Women’s Cross Cultural Consultation – Giritale, Sri Lanka

Women’s Cross-Cultural Consultation: Giritale, Sri Lanka | 1

Women’s

Cross-Cultural

Consultation

Giritale, Sri LankaJuly 29-31, 2010

2 | Women’s Cross-Cultural Consultation: Giritale, Sri Lanka:

(C) Women and Media Collective, 2011

ISBN: 978-955-1770-08-2

Edited by

Sunila Abeysekera

Cover designed by

Kusal Gunasekera

Pages designed by

Damayanthi Muthukumarage

Published by

Women and Media Collective

56/1, Sarasavi Lane, Castle Street, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka

Tel : +94-115632045, 5635800, 5635800

Fax : +94-2690192, 2690201,

Email : [email protected]

Web : www.womenandmedia.org

Printed by

Globe Printing Works

5, Stoke Place, Borella.


Introduction 4

Context 5

Organizing the Consultation 7

The Participants 8

The Process and Methodologies 8

Day 1 – Priority issues 9

District ‘snap’ shots 14

Day 2 – Shared Priority Concerns 19

Proposed Strategic Interventions 21

Livelihoods, Safety and Security 21

Displacement and Resettlement, Detainees and Ex-combatants 21

Political Participation and Decision-making Structures 23

DAY 3 – Information-sharing 24

Advocacy Forums 24

Women’s initiatives in the current context: the philosophical

and political framework 25

Discussions on Strategic Interventions 26

Strategic Interventions that can help to improve the situation

of women 27

Strategic Interventions for each District 28

Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Amparai 28

Mannar, Jaffna, Polonnaruwa 29

Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Puttlam, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi 30

Follow up 32

Conclusions: a collective response 33

MAPS

District Map of Sri Lanka 13

District Maps:

Anuradhapura District: Horawapathana, Mannar District 14

Amparai District, Vavuniya District 15

Puttlam District 16

Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts, Polonnaruwa District: Welikanda 17

Jaffna District, Trincomalee District 18

page

Contents


his report contains some of the key areas

of concern identified by a group of over

80 women from all ethnic and religious

groups in Sri Lanka, from 9 Districts in the

northern and eastern parts of the island, who

came together in the small town of Giritale in

the North Central province in August 2010,

fifteen months after the conclusion of the

military conflict in the country in May 2009. It

was the first meeting of its kind, bringing

together diverse groups of women working for

rights and dignity in a post-war environment in

Sri Lanka and providing a space for active and

interactive dialogue and exchange of ideas and

experiences.

Organizing the Consultation was a challenge

because of many concerns regarding the safety

and security of participants as well as because

of the logistics, for example, the provision of

three way translation – in English, Tamil and

Sinhala - throughout the process.

The report attempts to record and transmit the

substantive issues that emerged through the

discussions in Giritale, while respecting the

confidentiality of some of the proceedings.

We are aware that only a selected group of

women were able to attend the Consultation.

We will devise methods of sharing the outcomes

and deliberations with women’s groups and civil

society groups that share our commitment to

women’s rights and to a just and sustainable

peace in Sri Lanka.

The team that organized and conducted the

Consultation primarily consisted of: Sunila

Abeysekera, Shamila Daulwatte, Dulcy de Silva,

Visakha Dharmadasa, Nimalka Fernando, Janaki

Gunawardene, Anberiya Haniffa, Sepali

Kottegoda, Annie Kurien, Sumika Perera,

Kumudini Samuel, Shanthi Satchithananthan,

Saroja Sivachandra, Sherine Xavier and Shreen

Zaroor. Sarala Emanuel helped develop the

programme.

Sunila Abeysekera and Sherine Xavier took on

the responsibility of facilitating the

Consultation; Visaka Dharmadasa looked after

hotel logistics; Anberia Haniffa and Dulcy de Silva

oversaw the finances; Sunila worked with the

Rapporteurs to finalise the Report and Kumudini

Samuel worked with the WMC team to ensure

overall co-ordination and facilitation.

Women and Media Collective

Association of War Affected Women

Viluthu

Women’s Development Centre, Jaffna

Introduction

T


Sri Lanka is a South Asian island nation

which gained independence from the

British in 1948. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-

religious and multi-cultural society which for

many years enjoyed the distinction of having the

best quality of life indicators for the entire South

Asian region, especially for women. Despite the

fact that Sri Lanka gave the world its first woman

Prime Minister, it remains a country in which the

status of women is still largely determined by

patriarchal norms regarding woman’s role within

the family and the home and a country in which

a range of laws and practices that discriminate

against women persist.

Since the 1970s, the island has been convulsed

by two southern insurrections in 1971 and in 1988/

1989, and a separatist war in the north and east

from the late 1970s onwards. These social and

political upheavals have led to heavy and

widespread militarization, as well as persistent

cycles of displacement and refugee outflow. The

impact of the protracted conflict has been

disproportionately experienced by members of

the Tamil community, the largest minority group

in the country. The situation has also resulted in

a steady erosion of democratic rights and

institutions in general; frameworks of

governance that emerged do not reflect the

aspirations of all Sri Lankan people and do not

effectively respond to their needs. Repressive

legislation that set out to curb terrorism has

paved the way for a cycle of impunity and lack of

accountability for human rights violations for

over two decades. The impact of this instability

has been deeply experienced by women,

especially those living in the conflict-affected

areas of the island; Tamil women have been

particularly affected. The conflict has led to an

increase in all forms of violence against women

and also a resurgence of conservative and

traditional views on women in all communities.

The protracted war between the armed forces

of the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation

Tigers of Tamil Eelam came to an end in May

2009, with thousands killed and wounded and

over 300,000 persons displaced from their homes

in the Vanni in northern Sri Lanka. In the months

that followed, the process of resettlement in the

Context

Tamil civilians fleeing through Vellamullivaikkal during the last battle between the

LTTE and the Sri Lankan forces, 2008.

photo: www.army.lk

War effected IDP women Chettikulam hospital, in Vavuniya, 2009

Photo: Sachini Perera


War effected village people in a rally to celebrate the International Women’s Day in

Kaduruwela, Polonnaruwa, 2001

Photo: Women and Media Collective

conflict affected areas proceeded slowly and

without adequate consultation with affected

groups. Feelings of anxiety and insecurity

continue to predominate in the Tamil

community, especially in the north and east, and

the government has been unable to develop

democratic processes and structures that could

move Sri Lankan society towards reconciliation

and healing.

Many women’s groups in Sri Lanka have worked

consistently to call for an end to the war in Sri

Lanka and for a peaceful and negotiated political

settlement that would meet the democratic

aspirations of all communities in Sri Lanka, with

a special focus on the rights of minority ethnic

and religious communities to live free of

discrimination, since the 1980s. Since the end

of the military offensive in May 2009, they have

called for effective and appropriate

humanitarian assistance to the hundreds of

thousands displaced by the conflict as well as

for human rights protection including

guarantees of the safety and security of civilians

in the war affected areas of the island.

Due to the security situation, areas of the Vanni

most affected by the conflict in 2009 remain

inaccessible to most civil society actors.

Reconstruction of infrastructure is proceeding

with little or no consultation with affected

communities, and the widespread presence of

the military, especially in the north, continues

to create a heavily militarized environment

within which the civilian population, especially

women and girls, feel extremely insecure and

vulnerable to violence and abuse. The absence

of a focus on reconciliation, healing and psycho-

social interventions within the resettlement and

reconstruction programmes means that any

long-term perspective of rebuilding lives and

communities is missing from these processes.

Identifying key concerns for women in those

areas and reaching out to rebuild and strengthen

alliances that can engage in advocacy for the

promotion of women’s rights and

empowerment in the process of resettlement

and reconstruction become serious challenges

in this context.

People in a peace rally to celebrate the International Women’s Day in Colombio,

2005

Photo: Women and Media Collective


In 2010, women’s groups working in Colombo

as well as in the war affected areas of the

island began a discussion about how to move

forward in the policy arena to ensure that

women’s voices and concerns would be heard

and taken into consideration in the resettlement

and reconstruction process. The need to create

a space for face to face dialogue and discussion

on the post-war situation and on potential

processes of reconciliation, healing and

transformation came about as a result of these

discussions. Some of the groups involved were

working on developing collective and strategic

interventions that would strengthen the

principles set out in UN Security Council

Resolution 1325, while others were engaged in

promoting a deeper awareness of the

Resolution.

Four women’s organizations - the Women and

Media Collective, V iluthu, Women’s

Development Centre, Jaffna and the Association

of War Affected Women – took the lead to

coordinate with FOKUS, a network of women’s

organizations in Norway, to obtain the necessary

financial support for the Consultation. A broader

team of women’s organizations and individual

women committed to the goals of the

Consultation were involved in preparing the

Consultation and organizing the event.

The primary aims of the groups organizing the

Consultation were:

z to create a safe space for dialogue among

women from different ethnic and religious

identities, and from diverse geographic

locations;

z to share information about the situation in

the conflict affected areas;

z to identify shared priorities, available

mechanisms and appropriate advocacy

strategies at the national and international

level;

z to design individual and collective strategies

to ensure women’s participation in

processes of reconstruction and

resettlement at both policy and political

levels, looking at both short term and long

term trajectories.

The Consultation was held in the midst of a host

of very complex factors including a difficult

political environment, problems of travel and

communication and anxieties relating to the

safety and security of the participants. The fact

that so many women, especially from the north

and east, participated in the Consultation itself

bears testimony to the commitment of the many

women and women’s groups who participated

to sustain and strengthen a culture of collective

action for peace as Sri Lankan women.

Organizing the Consultation

Participants of the ‘Women’s Cross-Cultural Consultation’ held in Giritale,

Polonnaruwa, July 2010

Photo: Kuhanithy Kuganeshan


Ensuring the participation of women from

all conflict affected areas, sectors and

communities was a key challenge in

organizing the Consultation. It was agreed that

the criteria for selection should include diversity

of experiences and of working in specific sectors.

It was decided to draw in women from 9 Districts

– Jaffna, K ilinochchi, Mannar, Trincomalee,

Batticaloa, Amparai, Puttlam, Polonnaruwa and

Anuradhapura. In addition, it was decided to

invite some women from the Colombo-based

organizations that had been consistently and

continuously working with women from the

conflict affected areas throughout the conflict.

Because of the need to restrict the number of

participants, it was decided to organize a

meeting with national women’s groups

following the Consultation, once the report had

been finalized.

A District Coordinator was selected from each

District to recommend names and also to

coordinate participation including travel to and

from the venue of the Consultation. There was

also a process of preparation for the Consultation

which was devised as a way of ensuring a sense

of inclusion among those women who could not

travel or participate in the Consultation. This

included formulating a presentation of key

points and concerns from the District concerned,

and the District Coordinator had the task of

ensuring that this was done.

75 women from all parts of the north and east as

well as from Colombo and the north-central and

south-western Provinces participated in the 3

day Consultation held in Giritale, in the North

Central province of Sri Lanka. They represented

all ethnic and religious communities and were

diverse in terms of age and experience.

The Participants

Participants of the ‘Women’s Cross-Cultural Consultation’ held in Giritale,

Polonnaruwa, July 2010


The Process and Methodologies

The sessions began informally on the evening

of the day on which everyone arrived at the

venue. Through a process of sociogramming, the

participants got to know one another and also

shared personal information. The first day was

spent on learning about each other’s

experiences and identifying priority issues. On

the second day, there was an information sharing

session in which participants learned about

national and international forums where their

issues could be taken. The Consultation

concluded with an extended discussion on future

initiatives and strengthening of alliances and

partnerships among the various groups that had

been present at the Consultation.

Throughout the Consultation, there was

emphasis on participatory methodologies and a

focus on working in small groups based at times

on geographic location and at other times on

issues of concern.


At the introductory session on the

morning of Day 1 of the Consultation,

Kumi Samuel traced the history of women

organizing for peace in Sri Lanka, remembering

the trajectory of the Women’s Action Committee

and Women for Peace in the 1980s to the

present. Even though the guns had been

silenced, the people of the north and east

continue to confront a range of difficult and

complex situations in their daily life. As women,

we want to come together to understand the

specific problems faced b y women from conflict

affected communities. This Consultation would,

we hope, provide an opportunity for us to devise

some collective actions that could lead to a

resolution of some of the key problems being

faced by women in the conflict affected areas of

Sri Lanka at the present moment. While we

wanted to focus on the national level when

considering questions of strategic advocacy to

improve life on the ground, we did not want to

neglect the specific problems that each of us is

facing at the local and community level. We also

wanted to share our experiences and strengthen

our alliances so that we can stand firm and united

against the various forces of discrimination and

division that challenge our efforts at collective

action for a sustainable and just peace in Sri

Lanka.

In group work that followed, participants were

asked to identify priority issues and also to

articulate their expectations of the meeting.

The importance of sustaining processes such as

this Consultation, that enabled an exchange of

ideas and experiences, was also emphasized.

Many referred to the need for ensuring that the

government of Sri Lanka used the framework in

SC Resolution 1325 to ensure the participation

of women in all peace building and conflict

transformation processes that it initiates and

undertakes.

DAY 1

Some of the women’s groups felt

very strongly that there should be a

campaign calling for the removal of

army camps from the north and

east. Others argued that there was

still a question of maintaining

security in the war affected areas

and that there should be a

campaign to ensure that the

military adhered to human rights

standards and practices. This was

not an issue on which consensus

could be reached.

Priority IssuesIn the feedback, it became clear that

demilitarizing the north and east and

guaranteeing non-discrimination and equality

were common factors emphasized by almost

everyone present. Everyone emphasized the

need for a political resolution of the conflict,

including guarantees of equal rights for the

minority communities. This was seen as the only

way of preventing a return to war in the future.


Among the priority issues that related to the

general political, social and economic

environment were:

z identifying obstacles to women’s political

participation, as well as ways of overcoming

these obstacles and ensuring the full and

equal participation of women in decision-

making processes at all levels, starting from

the home and family up to national policy

making and implementing bodies and

national political machineries;

z creating an environment in which women,

especially those whose lives had been

affected and transformed by the war, could

live safely and securely, free of violence,

drawing on existing guarantees of equality

and non-discrimination in the Constitution

of Sri Lanka as well as in national and

international law;

z advocating for the establishment of the

National Women’s Commission as the

national mechanism that could ensure the

protection of the rights guaranteed to

women through the Constitution, and

through national and international law,

especially the UN Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW);

z advocacy for transparency with regard to the

various development programmes being

undertaken by the government in the war

affected areas of the island;

z campaigning for the removal of High Security

Zones and for the restoration of civilian

administration in the north and east;

z calling for more sensitive media coverage

of cases of sexual violence against women

in the conflict affected areas of the country;

z advocating for more technical training for

women, observing that in the context of the

immediate and urgent needs emerging out

of disasters and conflicts, there has been

increasing focus on traditional forms of

employment for women;

Among the priority issues related to the specific

situation of women living in the conflict affected

areas were:

z gathering reliable information regarding the

situation of women and children in the war

affected areas and ensuring that decision-

makers and policy-makers are apprised of

the real situation on the ground;

z calling for increased access for civil society

groups to resettlement areas as well as to

IDP and detention camps, in order to ensure

their participation in creating mechanisms

for the safety and security of internally

displaced persons, and especially to ensure

the prevention of violence against women;

z ensuring that resettlement processes would

have a strong emphasis on rebuilding

livelihoods, and that women’s access to

Displaced Muslim women working as day labourers in agriculture fields,

Norochcholai, Puttalam, 2005

Photo: Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai


economic and financial resources and to

sustainable livelihoods would be a priority;

z developing strategies to support women and

children in various forms of detention,

including surrendees and those arrested in

the last phases of the war, to obtain their

release and reintegration into society;

z calling for access to detainees for family

members, lawyers and civil society actors,

to facilitate investigation, prosecution when

necessary and early release;

z developing a special focus on women ex-

combatants, especially to support them in

facing the challenges of stigma and

discrimination they encounter when

attempting reintegration into their families

and communities;

z developing a data base on those men and

women who ‘disappeared’ during the war

and thereafter, and providing support for

family members of the ‘disappeared’;

z advocating for the creation of special

programmes that would give access to both

informal and formal education to girls and

women who had been deprived of education

opportunities due to the conflict including

due to displacement, closure of schools due

to security situation, forced recruitment and

early marriage;

z developing special programmes that would

enable young persons under 18 who had

contracted marriages during the period of

the conflict to have these marriages

regularized and to have documentation such

as Marriage Certificates and Birth Certificates

for children born to these couples issued to

them;

z giving priority to the creation of trauma

counseling and psycho-social programmes

for everyone affected by the conflict;

Many participants highlighted the fact that many

families in the conflict affected areas were

headed by women but there was no formal

recognition of this fact by policy-makers across

the board. Women have been thrust into the

situation of head of household due to the death,

detention or disappearance of their husband

during the conflict and also due to abandonment,

which is a common feature in these areas. The

blindness of policy makers and decision makers

to the specific situation of female headed

households (FHHs) in the war affected areas of

Sri Lanka has led to many problems being created

for this group of women in terms of resettlement

entitlements, grants and allowances.

Women felt that there had been no discussion

with them regarding the reconstruction of their

homes. The resettlement package offered to

them by the government was not adequate to

rebuild the lives they had enjoyed before the

war. They also could not organize themselves in

any way to address the problems they faced

collectively, due to restrictions placed by the

authorities.

Women in the resettlement areas in particular

described the problems they had to face in their

daily lives due to restrictions on travel and

transport of goods, poor infrastructure facilities,

poor health and education services and lack of

protection. Lack of transport and of finances for

purchase of school needs meant that many

children in the resettlement areas faced

problems in going to school. In the field of health,

there were insufficient medical personnel.

Women in particular felt the lack of Family Health

Workers (FHWs), who are the community based

healthcare providers for women and children.

They lacked nutritious food, and pregnant and

lactating women as well as infants and young

children were especially affected. The absence

of civil society organizations that would normally

provide support in such situations was deeply

felt. The collapse of the community-based safety

nets that women relied on for support and the

breakdown of family structures and


relationships meant that women had to shoulder

most of the burdens of daily life by themselves.

Women described a new ‘culture ’that emerged

out of the experience of displacement which

changed and challenged attitudes, prejudices

and values among the IDP communities. Some

of the changes were positive for women, others

were not.

Women living in the north highlighted the fact

that many of the infrastructure development

projects being implemented in the war affected

areas were being carried out by temporary

Sinhala male workers coming from the south,

who were insensitive to their situation. Any

conversation or discussion with these individuals

was hampered by their lack of knowledge of

Tamil. This contributed to their feelings of

insecurity.

The north was being opened up for trade and

commerce in a way that continued to

disadvantage the northern communities.

Women brought forward many examples in

which it became clear that while the markets of

the north were being opened up for traders and

vendors coming from the south, northern

producers faced many problems, including

restrictions on transport of goods, when trying

to gain access to markets in the south.

Women from the northern Muslim community

who had been displaced from their homes in

1990, following an edict by the LTTE, spoke of

their specific situation of long term displacement

and the inability to return to their homes in

Mannar and Jaffna even after the ‘ending’ of the

war.

Particular issues were raised regarding the lack

of protection for women in the IDP camps and in

resettlement areas, and their heightened

vulnerability to violence. Women faced

restrictions and potential violence, for example,

when they left the camps to seek firewood for

cooking in the nearby jungle. Widows and single

women face violence and harassment, especially

in the resettlement areas. Women have also

been subject to sexual harassment and assault

when they are alone at home; they fear to

complain. The lack of perimeter fencing, lights

and presence of military personnel in close

proximity to resettlement homes which do not

have secure doors and windows were also cited

as factors in making them vulnerable to violence.

In many resettlement homes, the construction

is such that there is no privacy for women and

girls to even change their clothes.

The participants from the conflict affected areas

including in the north and east and north central

provinces said they continued to live with deep

feelings of anxiety and fear. They felt that the

security measures that were in place did not

address their needs. Because of the fear of

harassment, women’s mobility is restricted. The

presence of check points and army camps is

intimidating and women and girls fear to walk

past checkpoints and army camps due to fear of

comments and harassment. This sometimes

prevents girls from going to school. The ongoing

tensions between the various Tamil political

groups are also a cause of fear and insecurity.

Because of fear of abductions, which often take

place during the night, families tend to gather in

one place and spend the night together.

Weaving Hands: Women in war affected area of Sungavila, 2001

Photo courtesy: Young Asia Television


District Map of Sri Lanka

Map: http://srilankantourswhbc.com/sl_map.html


Mannar District

Sexual harassment at workplaces; resettlement

programmes did not support women to return

to the livelihoods they had followed prior to

displacement; problems faced by those who

have been disabled due to the conflict and those

who care for them; insecurity of women who go

to the jungles to gather firewood; lack of social

acceptance of female headed households;

women engage in sex work because of poverty;

District ‘snap’shots

Presentations regarding the situation of

women in each District represented at the

Consultation reflected the views and

experiences of the diverse women from each

District who were a part of the Consultation

process. Some District Coordinators had worked

with the participants to support the preparation

of the presentation. In addition to common

issues relating to the heightened vulnerabilities

of female headed households including

concerns regarding the increased

impoverishment of women, lack of livelihoods

and increasing levels of violence including

sexual violence and harassment, there were

concerns that were specific to the impact of the

conflict and specific to the social and cultural

environment of particular Districts.

Anuradhapura District: Horawapathana

Discrimination and sexual harassment of war

widows; lack of livelihood opportunities for

female headed households; early marriage; high

levels of violence against women and

abandonment of wives and families by

husbands; problems created within the family

because of drug use;

Harvesting sweet corn: Sungavila war affected woman in Polonnaruwa, 2001



Amparai District

The high number of IDP families, displaced as a

result of the 2009 offensive as well as from

previous rounds of displacement, makes this

District unique. The invisibility of internally

displaced persons who are living in rented

accommodation or with relatives and friends in

official records is a factor that affects

resettlement programmes and leads to

discrimination against this group, within the IDP

community.

The IDP camps are over-crowded, with each

family in a 10’ x 10’ space; the camps lack basic

amenities in adequate quantities to fill the

needs of the over 300,000 persons there;

nutritional needs are not met; women and girls,

especially those constituting female headed

households, are constantly vulnerable to sexual

harassment, violence and abuse from camp

inmates and officials; even though the

displacement is long-term, there is no focus on

providing livelihood opportunities; men and

women live together in the camps informally but

then the women are abandoned once the IDPs

are in the resettlement pipeline; women who

go into the forests to get firewood etc. often

face violence and harassment; there are

disproportionately high numbers of disabled

men and therefore the burden of maintaining

the family falls on women; many schools in the

Lack of livelihoods; poor transport system, which

means that women cannot access medical

attention when needed including during

pregnancy and childbirth; high level of maternal

death; high rate of school drop outs due to

poverty, lack of security and transport; many

women are in the Middle East and their children

face many problems including sexual abuse and

exploitation by family members and at school;

use of mobile phone cameras to generate photos

of girls, especially of schoolgirls, with which they

are later blackmailed; women have no access to

training in technical skills and so remain trapped

in traditional livelihoods; number of dependents

– elderly, disabled - per family is high; no support

for traders who have been displaced and

resettled to resume their occupation; women

display reluctance to vote during elections.

In the Amparai District, Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim

communities historically lived side by side.

Recent proposals to redefine the borders of local

government authorities on the basis of ethnicity

are causing tension. Men migrate to other

Districts for work and embark on informal

relationships with women in those areas; this

creates problems within the family.

There are specific problems in the Potuvil area,

related to land issues and tension between

ethnic groups because of land disputes.

Vavuniya District


area only had classes up to Grade 9; if children

wan ted to study further, they had to attend

schools at a distance; lack of transport and lack

of security acted as obstacles to education;

increase in drug abuse; early marriages;

domestic problems due to migration of women

for work outside Sri Lanka and irresponsible

parenting by men;

Puttlam District

registration, and the potential invisibility of this

group in the forthcoming Census.

increase in abductions and disappearances;

dowry related issues and increase in number of

women engaging in sex work; neglect of

language parity by officials, with government

circulars often being issued only in Sinhala,

placing the Tamil speaking population of the

District at a disadvantage; the opening of the

Mannar road reduced the traveling time for

those who regularly travel between Puttlam and

Mannar, especially traders and IDPs who go there

to work; the government decision to close this

road again has caused a lot of unhappiness; large

tracts of land that were informally occupied by

landless people have been taken back by the

state.

This is a District which is culturally very mixed,

with all major ethnic and religious groups present

as well as several indigenous communities. It is

historically disadvantaged in terms of basic

amenities. In 1990, when large numbers of

northern Muslims were displaced, most of them

were first accommodated in IDP camps in the

Puttlam District. There are now 146 resettlement

colonies established for this community of IDPs.

There are tensions between the IDPs from the

north and the communities that have

traditionally lived in Puttlam over sharing of

resources, particularly because of the

inequitable distribution of scarce resources

between the two groups by both state and non-

state actors. Although the end of the military

conflict in the north enables Muslim IDPs from

Puttlam to return to Mannar and Jaffna, there

are many specific problems faced by them with

regard to return. Among the key issues of this

IDP community is the consistent denial of their

right to vote because of problems regarding their

Internally displaced Muslim woman outside a temporary shelter, Puttalam, 2006



These areas faced the most intense impact of

the conflict, especially in 2009 and continue to

be the part of the island with the most complex

humanitarian and human rights issues related

to the end of the conflict. The establishment of

the Presidential Task Force (PTF) to oversee all

humanitarian and relief initiatives in the Vanni

and proliferation of rules and regulations that

govern access and mobility of humanitarian

agencies to areas within the Vanni act as

obstacles to IDP communities who want to

access assistance and support that is normally

available to them through a range of civil society

organizations including religious and social

welfare organizations. There is a false notion

being created in the minds of those outside the

Vanni regarding the re-housing programme.

People only see some of the projects on the two

sides of the main A9 road on television news

programmes but these are the exception rather

than the rule.

high number of female headed households

because men are dead, disappeared or in

detention; inadequate provision of housing for

IDPs who are being resettled; resettlement sites

lack water and sanitation; there is no focus on

livelihood options for women heads of

household; locating military checkpoints at

every turn in the road increases the feelings of

insecurity among women; there are at time

about 20 checkpoints within 1 kilometer stretch

of road; most government institutions do not

have enough Tamil speaking staff; lack of

transport; special problems in IDP camps include

the availability of liquor and domestic conflicts

due to alcoholism; the support given by the army

This is an area on the border of the Batticaloa

District where there are indigenous communities

as well as Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim

communities who have been settled there under

government sponsored land grant schemes in

the 1960a and 1970s and under the Mahaweli

Development Programme of the 1980s.

Poverty among women is high; there is a general

sense of insecurity; the creation of separate

Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim villages under the

Mahaweli Authority has created divisions among

the communities living here; there are land

issues specific to female headed households

within the Mahaweli B Zone which are to do with

denial of title to the land grant to women, when

male head of household is dead or missing ;

women who have traditionally gone into the

forest areas to cut cane, or go fishing in the tanks

face difficulties because of security restrictions

on access to the forests and tanks; early

marriage; low levels of education; the

indigenous communities who have traditionally

lived in these areas are neglected by the state

and by non-governmental agencies.

Women of the Tamil and Muslim community in

this area face specific problems. There are a large

number of widows and women who have been

Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districtsto those who engage in brewing illicit liquor

makes it difficult to put an end to this practice.

Polonnaruwa District: Welikanda


People in the District have experienced

militarization and intense conflict over a period

of over twenty years. Since 1995 the military has

taken over vast tracts of arable land as High

Security Zones, and owners have not been able

to return to their homes and fields after the end

of the war. Large numbers of abductions and

disappearances have taken place and civilians

in the peninsula remains vulnerable to human

rights violations. There is still a large community

of internally displaced persons living within the

peninsula. The impact of the conflict has resulted

in large numbers of widows and orphans, and

female headed households.

difficulties in obtaining Death Certificates for

those who died in the conflict; girls who were

‘married’ at an early age for fear of forced

recruitment by the LTTE do not have Marriage

Certificates; because of the fear of violence,

women are dependent on male family members

to escort them when they have to leave the

house; there is as prevalence of violence against

women, including sexual violence, within IDP

camps including by officials; stigma and

ostracization of women who have been victims

of violence, by the community; close proximity

of army camps to residences creates insecurity

in women who live in such houses; lack of

support for the disabled; there is some focus on

widows but not enough attention is paid to the

wives of the disabled; orphans, especially girls,

are subject to discrimination and exploitation

by extended family members.

Trincomalee District

disabled due to the war who need support to

establish their households, maintain their

families and engage in livelihood and income

generating activities. Getting documentation

that was lost during displacement, including Birth

Certificates, Marriage Certificates and National

Identity Cards, remains a complex process. Many

are in fact ‘ informal’ IDPs who have settled in

this area but have no official status. Muslim and

Tamil children who study in Tamil as the primary

medium of education can only attend school up

to Grade 5. After that, they must travel over 25

km to go to school; parents cannot afford the

bus fare and are also anxious about the security

of the children traveling to and from school. This

is a reason for the high school dropout rate among

Tamil students.

Jaffna District

Poor economic conditions prevent children from

going to school; fishermen still face restrictions

on fishing; some resettlement programmes for

fishing communities take them away from the

sea; there are still many in IDP camps without

any clear resettlement programme; insufficient

professional help for those who need psycho-

social care; increase in numbers of women

engaging in sex work due to poverty and lack of

options; generally poor infrastructure and

services in the health and education sectors;

women are used by politicians in their

campaigns but the politicians never do anything

towards the upliftment of women; land issues

create tensions between the different ethnic

groups; construction of religious sites also leads

to tension.

Maps: http://mappery.com/map-of/Sri-Lanka-Political-Map


A discussion took place on the overall

historical, political, economic and social

context within which the group could

understand the complex issues being raised by

each of the Districts. Among the questions that

guided the discussion were:

1. What is the context and the historical reality

that has created this situation ?

2. What do we see as the common factors in the

experiences we are describing ?

3. What are the factors that are specific to each

of the Districts we come from ?

4. What are the areas in which we have been

able to intervene and bring about some

change so far ?

5. Where have we been unsuccessful ?

This discussion paved the way for a process of

identifying priority focus areas.

z The priority that emerged as an over-arching

theme was that of the impact of

militarization on women; the need to

advocate for a return to civilian

administration; issues created by the High

Security Zones and the Presidential Task

Force; continued presence of the military

throughout the north and east; involvement

of military in trade and infrastructure

reconstruction.

z In addition, everyone agreed that practical

articulation to the Constitutional and legal

guarantees of equality were essential if all

communities were to live free of

discrimination.

z Implementation of programmes to eliminate

and prevent violence against women was a

critical need for women in order for them to

be able to live their lives fully and freely.

z The government should be lobbied to

implement the rights and principles set out in

international laws relating to women’s

equality and freedom including CEDAW.

z The government should also be lobbied for

the integration of the principles of women’s

participation and of gender-sensitive

perspectives in programming and policy

making in accordance with Security Council

Resolution 1325.

z Women should be encouraged and supported

to organize themselves from the local and

community level upwards, ensuring that they

are not dependent on support from national

and international NGOs.

DAY 2

Shared Priority Concerns


z Women’s groups should come forward to

campaign for an end to patriarchal attitudes

and values in society.

Other priority areas:

Restrictions on mobility; lack of security and

protection for women; violence against women,

sexual harassment, domestic violence; land and

livelihood issues related to resettlement; issues

related to women detainees and ex-combatants;

need for psycho-social care and special attention

for the disabled; discrimination in the use of

language ; problems of documentation: Birth,

Marriage and Death Certificates, land deeds,

National identity Cards; absence of women in

decision-making bodies; neglect of persons from

specially disadvantaged communities such as

the indigenous.

Group Discussions

The key questions were:

1.How can we identify the most appropriate

forum where we can take forward the issue

that most concerns us?

2. Who could be our allies?

The groups divided into 5 small groups

focusing on the priority issues identified on

the previous day:

z Livelihoods

z Safety and Security

z Displacement and Resettlement

z Detainees and Ex-combatants

z Political Participation and Decision-making

Structures

The objective was to come up with some

practical and concrete interventions that could

be carried out at the District level and that could

also be transformed into campaigning and

advocacy actions at the national and

international levels. Participants in group discussions of the ‘Women’s Cross-Cultural Consultation’

held in Giritale, Polonnaruwa, July 2010



Livelihoods

z strengthen programmes for providing skill

training in non-traditional occupations for

women;

z advocate for the Presidential Task Force in

the Vanni to have a Gender Advisory Team;

z campaign for the release of land and

property presently defined as High Security

Zones to original owners;

z create networks for exchange and sale of

seeds and farm produce among women’s

groups working in agricultural and fisheries

sectors;

z call for provision of support services for

traders in the north and east to carry out their

business without hindrance and also to be

able to travel and engage in trade and

commerce outside of the north and east;

z develop credit and loan services that will

respond to the specific needs of women in

resettled communities and that will give

them access to the material and financial

resources they need to build up their

livelihoods.

Safety and Security

z advocate for creation of effective

mechanisms to protect women from

violence and guarantee their freedom of

movement;

z work for the establishment of women’s

shelters for women fleeing domestic

violence and abusive situations;

z monitor the investigation of cases of

violence against women and ensure that

perpetrators are brought to justice because

of the strong sense among women that

perpetrators often get away very lightly;

z encourage religious communities, places of

worship and religious schools to develop a

positive image of women;

z ensure active participation of women in

Mediation Boards and in other alternative

dispute resolution mechanisms at the local

and community level;

z ensure better understanding of the

structural nature of violence in all

programmes to raise awareness and combat

violence against women.

Proposed Strategic Interventions

Livelihood through firewood: women in war affected Sungavila, 2001


Heading home after a visit to the clinic, Vavuniya IDP camp, 2009

Photo curtsy : Sachini Perera


Displacement and Resettlement

z call for inclusion of women in decision-

making bodies within the IDP and

resettlement communities;

z call for more participatory and consultative

processes for deciding the sites of

development projects; at present, for

example, there is a proposal to locate a

power generating plant in an area in which

there are many natural resources that people

have used traditionally;

z advocate for removal of High Security Zones

in north and east;

z ensure that conditions in the IDP camps and

in resettlement areas do not make women

more vulnerable to sexual harassment and

violence, for example by building covered

and sheltered bathing areas and toilets in

locations that are easily accessible to

women;

z draw attention to the fact that there are many

issues arising because there are different

groups of IDPs, including those who were

displaced since the 1990s; these groups have

been compensated and treated differently

from one another, leading to tensions and

allegations of injustice to older displaced

communities; there are land disputes with

those IDPs who went to India returning and

claiming land that has been used by local

people for over 15 years;

z advocate for groups who would have

offered humanitarian assistance for

resettled communities to have access to

these areas; at present they are unable to

act because of rules and regulations imposed

by the government.

z engage in dialogue with the authorities to

point out that trade and commerce in the

Vanni being almost entirely in the hands of

the military creates unrest among the

people;

z demand that the state allocated

resettlement grant of Rs. 25,000 per

household is given to all resettled IDPs; at

present, this has not been received by many;

Detainees and Ex-combatants

z engage in advocacy to call for all detainees

to be brought to trial and released if there

are no charges against them;

z ensure that organizations that provide

support for families to visit detainees can

continue to function freely;

z call for clemency to be shown to those who

were forcibly recruited to the LTTE or who

were forced to support the organization;

IDP women at Manik Farm, Vavuniya, 2009

Photo courtesy: Sachini Perera

Women’s organizations celebrating International Peace Day on 21st September,

Colombo, 2006

Photo: Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala


z take steps to ensure that there is respect for

women’s rights in all areas of life of

detainees; for example, in the incident in

which there was a mass marriage ceremony

for detainees, there are reports that some

of the women were forced into these

marriages;

z campaign for establishment of programmes

for psycho-social and psychological

rehabilitation of detainees and also for

training them in life skills; visits by family

members and members of the religious

community should be facilitated;

z create community level programmes to

support the re-integration of ex-

combatants, especially women; at present

they face many problems due to being

ostracized by family members and by the

community in general.

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Former Tamil Tiger rebel couples during a mass wedding ceremony at a government

rehabilitation camp near Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka, 2010

Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP

Political Participation and Decision-

making Structures

z advocate for better representation of

women in political and institutional

structures from the village level upwards;

z advocate for implementation of SC

Resolution 1325 to ensure participation of

women in any peace building and conflict

resolution and transformation processes

that may take place in the future;

z develop and implement programmes that

can support and build capacities of women

from local communities to enter the political

mainstream.


Advocacy Forums

here were presentations on forums where

advocacy for protection of women’s rights

and for improvement of the situations

outlined on Day 2 could be carried out at both

the national and international levels. This

session was conceived primarily as an

information-sharing session.

Among the areas covered were the various

mechanisms and procedures of the UN human

rights system that had a mandate to protect

women’s rights and especially the rights of

women affected by conflict. These included

CEDAW and Security Council Resolutions 1325

and 1820.

Attorney at Law Shamila Daluwatta made a

presentation on CEDAW and women’s activism ,

titled ‘A single bangle never jangles’ and

emphasizing the need for collective action in

order to bring about change for women.

Saroja Sivachandran of the WDC, Jaffna made a

presentation on SC Resolutions 1325 and 1820.

She focused on the aspects of SCR 1325 that

enable us to advocate for the participation of

women from civil society organizations in

decision-making in processes of conflict

transformation and peace building. She also

described the key aspects of SCR 1820 and its

focus on violence against women in times of

conflict.

Kumudini Samuel of the Women and Media

Collective did a presentation on the role that

women and women’s organizations in Sri Lanka

have played so far in calling for a sustainable

peace with justice in the country. She affirmed

that women’s groups would submit an

Alternative Report to the CEDAW Committee in

January 2011 during their review of the reports

submitted by the government of Sri Lanka and

engage in interactions with the Committee at

this time. She stressed that we must focus our

work to ensure that we hold the government of

Sri Lanka accountable to its obligations and

commitments under international law as well

as national law, to improve the situation of

women and guarantee the protection and

promotion of women’s rights in Sri Lanka. She

said that we must use these normative

frameworks in our everyday work and that our

work must be sustained and long term instead

of ad-hoc and project based.

DAY 3

Information-sharing

T


Women’s initiatives in the current

context: the philosophical and

political framework

Sunila Abeysekera of INFORM Human Rights

Documentation Centre:

Women activists are engaged in working for

social change. This too is a political act. Politics

does not mean only working for a political party

or group, or casting your vote at an election. How

can we change the existing political structures

in order to bring about a just social order? This is

our challenge.

This Consultation has enabled Sinhala women

to experience what it means to be a minority in

a consultative process. This has been a good

learning experience.

When we discussed our problems, we also

identified the obstacles we face when we try to

work for women’s advancement. We saw that

these barriers and obstacles stretch all the way

from our village to the national and international

sphere.

Even though the military conflict has ended, there

is still no discussion about a political structure

within which the rights and needs of the Tamil

people will be satisfied. Even though the

Constitution of Sri Lanka guarantees our equality,

as Tamil citizens we are still afraid to speak out

about our concerns. We talk about taking our

issues to the UN. But the UN is also an

organization that is made up of states, including

the Sri Lankan state. Our challenge is to talk

about our issues within our own context.

If we want to live in a democracy, then creating

the conditions for democracy in our families, in

our villages and in our country is our

responsibility.

How can we bring back energy into civil society

organizations and activism? This too is a

challenge.

We must first think about what it is that we can

do to bring about even small changes in our daily

lives, as women, in our own families, villages

and communities. Getting to know how the

Grama Niladhari (Village official) works in our

village and bring pressure to bear on him to act

fairly towards women would be a crucial first

step. Organizing ourselves to do this collectively

will strengthen us and our efforts.

Sherine Xavier of Home for Human Rights:

It is very important that we have spent our time

together so far to identify what are our priorities.

We have been able to talk about what are the

problems and obstacles we face in achieving the

goals we set for ourselves as we work for the

advancement of women’s rights in a post-war

situation. And we have begun to talk about what

could be the strategies we use to overcome

these obstacles. We have discussed how we can

do this at all the different levels we work in,

from the local to the international. We are very

fortunate that we have been able to go through

this process together.

We have to ask ourselves: Do we live in a

democratic society? This is a question that lies

behind everything that we have discussed so far.

Take for example the issue that we have

identified as being most important for us - the

issue of the High Security Zones. This is an issue

that really poses a challenge to us about

democratic structures and how we can use them

to guarantee our safety and our freedom. Even

though the war has ended, we have still not

achieved peace.

Before May 13, 2009, there was a discussion

about the shape and form of a political solution

to the conflict. People talked about going

beyond the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

But today, we are not sure whether even the

13th Amendment will be implemented fully. Even

though the war has ended, the Tamil speaking

people of this country have not been offered a

political solution. They continue to live as a

weakened minority in this country.


The Constitution of Sri Lanka gives us a

guarantee that we are all equal. Yet, as Tamil

citizens, we are afraid to claim our rights, we are

afraid to talk about the violations of our rights

that we experience every day. If we want to build

a democratic family, a democratic community

and a democratic country, we have to speak out.

We have to make sure that the government

adheres to international standards.

Two key political issues that we should focus on

are:

z in the process of talking about devolution of

power or any other power-sharing

arrangement, we should call for the equal

participation of women at every stage;

z now that the military conflict is concluded,

the government should honour its

commitments under international law to

guarantee women’s rights and equality.

Discussions on Strategic

Interventions

Women presented their ideas both from a

general perspective as well as from the

perspective of the specificity of the District they

came from or work in.

General concerns:

The need to decrease military presence in the

daily life of people of the north and east emerged

as a key and over-arching concern. Strengthening

the rule of law, reduction of geographic areas

defined as High Security Zones, the repeal of

Emergency Regulations and of the Prevention

of Terrorism Act (PTA), release of detainees

being held without charges, challenging

impunity with regard to human rights violations,

strengthening media freedom, restoring and

strengthening the civilian administration

especially in war affected areas, recognition of

the specific needs of female headed

households, ensuring higher participation of

women in all decision-making structures and

working with the media to create a more positive

image of women and of women’s activism were

common issues. Ensuring full and fair

implementation of the laws that prevent

violence against women, including bringing

perpetrators to justice regardless of political

pressure and influence was also identified as a

critical issue.

There was also a common concern regarding the

need to have a more intensive dialogue

regarding the nature of peace in a multi-ethnic

country such as Sri Lanka, working for attitudinal

changes within all ethnic and religious groups

that could enable living together with respect.

We also need to understand what democracy can

mean for each individual citizen in this country.

Ensuring that all politicians and government

officials are aware of the international

obligations of the state under human rights and

humanitarian law was seen a critical area to work

on. Raising awareness on the practical use of

documents such as Security Council Resolution

1325 was an important part of this process.

‘Over 47,000 war widows’ - Demonstration outside the Fort Railway Station to

commemorate International Women’s Day on 8th March 2007. The Demonstration

was organized by the Sri Lanka Women for Peace and Democracy.

Photo : Velayudan Jayachithra


Women also proposed that we should organize

open dialogues and discussions regarding ethnic

identities, about Sinhala and Tamil politics based

on identity and the attitudes of both

communities towards each other. This would

help build reconciliation. We should also ask

ourselves the question: what are our hopes and

dreams for Sri Lanka, after the end of the war.

What is peace, what does it mean for us ?

Strategic Interventions that can

help to improve the situation of

women

z strengthening knowledge and analytical

skills of women affected by conflict to

enable them to understand issues of gender

and patriarchy and conflict;

z supporting women to develop non-violent

methods of intervening in the present

situation to enhance the lives of women and

of all affected groups and communities;

z building networks to strengthen women’s

initiatives to improve their situation at the

local and community level and to enable

women to become active participants in

decision-making processes from local to

national level;

z developing methodologies for working with

men to improve the status and situation of

women, especially because of conservative

cultural and social patterns within male

behavior in all communities in the north and

east.


Trincomalee

We also plan to support women in the local

government elections. Because we come from a

District where there is an almost equal

proportion of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people,

we feel that we can use this process to raise

awareness about the positive areas of

multicultural life. We will focus on encouraging

young women to come forward as candidates

and build a support base with teachers,

government officials, religious leaders in the

District. We will develop a media and advocacy

campaign.

We have a question to the group: is it not

possible to think of creating a women’s

political party?

A banner displayed in Kinniya town, of a women candidate who contested in

the local government elections in Trincomalee, March 2011.

Photo: Viluthu, Trincomalee

Amparai

We want to do programmes that highlight issues

of violence against women in the District. At

present, this issue is quite invisible. It is in

particular very difficult to raise this issue within

the Muslim community. In general, some

religious leaders of all religious groups are

resistant to discussions of women’s rights and

do not want public discussion on violence

against women. We need to build public opinion

and create a support base within the official

infrastructure so that women can raise these

issues without fear.

Responding to the question: How do we analyse

our reality?

What intervention do we want to make?

1. What would be the best entry point and/or

platform for us to take our intervention

forward?

2. Who are our allies ? Who will oppose us?

3. How can we overcome the obstacles that will

confront us?

Batticaloa

We want to support women to contest the

forthcoming local government elections. We will

organize meetings that bring together women

who are potential candidates as well as women

who work within the government, experts on

women’s rights and women’s political

participation to make sure that there is a strong

support base for them. We should also mobilize

this group to engage in discussions with all

political parties and groups. We will build a base

from which we can challenge corrupt and unfair

practices at every level. We will also develop a

campaign to denounce the misrepresentation of

women’s issues in the media, and try to change

the portrayal of women politicians in the media.

We will campaign on the basis that every voter

should cast one vote for a female candidate.

A big challenge will be to support women

to raise funds for their election campaigns.

Protests against the increasing incidences of violence against women, 2005

Photo courtesy: Suriya Women’s Development Centre, Batticaloa

Strategic Interventions for each District


Livelihood : women in war affected Sungavila, 2001


Two wheels for three: Post War Jaffna Town, 2011


President through our Members of Parliament

to ask for a process of resettlement that respects

the rights of IDPs. We want to learn about similar

processes in other countries that have gone

through a conflict. Since the mainstream media

does not give sufficient coverage to our issues,

we will work with people in the alternative

media field to get some publicity for our work

and views.

Comment: to both Amparai and Mannar

groups:

- when gathering information on violence

against women you have to be careful to

maintain confidentiality; it would also be

helpful to build links with lawyers and

medical professionals in the District;

Polonnaruwa

We want to do an awareness-raising programme

on the need to have equal presence of women

in all decision-making bodies. We plan to cover

1205 villages in our area and raise awareness

through the use of creative means such as street

theatre, posters and small group discussions. We

will work together with religious leaders, youth

groups and other village and community level

organizations. We are aware that we may face

resistance from the community and also from

officials who do not want to admit that this type

of discrimination against women is a problem.

We thought of conducting a survey on the types

of violence, available mechanisms for support

for women and for justice and redress. Once we

have identified particular groups that are most

at risk and vulnerable to violence, we will design

programmes to meet their needs. We want to

use alternative forms such as street theatre and

art competitions to draw public attention to this

situation. We will record our experiences and

use that documentation to take our issues to the

national level. We want to become a part of

national and international campaigns against

violence against women.

Mannar

We want to carry out awareness raising

programmes on violence against women. We will

work with religious and community leaders to

distribute leaflets and hold public seminars on

the topic. We cannot hope to take our issues to

the national level without first working at the

village level.

Jaffna

We want to focus on the issue of resettlement

of displaced persons. This covers a range of areas

of concern for us, including release of lands now

defined as High Security Zones to their original

owners. Land is also a factor in domestic violence

cases. This is because land that was promised as

dowry has not been given to the woman, due to

disputed ownership as a result of the conflict.

Providing appropriate assistance to rebuild

livelihoods is also a key part of the resettlement

process. We want to address a petition to the


Awareness raising through street theatre on War and Peace, Community Encourage-

ment Foundation, Puttalam, 2008

Photo courtesy: Community Encouragement Foundation

Puttlam

We want to do public education on violence

against women including domestic and cultural

violence. We will use the media and also street

theatre and ‘kavi madu’ (a traditional cultural

form of impromptu poetry recitals).

We also want to focus on the situation of Muslim

IDPs who have been living in Puttlam since they

were evicted from Jaffna in 1990. They face very

specific problems, and even the issue of

resettlement in the post-conflict context is

complicated because return of Muslims to Jaffna

and Mannar is still a contested issue especially

in terms of land rights. People in Puttlam are

asking why the IDPs are not returning to their

homes now that the war is over. This is a very

delicate issue, we have to handle it with care.

Anuradhapura

We want to do a campaign to eliminate violence

against women in our District. In order to do this,

we will initially bring together all the different

government and non-government agencies

working in the area of violence against women

and girls, and build a network for collective

action. There is quite a big opposition to this

work in the District and women are vulnerable

to abduction and all types of psychological

harassment if they speak out.

Vavuniya

We want to raise awareness regarding the

complex nature of displacement and the specific

problems faced by us in Vavuniya among social

activists in our District and nationally. Among the

issues we want to raise are the problems faced

by civilians on a day to day basis because of the

close proximity of army camps to residential

areas; we want to call for a removal of many of

these small army camps. There is also a need for

good documentation on the situation within the

camps that still exist in Vavuniya. We want to

work closely with the various media persons

based in Vavuniya to ensure that there is a good

representation of the actual situation including

of the situation of women IDPs.

We cannot do anything without the support of

the authorities and we must work together with

other groups and individuals to create a

successful advocate to enable us to carry on with

our work in Vavuniya.

War affected ID woman in Chettikulam Hospital, Vavuniya, 2009

Photo courtesy: Sachini Perera

Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi

We are the people who faced the direct impact

of the war. As citizens of this country, we faced

many challenges. We have seen terrible

suffering. We have seen our family members

killed and abducted. We had nobody to turn to.

We had to take care of ourselves. We lost

everything. We were left only with our lives. We

have not received adequate compensation to

rebuild our homes and lives in the way that they

were before the war.


A key obstacle we face is that people are

afraid to work together or to speak out

against injustice because of the climate of

fear that still prevails in the District.

We want to focus on the right of women to

mobility, and work together with the Tamil

newspapers and media to draw attention to the

problem of lack of safety and security for

women. Protection of women in the camps is a

special concern. Many of them are reluctant to

speak about their experience and be identified

because of the social and cultural environment.

We have to give strength to victims of violence

to speak out. During the height of the conflict

nobody was able to offer us protection. We had

to protect ourselves. So we must do this for

ourselves now as well. We will submit petitions

and letters asking for intervention from our

Members of Parliament. We feel this may give

some positive results. Women from the Vanni

want to have stronger links with women’s groups

from other regions.

A personal testimony

I am a woman from the communities that faced the most horrible experiences due

to the war. We lived for days in bunkers. We could not go out even for a minute. We

only brought a towel and a sheet with us. There was no food. We didn’t eat for 3

days. When we could buy food, we had to pay 3500 rupees for a kilo of rice. We

would build the fire outside and keep running between the bunker and the fireplace

in order to cook our food. Nobody cared about us then. 76 women who were

holding their infants and standing in a line to get milk foods were blown up by a

shell. We never want to go through such an experience again. We have to say that

we have different experiences with the army. Some of them are helpful to us,

others are not. There are times when the army men too have expressed their regret

at what has happened to us. We have too many orphans, too many widows. We

have to help them. Nobody can come to visit us without permission from the

government and from the military. We really hope that this solidarity that we have

built here will help us to work together to improve the situation in which we live.

- Participant from the Vanni



Follow up

It was agreed to focus in the immediate future

on 2 areas where collective and collaborative

efforts may have some impact:

1. The creation of women’s shelters in the

north and east, taking the experiences of

existing shelters into consideration.

2. Advocate with funders and with the

government to set aside a specific proportion

of aid received for working on areas specific

to women affected by conflict.

3. We would also do some de-briefings with

members of women’s groups who could not

participate in the Giritale Consultation for a

variety of reasons.


It is interesting that all the Districts have

decided to focus on two areas, violence and

political participation. Although we had

agreed that militarization was a key issue, we

have not focused on it directly most of the time

when talking about our strategic interventions.

It is clear that we have to have expanded

discussions on the political framework and

environment within which we can talk about

violence against women and about women’s

political participation in a democratic world.

The conflict has affected all of us. All of us have

suffered because of the conflict, some directly,

others not so directly. Our experiences of the

conflict may be different but we have all our own

stories to tell about how we felt the impact of

the conflict. However, there is no denying the

reality of the experience of our sisters from the

Vanni. There is no way that any of us who were

not a part of that experience of the war can even

begin to imagine what it was like.

We live in a country where we are not free. In

Colombo we have 28 High Security Zones. In

Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, hundreds of

villagers from all ethnic groups were massacred

during the 1990s. During this time, the STF was

involved in many massacres in the east. In many

poor villages on the borders of the North Central

Province, becoming a Home Guard was the only

employment opportunity available for young

men. For young Tamil men, taking up arms was

the only perceived way to win their rights. In all

our communities, we know of those who laid

down their lives for the sake of their beliefs, for

the sake of the fight for rights, for their own

rights and for the rights of others. How can we

claim that history as our own? How can we allow

those experiences of the past illuminate our

present? How can we build a movement for

democracy, justice and peace that can challenge

undemocratic laws and undemocratic

governments? How can we move beyond the

use of violence as a political strategy?

When we came here to Giritale, many of us did

not know each other. During these days we have

learned many things about each other and our

experiences. The next time we meet, we will be

building on this basis of trust and hopefully we

can move forward with some collective

strategies and solutions for our common

problems.

During the past years we have faced many

challenges because of the conflict. Those of us

from the south know how we tried to raise our

voices against the conflict and against the

destruction of life in the north and east. We want

to tell our sisters from the Vanni how sorry we

are that we were not able to extend any support

to them during the last days of the war, when

they were engaged in a life and death struggle.

Perhaps sisters from the north and east did not

hear us because our call was so faint and so

hidden, even by the media. We supported a call

for the creation of a humanitarian corridor, to

allow the people of the Vanni to leave the

battlefield safely. We petitioned the

government, the international community, the

UN. This call went un-heard.

During the time of the tsunami, many of us

worked in the eastern province, doing what we

could to provide assistance and support to

women who had been affected by the tsunami.

We worked in Amparai, Batticaloa, Trincomalee

and Jaffna. But we could not go to Mullaitivu

because of the situation that prevailed at that

time. We were very sorry about that. But in our

advocacy we did emphasise that women in

tsunami affected communities under LTTE

Conclusions: a collective response


control should also benefit from the various

relief programmes and packages that others

were enjoying. Today we can join hands to see

how we can influence the reconstruction process

to make sure that women are treated fairly and

that the specific needs of women are taken into

account in providing assistance and relief. For

example, we can try to make the Presidential

Task Force more responsive to women’s needs.

We can ask the donors to ensure that a certain

percentage of their aid is set aside specifically

for women.

In our discussions here, we have only skimmed

the surface. We have not said everything that

we wanted to say. We could not agree on how

best we could take on the topic of militarization

in this country. We come from very different

circumstances and backgrounds. But we were

united in our understanding that as the guns fall

silent after 35 years of war in this country, we

have to continue to campaign for peace, for a

just and sustainable peace. This Consultation

has shown us that we can sit down together,

discuss our problems and talk about shared

activism. We can create a strong network that

can advocate with the government and with

international organizations to bring about a

change in our situation and to win guarantees

for women’s rights and equality in Sri Lanka. We

are a strong group of women, with many

experiences and skills. We can do this together.

It is women who have in the past worked

strongly for collective approaches to end the war

and build a peaceful society. Now we must do it

again.

Of the issues we have discussed, some can be

taken up in the immediate future: Issues of

humanitarian assistance to the people of the

Vanni, for example, or of the small steps that

can be taken to make life in the north and east

safer for women. We must talk about the

resettlement of the Vanni people along with the

resettlement of the northern Muslims. These are

complex issues but call for immediate and quick

interventions because the resettlement process

is going on as we speak.

There are other, broader, political and

philosophical issues that we need to talk about

more. After 35 years, we have sat together over

the past 2 days to talk together and build a bridge

of trust and friendship among us. Now we can

move forward to see what are the areas and

topics on which we can work together to bring a

sustainable peace to our country. We must work

towards a future meeting at which we can talk

about what kind of a political vision we want to

develop and put forward as women who believe

in peace, in justice with respect for rights and in

a non-violent transformation to democracy.

Women’s Cross Cultural Consultation – Giritale, Sri Lanka

Documents

Transcript of Women’s Cross Cultural Consultation – Giritale, Sri Lanka