BRIDGE aims to improve the protection of human rights for LGBTQ people in Sri Lanka through the use of international human rights law to improve justice outcomes for the LGBTQ community.
The ICJ today welcomed the determination by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka regarding the constitutionality of the private member’s bill entitled Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2023 whose stated objective is to repeal “provisions that make sexual orientation a punishable offence”.
Recently, the Mauritius Supreme Court (SC) ruled that a 185-year-old law criminalising consensual same-sex sexual conduct was unconstitutional. This latest ruling adds Mauritius to the growing number of States where, in the past few years, consensual same-sex sexual relations have been decriminalised, either through the adoption of specific legislation or as a result of judicial decisions. It is anticipated, and, very much hoped, that Sri Lanka will join this global wave of change in the coming months.
Globally, the pursuit of gender equality and justice is premised on combatting sexual violence. This scourge is very often posited from the perspective of guaranteeing effective protection against it to women and girls. In this context, sexual violence against men, boys, transgender and non-binary persons has often been overlooked.
Can an alien cultural and moral imposition in violation of human rights become one’s own law and belief? Indeed, this is what British colonialism gifted Sri Lanka through the introduction of “morality laws”, such as the Vagrants Ordinance of 1841 and the criminalisation of consensual same-sex relationships through the Penal Code of 1883.
It is trite to say that blood is essential to life, and that donating blood saves lives. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that donating blood is the most precious gift to give another person. Why then should such a generous gesture be subject to discrimination and stigma?
Two recent cases reported in the Sri Lankan media involving “psychiatric evaluations” based on sexual orientation garnered interest among lesbian, gay, bisexuals, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) individuals and their allies. The facts of these cases highlight how some members of the Police and the judiciary still consider same-sex relationships an aberration requiring “psychiatric evaluation”. It is unfortunate that some law enforcement officials and members of the judiciary have recourse to such discriminatory practices in violation of internationally recognized standards.
Around 180 years ago, the British colonial rulers introduced the concept of vagrancy in Sri Lanka. Through this they criminalized behaviour relating to the subsistence of the economically marginalized: for example, begging, being physically challenged, exposing a disease, and homelessness. These were thought to be against British social mores of the period.
On 1 March 2021, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa elicited considerable public interest through a single tweet. In his tweet commemorating Zero Discrimination Day, he declared his intent to ‘secure everybody’s right to live life with dignity regardless of age, gender, sexuality, race, physical appearance and beliefs’.[1]
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) individuals in Sri Lanka have too often been subjected to discrimination, abuse, violence, and harassment in violation of their human rights. Throughout the years, research reports have continuously identified the Sri Lanka Police Department as the foremost perpetrators of human rights violations against LGBTI individuals. Developments in the […]
sexual education must pay special attention to diversity, since everyone has the right to deal with his or her own sexuality without being discriminated against on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. Sexual education is a basic tool for ending discrimination against people of diverse sexual orientations.
