Muslim Personal Law Reform Action Group (MPLRAG) is a group of Muslim women who are primarily rights advocates, lawyers, researchers and writers. We are a collective driven by our personal experiences, our accountability to those whose stories we represent, and our commitment to a positive Muslim family law framework in Sri Lanka. Since inception MPLRAG has a strict no-funding policy and the work of the MPLRAG team is on a fully voluntary basis.
Our primary motivation is reform of discriminatory laws and practices that applies to each of us as Muslim women and to our sisters in Sri Lanka. We believe that as Sri Lankan Muslim women we have a right and a duty to speak out and advocate for reform of the MMDA because it applies to our own lives and community.
It is our conviction that all Muslims in Sri Lanka, women and men, should have equal access to legal rights, justice and redress on matters of marriage and family. As citizens of Sri Lanka, Muslims too must have the same protection of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
It must be ensured that family laws such as the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) too protect these rights of Muslim men, women and children rather than perpetrate injustice, unfair treatment and further place members of the Muslim community, especially Muslim women, in vulnerable and difficult situations.
MPLRAG therefore advocates that:
- The MMDA must be reformed to guarantee justice and fairness as promoted by the spirit of Islam, to address ongoing grievances of Muslims and in relation to contemporary and diverse contexts of Sri Lankan Muslims;
- The reforms process must ensure that the MMDA provisions, procedures and implementation do not violate fundamental rights and gender equality, and that the Quazi court system standards and quality of operation is improved and ethical and sensitive procedures are observed;
- Fundamental rights of Sri Lankan Muslims MUST be protected by the Constitution and all the state laws that relate to citizens (such as the Penal Code);
- Any future constitutional reforms process MUST ensure that Article 16(1) is repealed so as to guarantee that the Constitution and related state laws cannot deny any rights and protections to Sri Lankan Muslims or any other community on the basis of religious affiliation, ethnicity and gender.
This site is dedicated to information, articles, news and resources in English, Tamil and Sinhala (as available) relating to above mentioned issues and concerns.