Sexual harassment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sri Lankan Missions overseas
In the case of the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry and its Missions abroad, the culture of sexual harassment has a different outlook.
( August 3, 2018, Colombo – London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Like many other places around the globe, sexual harassment against women, mainly at working place, has become a widespread phenomenon in Sri Lanka, today. The authorities have not yet been able to present a workable solution to this problem. Lack of trust in the legal system in the country, social stigma and negative publicity given to such incidents in the social and mainstream media often discourage victims resorting to legal action. More importantly, relative or absolute power of the perpetrators in the realm of political arena has also a reason for the victims to think twice before reporting such incidents to the relevant authorities. Therefore, very often the victims have been silently succumbing to their ordeal. There is also an inclination among the female employees, especially in the government sector, to accept the phenomenon of sexual harassment as a part of their working culture.
