potential to fulfil a municipality's obligation to afford legitimately differential treatment to vulnerable segments of women and children, as equality does not mean same facilities for both men and women, but equal opportunity to positively exercise their rights to life, physical and moral integrity, liberty, security and freedom of mobility and expression.

It is proposed to provide shelter for female traffic wardens with cubicles coupled with attached toilets while each municipal market will be required to create a women's space for street vendors, by a rest room offering showering and changing facilities, where they could sit and enjoy a cup of tea. The Zonta Club has undertaken to provide a women's sales centre for the vendors.

What made Colombo unsafe for women and children is that not enough awareness of sexual harassment has been raised among its citizenry, for which the greater responsibility has to be borne by the police. "Civic consciousness is the biggest safe-guard which will make the city women and children friendly," emphasises Abeysekera. "If a woman or a child is harassed on the streets, very few come forward to help.

The recently killed Russian lady doctor is said to have lain on the road for hours after being stabbed before anybody came forward to assist her. Civilians must play a protective role as it is your obligation as a citizen to prevent violence and abuse of women and children".

Community involvement is doubly necessary to have the project successfully running. "A community committee could ensure that the street bulbs are operative and replaced on time".

Creating a women and children friendly city relies much on building the right social backdrop to sustain such effort, points out Nimalka Fernando, President, IMADA (International movement against all sorts of discriminations and racism). "First, all local women's organisations must be conversant with the existing laws", she says. "Legal action is expensive. Therefore, women should have access to public Legal Aid Clinics. Thirdly, the most important, is that a woman in trouble needs both legal aid and counselling to sustain her".

Which is the reason for the CMC's proposal to have a post box number, a telephone hot line and use the Municipal Maternity Homes as legal and counselling centres, separate from the women and children's desks of the police. Sensitivity, time and space made available to a traumatised woman at a Police Station could be truly scarce. "Women are scared to tell the true tale of abuse to the Police who do not have much time to spare on soothing counselling to draw it out", explains Ms. Fernando. Premila Divakara, former Director, Children and Women's Bureau, corroborates her view.

Therefore, the victim's initial counselling will come from the CMC staff who will subsequently accompany her to the police station for necessary legal action. "We need to encourage more women lawyers to take up women's cases as currently there are very few women lawyers", says Fernando. "65% of our Law College and faculty are women but not many of them get to the legal practice. We have to create the conducive environment and enthusiasm".

Dr. Kariyawasam voices the CMC's need to find a building to begin a shelter for abused women and children who cannot go back to their homes after reporting the abuse, while Wijesekera of WIN stresses on the importance of confidentiality, credibility and the holistic approach such a shelter should adopt. "Counselling is not the end of the story. You have to unearth the root cause of the abuse to find a permanent solution for the victim", she adds.

Abeysekera of INFORM emphasises that the project must co-ordinate with similar programs carried out by other government agencies, such as the Ministries of Women's Affairs and Health. "Is this linked to 'Diri Piyasa' of the Ministry of Women's Affairs?", she asks. "Different government agencies run the same program with no mutual co-ordination".

Asked whether she identifies urban violence and eroding public health as a result of urbanisation, she refutes firmly. "Urbanisation becomes an issue when our cities do not have the facilities, such as toilets, water, electricity or public transport, to help citizens to cope with urbanisation".

The psychological ill-effects arising from the crowded environment can be set off with 'green spaces' as in developed countries, but the CMC children's park space is so blocked with play equipment that the children are deprived of natural play space and exposure to nature she points out.

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