Monday, September 19, 2005

Not Entirely Clear On The Concept, vol. 307

Crossposted to Knickbocker News:

Problem: There is a rising number of men arrested for sexual relations with girls below the age of 16 in Sri Lanka. What should the government do to reduce this number?

Answer: The Sri Lankan Cabinet has decided to reduce the age of consent for sexual encounters from 16 to 13 years. Now having sex with a girl under 16 years old (but older than 13) is no longer a crime. See www.colombopage.com.

Sri Lanka is an island in Southern Asia, in the Indian Ocean, south of India with an area slightly larger than West Virginia. Sri Lankans are 69.1% Buddhist, 7.6% Muslim, 7.1% Hindu, and 6.2% Christian. Their legal system is a highly complex mixture of English common law, Roman-Dutch, Muslim, Sinhalese, and customary law. There is 7.8% unemployment with 22% living below the poverty line. They are $587.3 million USD in debt, or around 104.3% of their GDP.

The Minister said this proposal was made to the Cabinet by Justice Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne and was approved this week after much debate and a long review.

With the new amendment to the law, in a rape case, the matter of consent would arise only when the individual is below the age of 13. The Amendment Bill will be presented in Parliament shortly.

Isn't it nice that the young girl pictured here can now have sex and the guy is legally blameless for his actions? And yet the world's news organizations are more concerned about how the US is treating captured terrorists in Gitmo. It absolutely boggles the mind.