{"id":148379,"date":"2025-03-08T14:43:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T21:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=148379"},"modified":"2025-03-08T14:43:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T21:43:34","slug":"bill-to-ban-corporal-punishment-of-children-to-be-introduced-soon-justice-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/03\/08\/bill-to-ban-corporal-punishment-of-children-to-be-introduced-soon-justice-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill to ban corporal punishment of children to be introduced soon \u2013 Justice Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em>Courtesy Adaderana<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara has announced that steps will be taken to swiftly pass a bill prohibiting the corporal punishment of children.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Minister made this statement in Parliament today (March 8) during the Committee Stage Debate on expenditure head of the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, in response to&nbsp; a statement made by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the debate, Premadasa emphasized the importance of incorporating children\u2019s and women\u2019s rights into the country\u2019s fundamental rights chapter.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He proposed amending the Constitution to guarantee these rights and strengthening Sri Lanka\u2019s commitments to international agreements on women\u2019s and children\u2019s rights.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I also specifically propose the announcement and implementation of two special presidential task forces\u2014one for children and the younger generation, and another for women in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minister Nanayakkara, in his response, acknowledged the necessity of a robust legal framework to protect women and children.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He agreed with the Opposition Leader\u2019s call for constitutional amendments but pointed out that legal measures alone may not be sufficient to change societal attitudes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Can attitudes be changed solely through law? These attitudes are shaped during childhood,\u201d Minister Nanayakkara said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A child\u2019s character develops based on what they see in their environment. If we want to create a society where women are safe and respected, it starts at home. While we can enact laws and amend the Constitution, I believe that if every mother and father teaches their children to respect women from a young age, we will gradually build a society where men stand up for the protection of women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Minister also reiterated his commitment to addressing corporal punishment in children\u2019s upbringing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We specifically need to ban corporal punishment that harms children,\u201d he stated.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A bill has already been drafted, and as the Minister of Justice, I will take the necessary steps to present it to Parliament as soon as possible,\u201d Minister added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy Adaderana Minister of Justice and National Integration Harshana Nanayakkara has announced that steps will be taken to swiftly pass a bill prohibiting the corporal punishment of children.&nbsp; The Minister made this statement in Parliament today (March 8) during the Committee Stage Debate on expenditure head of the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law-order","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}