STATE- SPONSORED VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN SRI LANKA.

An analysis of cases of rape by armed forces personnel reported in the Sri Lankan press for the year 1998 for example, revealed that 37 such cases were recorded. As of 1999, eight of these cases were still under police investigation, 22 were being inquired into by Magistrate`s Courts, two cases were before the District Court and an additional two cases were pending before the High Court. During the year 1998, three of the rape cases that were heard before the Sri Lankan courts resulted in prison sentences for the armed services personnel involved. Eighteen of the cases heard before the Courts related to crimes of sexual violence committed in the operational areas of the North-East while the remaining 19 cases were reported in other areas of the country. (1)

In its Sri Lanka Monitor, the British Refugee Council notes that in the period February 1996-July 1999, more than 45 cases of rape by soldiers in the North-East were reported. (2)

In her 2001 report to the Commission on Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women highlighted a number of cases of rape and sexual abuse perpetrated by the Sri Lankan police, security forces and armed groups allied to the government. (3)

During this period, ethnic minority women in Sri Lanka were targeted by members of the SRI LANKAN POLICE and SECURITY FORCES for acts of violence. This violence overwhelmingly takes the form of RAPE, SEXUAL ASSAULT and harassment. (4)

In November 2000, the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Development Fund for Women jointly organized an Expert Group Meeting on Gender and Racial Discrimination. In their report, participants at the meeting cited Sri Lanka as an example of a conflict `motivated by ethnically based acts of aggression in which women have been targeted and become victims of ethnically-motivated, gender-specific forms of violence.` (5)

The number of female suicide bombers taking part in attacks by the LTTE has meant that Tamil women are often the targets of stringent security checks, arbitrary arrests and detention by police and armed forces personnel. (6)

The conduct of random night time checks by security forces of boarding houses and other establishments where Tamil women live created a climate of insecurity and fear and women passing through security check points became particularly vulnerable to rape and other acts of sexual violence. (7)

Tamil women arrested and detained by police and security forces were reportedly SUBJECTED TO RAPE AND OTHER FORMS OF TORTURE. The individual cases reproduced in the Annex of this report, as well as information received from other sources, indicate that Sri Lankan security forces often used rape and sexual violence against women in detention as a means of forcing them to sign confessions stating that they are members of the LTTE. (8)

The form of torture used by police and security forces in Sri Lanka against ethnic minority women in detention clearly constitutes a gender-specific form of racial discrimination. It has been estimated that a Tamil woman is raped by members of the armed forces or police every two weeks and that every two months a Tamil woman is gang-raped and murdered by the Sri Lankan security forces.(9)

The actual incidence of rape and sexual violence committed by police and security forces during this period is likely to be far higher than that which has been reported. It is relevant in this regard that women in Sri Lanka are frequently prevented through fear and shame from reporting acts of sexual violence. Fear of social ostracism and retaliation, when combined with the widespread lack of gender-sensitivity amongst police, judicial and medical personnel, acts as powerful deterrents to women reporting violence and pursuing legal action against the perpetrators.(10)

The prevailing climate of impunity for acts of sexual violence against women from ethnic minorities and the fact that women who are victims of violence frequently have no safe place to stay during investigations or trials are further elements that dissuade women from reporting crimes of violence committed against them. (11)


IMPUNITY FOR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN:

The past severe violence that they had to undergo remains a constant reminder of their helplessness in the context of the failure of the State to deal with the plight of the Sri Lankan women affected by the war. There has been an obvious inability of the legal system to deal effectively with the perpetrators of the violence.

While impunity continues for members of the forces who engage in blatantly unconstitutional actions under the PTA and Emergency Regulations, interventions by the courts have not been able to stem a change of the general pattern of impunity behind which members of the forces take refuge for their actions. Such interventions have been able to correct injustices only in very individual situations which are more the exception rather than the rule.

In particular, the Krishanthi Kumarasamy case where the rape and murder of a fifteen year old school girl and the subsequent murder of her mother, brother and neighbor who went in search of her, by eight soldiers and one policeman on duty at the Chemmani check point, marked the coming together of forces across the country, united in their condemnation of the horrendous incident.

The accused in this case were convicted in the High Court of Sri Lanka inter alia of offences under Section 357 of the Penal Code, (abduction with intent that the victim may be compelled or knowing it to be likely that she will be forced or seduced into illicit sexual intercourse), under Section 364 (rape) and Section 296 of the Penal Code (murder). Their appeals are currently pending.

The Krishanthi Kumaraswamy case saw the growth of hope that the 1990s would be a time of swift justice for those members of the forces who engaged in rights violations. The call was made for a genuine re-evaluation by both ordinary people and their leaders as to the reality of the events happening in the country. A surge of angry public opinion emphasized that abuses by members of the security forces have to be acknowledged and a consciousness created that such incidents are, indeed, hugely counterproductive.

However, at the close of 1998, the momentum caused by the Kumarasamy verdict petered out. Other cases, similarly gruesome in nature, remain to be pursued. There is evidence that the perpetrators of acts of violence against women have often escaped punishment. Victims of violence at the hands of police and security forces are often threatened and intimidated into discontinuing proceedings. Moreover, the feelings of shame often associated with rape and other forms of sexual violence make women particularly unwilling to complain and it is often for this very reason that perpetrators use this form of violence as they are aware that they are unlikely to be held accountable for their actions.

The Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), R. Sampanthan, wrote in an April 2001 letter addressed to Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga that `it cannot be denied that ever since 1994, the Krishanty Kumaraswamy case is the only instance related to a Tamil female victim where service personnel who were such offenders have been convicted.` (12)