Civil society kicked out of Colombo press briefing against transgender

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Civil society were ordered to leave a press briefing held in Colombo by the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) held in Colombo against alleged moves to recognise transgender.

The Centre for Equality and Justice (CEJ) said that a letter was widely circulated regarding a press conference to be held by the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) on the ACBC?s opposition to the Women?s Empowerment Bill. The letter did not specify that the meeting would be a ?closed door? event.

CEJ attempted to attend the event as interested observers.? Upon admission to the meeting room and at no other point were names or IDs checked. However, before the press conference commenced, several of those present, who identified themselves as members of the ACBC, intervened and asked CEJ representatives to leave, stating that this was a private event. During the interaction, some of the ACBC members and some members of the media were verbally aggressive in an attempt to intimidate CEJ representatives and began filming the encounter in an attempt to escalate the situation.

Having already agreed to leave, CEJ asked for the footage to be deleted as it did not pertain to the press conference and was an infringement of their rights since the representatives from CEJ did not consent to be filmed.

Further, members of the ACBC prevented CEJ representatives from speaking to clarify the situation. When questions were asked regarding the nature of the event and whether only invitees were allowed to participate, members of the ACBC grew more aggressive and resorted to using hate speech in an attempt to discredit the presence of civil society at the meeting.

As advocates for the Women?s Empowerment Bill, CEJ?s presence at this event was for observation purposes only. Any reports to the contrary will be a misrepresentation of the events that transpired. (Colombo Gazette)