Government’s failure to thwart impediments to women surfaced by UN

Feb 27, 2017

The officials of the United Nations committee on the elimination discrimination against women CEDAW have accused our government in not taking adequate steps to curb hindrances, sexual abuses and assault made to our women

In this regard the members of the United Nations frontline specialist committee had on the 22nd of February in Geneva had expressed displeasure to the Sri Lankan representative group had expressed discontentment. It is reported that this is the second occasion in a matter of three months that a Sri Lankan representative group had been embarrassed.

The secretary to the ministry of women’s and child affairs Chandrani Senaratne and representative group had arrived in Geneva on the 22nd February to meet the officials of the CEDAW to furnish facts on the subject of prevention of hindrances, abuses and assault. At this meeting instead of tabling the future plans of the government in this regard the delegation had conveyed to what action had been completed in the recent past. The officials of the CEDAW had questioned on this. In that instance the CEDAW had not been convinced on the answers furnished in regard to the steps taken concerning the welfare of women. Instead of a long term proposed list of law enforcements the Sri Lankan delegation had been requested to formulate a time framework to bring about required results.

It is learnt that the UN committee had come to know that the armed forces are conducting women sexual slave camps which has attributed them to question our delegation on this issue. This had been revealed to them by a report submitted to them via the International Truth and Justice Project-ITJP project.It has been categorically stated that the Sri Lankan forces have established that women who are under detention are deployed for sexual slaves. This has been further proved when the statements of three such slave women had handed over to the ITJP.In the statement it has been reported that four such sexual slave camps had been housed. A Major, a Lieutenant Colonel and four other security personnel have been arrested for keeping women as sexual slaves. It is reported that this report had been made after statements from 65 women subjected to this hindrance have been recorded by the ITJP.Out of them 48 women have been arrested during the Rajapaksa regime and the rest during the present regime had been forcibly retained in these camps.

The Sri Lankan delegation in reply to this offence and query in regard to the Northern and Eastern women who were subjected to sexual abuse had said that in this regard the President Maithripala Sirisena has already strictly cautioned and advised the related sectors. Nevertheless the authorities of the UN committee had said that justice has not been meted out to those women.