WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY RESOURCES: SRI LANKA

UNIFEM WOMEN, WAR AND PEACE WEB PORTAL: SRI LANKA

Civil Society and NGO Reports, Papers and Statements

South Asia: Human Rights Index 2008
Asian Centre for Human Rights, August 2008
This report indexes the human rights records of the member States of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) - the subregional inter-governmental organisation. Indexing human rights records of the governments is a controversial exercise as there are no foolproof or universally acceptable yardsticks to measure records. Given the scale of the task, this report is not exhaustive but rather aims to chronicle patterns, practices and the implications for the concerned countries. While this report is an index, it also demonstrates that all South Asian countries have serious human rights problems. A regional analysis also shows a high level of commonality in human rights patterns. Discrimination is endemic, institutionalised and in many cases legalised. Human rights violations are integral to counterinsurgency operations conducted by the military in the sub-region. Human rights are routinely violated in police detention including the routine use of torture. National security laws tend to be poorly framed, routinely abused and used as blanket cover to silence legitimate dissent rather than tackle security. These are not the assertions of one organisation but repeatedly confirmed by national and regional and international NGOs and the various UN bodies established to monitor human rights.

Countries in the report: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

To read the full report, please click HERE

Gender and Landmines: From Concept to Practice
Swiss Campaign to Ban Landmines, May 2008
Women, men, girls and boys are affected differently by the threat posed by the presence of landmines in their communities. Gender impacts the likelihood of becoming a victim of landmines, accessing medical care, reintegrating into society after being injured, and accessing mine risk education.

This publication will show that when a gender perspective is applied on mine action, all actors generally benefit. It will emphasise how little it takes to gender mainstream, and how gender is doable by small means.

For more information, please click HERE

In Pictures: Women in Sri Lanka Conflict
BBC News, May 2006
The ceasefire having been violated, these photographs provides a window into the plight of Sri Lankan women in the midst of conflict.

Gender and International Justice: Reparations for Crimes against Women in Conflict and Post-conflict Contexts
Peace Research Center, Bulletin InfoCIP No.7, November 2005
The Centro de Investigación para la Paz (The Peace Research Center, CIP-FUHEM) is a research and education institute which analyzes international issues from a multidisciplinary perspective. It deals with armed conflicts, their causes and the actors involved, prevention and rehabilitation processes, and the effects of globalization on development. This Bulletin focuses on the key aspects of justice and reparations facing women during armed the conflicts of Colombia and Sri Lanka

Forgotten Casualties of War: Girls in Armed Conflict
Save the Children, 28 April 2005
Save the Children is today calling on world leaders to better protect the large numbers of vulnerable and innocent girls whose lives are destroyed every year by conflict, with the launch a new report ‘"Forgotten Casualties of War: Girls in Armed Conflict." The report identifies a ‘hidden army’ of girls, some as young as eight, who are abducted against their will to live life in the army. The roles of the girls vary from being actual soldiers through to serving as porters, cleaners and cooks. Almost all are forced to serve as sex slaves or ‘"wives."

UNSC Resolution 1325: South Asian Women's Perspectives
Nicola Johnston, International Alert, June 2003
The South Asia consultation on Women, Peace and Security facilitated by International Alert (IA) forms part of the Gender Peace Audit Project of IA’s Gender and Peacebuilding Programme. It was the fourth consultation of its kind facilitated by IA. The preceding consultations were held in Nepal, the Caucasus and Nigeria in 2002. These consultations aim to bridge the gap between global policy and the practical realities faced by women in regional, national and post-conflict contexts. The outcomes of these consultations are disseminated to global and regional policy-makers for the development and refinement of international policies and practices relating to women, peace and security through the Global Policy Project (IA’s Gender and Peacebuilding Programme). The consultations generate and contribute to local, national and regional advocacy activities and strategies to address issues and concerns that affect women’s peace and security.

Establishing An International Framework For The Elimination of Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children: Country Report on Sri Lanka
The Protection Project, 2002
Little information exists on the trafficking of persons in Sri Lanka. However, the presence of child prostitution and illegal immigration indicates a high probability of trafficking. Sri Lanka has a reputation as a pedophile’s paradise. In 1997, it was considered the principle source of child pornography for the United States and Europe. Child care workers in Sri Lanka estimate that between 10,000 and 12,000 children are being prostituted, many of whom were orphaned during the 14-year civil war. According to a 1996 study by End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism, almost 30,000 boys are in prostitution in Sri Lanka. In addition to child prostitution, other forms of commercial sex are increasing. It is estimated that one-third of women and children in prostitution in Sri Lanka were trafficked into the country.

UN Documents

Government Statements and Reports

Books, Journals and Articles

Face to Face: Don't Vote for Violence
Breaking the Silence, Violence Against Women in Politics (VAWIP), Issue no. 1, September 2008
She is a true epitome of strength and she certainly is a woman of substance. Ms. Farial Ashraff is the first Muslim woman in Sri Lanka to become a cabinet minister and at present, she is the Minister of Housing and Common Amenities. She became the Acting Joint Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) after her husband, MHM Ashraff, a government minister, was killed in a helicopter crash in 2000. She has been a Co-Leader of the National Unity Alliance (NUA) since 2001.

Ms Shanti Uprety talked to Ms. Ashraff about her experience in politics and her take on violence against women in politics at the Public Forum held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on July 16, 2008. Given below are the excerpts of the interview with Ms Ashraff.

To read the rest of the article, please click HERE

Sri Lanka: Addressing the psychosocial problems of women in a war ravaged society
Daya Somasundaram, Presented at the People’s Forum: "Integration of women in the peace process." February 8-9, 2003

Stepping Out: Women Surviving Amidst Displacement
F. Zackariya and N. Shanmugaratnam. Columbo: The Muslim Women's Research and Action Forum, 2002
This paper is an initial attempt to trace some aspects of changing gender roles of displaced communities in selected camps and relocated villages in the Puttalam district.

Fallen Angels: The Sex Workers of South Asia
John Frederick and Thomas L. Kelly. New Delhi: Lustre Press and Roli Books, 2000; 168p.

South east Asia's booming sex industry has been described by numerous authors and journalists, but the outside world has paid scant attention to the same problem in South Asia, where hundreds of thousands of young women and men are trapped in squalid brothels in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Part of the reason could be that it is mainly an internal problem, and, as the authors of this remarkable book point out, the South Asian sex industry involves more children than perhaps anywhere else in the world.

To purchase the book, click here to contact the Nepalese Ray of Hope Foundation. The foundation helps rehabilitate sex workers and works with young villagers in Nepal to teach them about the dangers of entering the sex industry.

Sunila Abeysekera: Peace Campaigner on a War-Torn Island
Interview by Ethirajan Anbarasan, The UNESCO Courier, 1999

Women and Peace in Sri Lanka: Some Observations
Sunila Abeysekera, Women in Action 3:1999