FIRST EVER SLAWC SYMPOSIUM

to be held today

The members of the Sri Lanka Army

Women’s Corps have been rendering their services in a much closed frame of which are routinely in nature and security in substance. However, it is timely that they should step out of this frame and make a difference by engaging in making peace and work towards the reconciliation and development of the post war Sri Lanka. Thus, they are now ready to take bigger challenges in making the sustainable peace and development agenda a reality. In view of this perspective, the Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps (SLAWC) is planning the first ever symposium on the theme ‘Women : The bedrock of Peace and Sustainable

Development’ in an effort to share knowledge and lessons learnt and discuss on the roles, responsibilities and challenges. “It is a great achievement to have a symposium of this nature,” said Dr. Dayani

Panagoda an independent consultant, attorneyat-law and a leading figure in peace building and reconciliation activities addressing the media at a recently held press conference to announce the event.

“When the Sri Lanka Army Women Corps began operations in 1979, its main objective was to end the war. Therefore, it is important that the SLAWC works hand-in-hand with civil society groups and emphasise on why women need to take centre stage in peace and sustainable development. Hence the theme of the symposium – ‘Women : The bedrock of Peace and Sustainable Development’ aptly describes this need of the hour. We see that the involvement of women in decisionmaking roles remains quite low irrespective of any sphere, be it political, education or even the private sector. Several discussions were held to plan out how it would be held, but later on we came to a decision that we would cover certain topics within a day. We also need to keep in mind that a very strong SLAWC team is working behind the scenes to make it a success. Therefore we are determined to bring them to the limelight after all these years.”

The keynote address of this symposium will be delivered by former Justice of the Supreme Court Shirani Thilakawardana followed by panel discussions and technical sessions. The sessions will focus on research done including women in sustainable development approaches, initiatives done in Western countries and how they could be applied locally. The main target groups include school teachers, officials in educational institutes and spread

the word on how everybody should be responsible in taking the reconciliation and sustainable development approaches forward.

Prof. Jeeva Niriella, Head – Department of Public and International Law at the University of Colombo said that women’s representation cannot be seconded to that of men in a qualitative manner. “Therefore women’s representation should also be higher in a quantitative manner because they represent 51% of the total population. We know that women’s representation in peace building and sustainable development activities remain at a record low. The 17 sustainable development goals include equality for all, right for water, ending poverty etc. When compared to the West where women seem to be involved in various decision-making roles, it doesn’t seem to be the case here. Therefore a symposium of this nature will encourage more women to stand up and let their voices be heard. Women also need to be involved in economic development in addition to management and administration. So we have questioned whether there’s inequality in such instances.”

Although the SLAWC turns 40 years in 2019, many are not aware of the services these brave souls have rendered to protect our motherland. Sri Lanka is the only country that includes an Army Women’s Corps as a separate entity of the Army.

The SLAWC Symposium will be held on December 4, 2018 at the BMICH from 8.30am onwards