The names of Vidhya Sivaloganathan, Seya Sadewmini
and Kesara Kahandaliyanage have made the headlines in Sri Lanka for the wrong
and tragic reasons. All three of these people and countless other women, men
and children have been victims of violence of the vilest kind, sexual violence
leading to physical, emotional violence and even death. This violence is also
referred to as gender based violence (GBV). This violence robbed Vidhya and
Seya of their childhood and lives. Their lives and experiences have finally
forced Sri Lankans to talk about GBV and how it must end.
The issue of GBV is not an issue from the western
world as we can see very much for ourselves. Our South Asian culture has done
well to cover up this shameful secret and epidemic of our time. It is very much
a global issue. As Prof Rashida Manjoo, the Former UN Special Rapporteur on
Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences stated recently, that if the
rates of GBV, especially violence against women and girls were counted properly
GBV should be referred to a “warfare that women and girls experience in their
homes and communities on a daily basis”.
GBV is a result of societies viewing women and girls
as unequal beings in their communities. It is a violent expression of power
expressed mainly by men as the system of patriarchy supports and allows their continued use of harmful attitudes, beliefs and practices
towards women and girls.
GBV
and consequences in Sri Lanka
As a snapshot of the issue in Sri Lanka, a report[1]
which sought to capture prevalance rates of violence against women and girls
reflected that 14% of men in its sample from four districts in Sri Lanka had
admitted to perpetrating sexual violence including rape. Over half of the men
who admitted to perpetrating sexual violence including rape stated they felt
sexually entitled to do this. Alarmingly 1/3rd of the men that had
perpetrated acts of sexual violence including rape against women said that they
had been teenagers at the time they committed their first rape. Over half the
sample stated that their first perpetration of rape was when they were within
the ages 20-29, the time when most men enter marriage. Disturbingly almost all
the men in these four districts had faced no legal consequences for
perpetrating rape, which shows the very high levels of impunity that exist in
Sri Lanka.
Women
and children become more vulnerable to GBV as our courts grant suspended
sentences to the perpetrators of statutory rape, our legal system does not
recognize marital rape and law enforcement officials do not see this violence
as “grievous hurt” as it would be viewed in other circumstances under the Penal
Code. There are also context specific layers which increase the vulnerability
of women and girls such as female headed households and heavy military presence
experienced in the North, Plantation settings which include poor living
conditions, sanitation and propagation of cultural traditions; and internal and
external migration of female unskilled workers who have little protection when
they are removed from their homes and communities for employment.
Kesara’s
case has also shown how our legal system is not ready to deal with sexual
violence perpetrated against a man as well as a person who is disabled. His
perpetrators were given bail despite the fact that he was raped repeatedly over
a period of four months. Is the judge’s order a reflection of his own belief
that men who experience sexual violence are not worthy of equal protection of
the law ?
What needs to be done?
While
the government, legislators, health service providers and civil society have a
big task ahead of them to facilitate an environment of zero tolerance of GBV
and provide an adequate legal and psychosocial response, each individual has an
important role to play too. As the Sinhala saying goes “when you point an
accusing finger to another, your three remaining fingers point towards you”. Each
person needs to reflect on their own beliefs on whether they do believe that
women, girls, children and people with disabilities should be treated equally.
Each person must check whether they
harbor harmful and violent attitudes towards these groups and whether they call
out on their own friends, sons or colleagues who act on their own harmful
attitudes and behaviors. Each one of us individually needs to take responsibility for this issue if we
want to end GBV in Sri Lanka.
[1] de Mel,
N., P. Peiris and S. Gomez (2013). Broadening Gender: Why Masculinities Matter—Attitudes,
Practices and Gender-Based Violence in Four Districts in Sri Lanka. Colombo:
CARE Sri Lanka
