The Government has taken various initiatives to enhance the law enforcement’s capacity to combat sexual violence against girls, women, and boys, said Justice, Prison Affairs, and Constitutional Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.
Dr. Rajapakshe told the Sunday Observer that an Amendment to the Penal Code will be presented in Parliament this week to address all forms of sexual harassment more effectively.
The digitalised learning environment imposed on children due to school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed them to cyber-related sexual violence, with female children often becoming victims, according to national data on cyber sexual exploitation.
Minister Dr. Rajapakshe’s proposed Penal (Amendment) Act comes at a time when the Internet and technology present new forms of online abuse against children, including cyber sexual abuse.
Dr. Rajapakshe said that new laws will enable the authorities to take stringent legal action against those involved in child pornography on the Internet and those promoting violence against women and children by circulating sexual content online. “Pornography systematically violates all human rights,” he added.
Under the new Penal (Amendment) Act, the definition of the “use of words or actions” amounting to sexual harassment in Section 345 of the Penal Code will be amended. Subsection (1) of Section 345, 2(a), will be repealed and replaced with provisions defining “sexual harassment” as any communication that includes transmitting, distributing, sharing, generating, propagating, or publishing any sexually explicit message, remark, image, audio, or video through electronic means or the internet.
The proposed Act also clarifies that “injuries” include psychological or mental trauma. An assault may include any act that does not amount to rape under Section 363 or grave sexual abuse under Section 365B.
