Sri Lanka’s former president and current head of the ‘Office for National Unity and Reconciliation’ (ONUR) remained silent and offered no response as mental health professionals and civil society representatives detailed the ongoing sexual exploitation perpetrated by the armed forces, police and government officials against Tamil women in the North.
In a meeting with the former president, Chandrika Bandaranaike-Kumaratunge, at the Jaffna District Secretariat on Sunday, mental health professionals and civil society representatives said that almost nine years on, war affected Tamil women in the North were still subjected to sexual exploitation and harassment.
The problem was particularly bad in Mullaitivu which has the highest presence of military forces and police in the province, the meeting’s participants highlighted.
Vulnerable women who had lost partners and family members in the war were targeted for harassment and exploitation by armed forces and police officers and officials, as well as local government officials who had the backing of security forces, they said.
With the perpetrators being in positions of power, affected women have no recourse for relief or justice, they said.
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