The Women Parliamentarians caucus claimed that certain parties are working to influence the investigations carried out into the alleged sexual abuse of females in the Housekeeping Department of the Parliament.

Speaking in the Parliament yesterday (8) on behalf of the Women MPs’ Caucus, Samagi Jana Balawegaya Opposition MP Rohini Kumari Wijeratna Kavirathna claimed that some of the staff members who have been harassed have been asked by many parties to give written promises that they will not reveal about the incidents and that through such actions, they are working to hamper the investigations that are being carried out by deliberately intimidating the female staff members in the said Department. “Recently, the newspapers reported that females working in the Housekeeping Department of the Parliament are being sexually harassed. MPs have no connection with those allegations but some of the officials in the Parliamentary staff are implicated. In the meantime, we have come to know that the females who have faced these incidents are reluctant to be exposed to the fact that they are being influenced by various people. Many of those who have harassed the female staff had tried to obtain written statements from the females in question that such incidents did not happen,” she revealed.

Speaking further, she said that a three-member committee headed by the Parliamentary Secretary-General, attorney Kushani Rohanadeera has been appointed to look into these incidents and that it is her responsibility to look into such coercion and to do justice to the victims. She also asked Rohanadeera to look into these incidents and take legal action regardless of the status of the people involved.

Last week, the Chairperson of the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus, Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle called for strict action against the responsible officials following allegations of harassment and abuse against female employees in the Parliament’s Housekeeping Department.

The matter has been brought to the attention of Rohanadeera and she has vowed to conduct an investigation into the matter. Rohanadeera has promised to take appropriate measures, assuring that the incident will not be taken lightly. The affected women express their readiness to share information confidentially through a proposed hotline, as some fear job losses if they speak out.