United for “Good Gestures” movement

In a rare but united for a worthy cause, here President Ranil Wickremesinghe with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and business leader-turned SLPP MP Dhammika Perera are seen at the ceremonial launch of “Good Gestures for Empowerment” a world’s first of its kind initiative to discourage harassment of women and girls by the latter’s philanthropic arm Dhammika and Priscilla Perera Foundation’s DP Education at the Nelum Pokuna. The GG movement is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Target 5.2, which advocates for the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls in public and private realms. The three gestures launched yesterday were to convey the following message “You are harassing me” and ”You are harassing me, and I need public help” aimed at those who may be subject to harassment and “I’m sorry, I respect your space” for possible offenders.  The gestures were created by Andy Jacobs, from US Hawaii who is a TV and Internet producer. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative for Sri Lanka and Country Director for the Maldives Kunie Adeniyi was also present.