In the case of the
Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry and its Missions abroad, the culture of
sexual harassment has a different outlook.
by Our Diplomatic Editor-
( 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.
Defining sexual harassment
There seems to be no commonly accepted definition on sexual harassment. At the International level, at the 11th Session of the Committee
on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, General
Recommendation 19 on violence against women has been introduced. According to the article 18 of the recommendations, “sexual
harassment includes such unwelcome sexually determined behaviour as
physical contact and advances, sexually coloured remarks, showing
pornography and sexual demands, whether by words or actions. Such
conduct can be humiliating and may constitute a health and safety
problem; it is discriminatory when the woman has reasonable ground to
believe that her objection would disadvantage her in connection with her
employment, including recruitment or promotion, or when it creates a
hostile working environment.” This article discusses issues on the
premise of the above definition.
Culture of sexual harassment
In the case of the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry and its Missions
abroad, the culture of sexual harassment has a different outlook. This
is because type of work, as well as incentives and other benefits
available for the officers at the Foreign Ministry and Sri Lankan
Missions abroad, have become decisive factors, which create an
environment conducive for sex predators to engage in sexual harassment
and the victims to either tolerate or oppose them.
Ultimate aim of anyone steps into the Foreign Ministry is to get a
good posting to a foreign Mission as it would solve many issues
including education and employment problems of children and spouses as
well as financial difficulties. It also provides an opportunity to
satiate the personal desire of living abroad comfortably. At this point,
sex predators know that for the above gains most female officers and
employees have a tendency to tolerate sexual harassments.
Specially, under the highly politicized administrative system
prevailing in the country, appointments to Sri Lanka Missions overseas
has become a political project. In this project, the most valuable
currency has been the loyalty towards the political masters and their
cronies. For female officers and employees, helping to fulfil the sexual
demands of the important actors is a sure path way towards securing a
posting. As such, beginning from the ministerial figures, secretaries,
and senior and junior Foreign Service officers, as well as officials in
the Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s office, have been
expecting sexual favours for granting postings to female officers and
employees attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
How sex predators are deliberately creating an environment at the ministry and Missions to trap female officers and employees.
Sex traps in Ministry
The other side of the story is how sex predators are deliberately
creating an environment at the ministry and Missions to trap female
officers and employees. In the Ministry, making the life of a female
employee comfortable is the key to take her to bed. Grating certain
favours such as short term foreign trips, scholarships, official
vehicles to commute between home and office, best divisions in the
ministry to work and supporting them to get a good posting are effective
methods. The other way is the making life at the ministry miserable for
female employees and officers. This tactic is employed s when sexual
demands are refused. Such female officers often get unnecessary heavy
load of work, verbal and physical harassments, humiliation in front of
others, denial of leave, denial of vehicle facilities etc. When the
pressure mounts, most of the female officers and employees give up. Of
course, getting closer to a female officer or employee, display of love
and care is another favourite trick employed by sex predators. Most of
the female employees and officers, mainly unmarred ones, fall into this
trap easily. There are many of such stories and even after two decades
they are still unmarried and mistresses of some senior officers and
politicians. On one occasion a female officer of the commerce department
assaulted a Foreign Service Officer inside the ministry for not
fulfilling the promise of marrying her after sleeping with her for many
years. Unfortunately, no disciplinary action was taken against the
perpetrator. Sex traps at Missions
A Mission is a favourite and safe place for sex predators as the
female officers and employees are highly vulnerable there. Undoubtedly,
smoothness of their official life depends at the mercy of the Heads of
Mission or senior Diplomatic officers. These sex predators have ample
opportunities to force the female officers and employees for a sexual
relationship when they confront with issues of maintaining daily life in
an alien country. These opportunities become available when asking them
to work after office hours and during visits to various parts of the
country of accreditation and participate in late night events especially
during VIP visits from Sri Lanka.
They often make the life of female officers and employees miserable
when their first arrival to the new Missions by depriving vehicle
facilities, not allowing other staff to assist them, creating issues
when finding houses, scolding for late arrival to the office and
blocking access to some facilities through the loyal servants of sex
predators. When the female officers are experiencing these miseries, at
the end sex predators gradually approach them to offer some sort of
comfort. At this point, many get entrapped. When the Head of Mission is
exerting pressure on the female officers some senior officers offer
solace and get friendly with her.
Another kind of approach is wining her heart through voluntarily
sharing the family issues, issues with the predator’s wife and also
admiring her beauty. Some even directly express their desires towards
her. One senior Ambassador in Italy had been crying over the phone in
the night, begging love of a particular female officer. Some have been
employed very harsh methods such as openly inviting to her using vulgar
language, touching parts of her body while at work and even threatening
to rape. On certain occasions, sex predators have been taking the female
officers home while the predator’s family members were out and have
allegedly raped them.
Another
kind of approach is wining her heart through voluntarily sharing the
family issues, issues with the predator’s wife and also admiring her
beauty. Some even directly express their desires towards her. One senior
Ambassador in Italy had been crying over the phone in the night,
begging love of a particular female officer.
Other side of the story
Of course, the other side of the story is also very ugly. There are
some female officers and employees who have been making use of the
weaknesses of sex predators for their personal gains. They sleep with
high ranking officials of the Ministry to secure some benefits including
good postings, comfort while abroad, exercise undue power at the
ministry and Missions, secure foreign trips, take revenge on fellow
officers and prevent their rivals getting some benefits. For example,
one female officer presently working at the ministry is virtually
controlling every affair using the powers of her lover. There are
typists and female clerical officers who have often been trapping the
sex thirsty male officers to secure a good posting and continue to work
in the Mission many years although the usual period of contract is three
years. It is also revealed that eighty percent of the female clerical
officers and typists have been able to use their bosses to secure long
term visa and residence permits in the countries such as the USA, the
UK, Australia, and Canada and EU states after they complete their period
of contract. Their bosses can never say NO to them once they are fallen
into the sex trap of these female employees. There is also infamous
lady officer, who was able to ascend the career ladder rapidly after
sleeping with three foreign ministers and senior officers since joining
the Ministry. She enjoyed her benefits disregard of who is in-charge of
the ministry and rule the country. Yet, she has entered the Foreign
Service without sitting for any entrance examination. One female officer
told the writer that as some have been offering sexual services to the
politicians and officers in the ministry, they expect the same from
others as well. As a result, they find it difficult to work and get fare
treatments at the ministry and Missions.
Some famous cases of sexual harassment
The most famous case involving a Foreign Service officer trying to
have sex with a female employee in a motor car was the famous mobile sex
incident that echoed even in the parliament in 1980s. Tabling a
petition of the victim, former Minister Anura Bandaranaike shouted
“mobile sex mobile sex.” Yet, the then Foreign Minister did not take any
sensible action against the culprit. On another occasion, for not
agreeing to have sex with him, a senior Ambassador filed a false case in
the CID against a female officer.
This particular female officer
revealed that on a number of occasions the culprit force her to have sex
with him. Another famous incident was involving a political Ambassador
of the previous regime. He openly invited a female typist to bed with
him. She refused this indecent proposal and sent a written petition to
the foreign Ministry against this culprit. However, no action was taken
and the female typist was simply transferred to another Mission as the
culprit was a son of a minister. Surprisingly, the same culprit has been
appointed for a European Mission recently as an Ambassador under
Yahapalana government. Two female clerical officers stated that during
the SAARC summit in 2008 one Muslim senior officer of the ministry
pressed her against the wall at a Star Hotel in Colombo and forcibly
squeezed her breasts. She later took medicine to ease the pain. But she
did not have guts to make a complaint. The other lady officer stated
that one mid-level Foreign Service officer forced her on the floor while
she was collecting files in an office room at a five-star hotel which
was used as an operation room during the SAARC summit. In another
incident a senior Foreign Service officer has complained against a
female officer to the then Foreign Minister that a particular female
officer was anti-government. It was revealed he made this false
allegation because she did not come to a hotel with him. There are two
famous senior Foreign Service officers in the ministry who have always
been making vulgar remarks and verbal harassments towards female
officers even at corridors of the ministry. One of them has a nickname-
crocodile. A senior female officer stated that this crocodile slept with
her on a number of times promising that he would marry her after
divorcing his wife. This man has been reciting the same story to a
number of other female officers as well. The other person, now an
Ambassador in a Middle Eastern country, has been accused of sexually
harassing two female officers appointed to his Mission. He is also
famous in that country for forcibly having sex with runaway housemaids
seeking shelter and the Mission. There are many cases of abusing of
runaway maids by Foreign Service officers and others working in the Sri
Lankan Missions in the Middle East. Unfortunately, none of these
complaints has been properly investigated. Even some of these maids have
been subjected to abortions as a result of the sexual intercourse with
the embassy officials. When a particular officer was going to take up a
position at the SAARC Secretariat, he was instrumental in transferring a
female employee whom he wished to have an affair to his new office.
Upon arrival, within a few days he had forcibly have sex with this lady.
Ministry
of Foreign Affairs in Colombo — Place of shame or a symbol of the
country’s dignity and reputation with diplomatic norms and ethics Stories of old guards
There are very famous sex stories in the Foreign Ministry involving
the old generation Foreign Service officers. One occasion one of the all
guards, a Tamil had an affair with the female labour working at the
Ministry. He has even brought a house for her when she threatened to
reveal the ordeal she underwent. This particular person had to kneel
down before a Japanese woman working at the Mission when she screamed as
this Ambassador was trying to touch her body without her consent.
Another female employee working as a translator at the Sri Lankan
Mission in Japan also resigned immediately when the big boss tried to
sex forcibly with her on the couch of the office. These are only the tip
of the iceberg. A British lady working at the Sri Lankan High
Commission in London resigned over sexually remarks by the then High
Commissioner.
A female
employee working as a translator at the Sri Lankan Mission in Japan also
resigned immediately when the big boss tried to sex forcibly with her
on the couch of the office
Posting with lovers
It has also become a practice among the Foreign Service officials to
take their favourite lady officers and employees with them when they are
going on postings. This has created a lot of troubles in the Missions.
This is because the lady officers in question have mostly been trying to
use the power of their lovers at the working place. This has also
resulted in creating administrative and other issues at certain
Missions. A famous and senior officer in retirement but still in active
service has taken his mistress to a number of Missions. During each tour
of duty, this particular sex predator sent his mistress to Sri Lanka
before his departure to Sri Lanka. At present over 10 cases of female
employees serving in the Mission longer period with the support of their
lovers without coming back to Sri Lanka despite their service agreement
is for three years. These incidents are reported from Canada, USA,
Belgium, South Africa, Australia, France and number of other countries.
As a result, the officers waiting in Colombo for posting have not been
able to leave the country until these “sex workers” returned.
Big posts for sex favours
Consequent to the sexual favours received; there had been a number of
attempts to appoint some female Foreign Service officers to Heads of
Mission posts disregarding their seniority. At present, one appoint has
already been finalized and another one is in the offing. A former
Foreign Secretary has to abandon the post for protecting a sex predator
at the ministry. He was also instrumental in a very junior lady officer
to an important Mission in Europe as Ambassador. However, timely
intervention of a particular Minister prevented it. In the past, three
female officers got Ambassadorial posts in exchange of sex favours
although they were not eligible for these posts.
Failure to address the issues
Most of the female officers and the employees told us as the
political leadership in the ministry is not interested in resolving such
cases, the sexual harassment permeate. They are of the view that unless
this situation is controlled there would be disastrous consequences of
many types. As there had been a growing concern in the world about
sexual harassment at the working place, according to them, the Minister
of Foreign Affairs should take serious measures to prevent recurrence of
such incidents. Issuing a circular based on 1978 Constitution would not
help at all. They emphasized, a circular issued on 07-06-2018 is only
to cover their hypocritical behaviour. As the very people who are
issuing this particular circular are responsible for sexual violence
against women at the Foreign Ministry, for a foreseeable future no one
would be able to expect justice under the present system. However, what
is seen is increased number of unmarried women, divorce cases, family
issues and mental problems among the female officers and employees at
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs owing to this situation.
