The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) released its 8th official report outlining recommendations for the advancement of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in Sri Lanka. Recommendations included a push for accountability over conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence.
The committee expressed concern regarding the “Serious allegations that the military and police perpetrated harassment, violence, including rape, abductions, torture, sexual bribery, sexual slavery, and unjustified surveillance, including home invasions, especially of women in the Northern and Eastern provinces, and specifically targeting Tamil women, women heads of households, and former combatants, war widows and women family members of the disappeared who search for truth, justice and accountability, as well as women human rights defenders.” Further, the report expressed the committee’s concern over the inability of the state to provide data on the investigations and prosecutions of such allegations.
Section 25(c) recommended that the state, “Carry out a comprehensive mapping of all pending criminal investigations, habeas corpus, and fundamental rights petitions related to sexual violence cases as well as the findings of all Commissions of Inquiries in particular cases involving the armed forces and the police.”
The report requested that the state provide a written follow-up outlining the steps undertaken to meet the recommendation within two years. Such a timeline was also given for recommendations found in paragraphs 13(a), 13(b) and 23(d).
Other areas of concern included the militarization of land, as well as the state of women’s education, employment and health.
Further, many recommendations addressed the need for legal measures and processes to be refined. For example, the report called for the meaningful inclusion of women in the constitutional reform process, as well as a legal framework that addresses the intersectional nature of discrimination.
The report was produced after CEDAW’s meeting with Sri Lanka on February 22nd. The committee requested that Sri Lanka’s ninth periodic report be submitted in March 2021.
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