Violence Plagues Female Tsunami Victims
By Associated
Press
April 1, 2007
NEW DELHI -- Many women devastated by the 2004
tsunami continue to face violence and impoverishment at relief camps in South
Asian nations like India and Sri Lanka, according to a new
report.
Conducted by the Alliance Of Women Effected By Tsunami, the
report covers India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. It was released in New Delhi on
Saturday ahead of a summit of the South Asian Association of Regional
Cooperation, or SAARC.
The alliance was create by the Sri Lanka-based
Action Aid International. The alliance's members include more than 170
non-governmental organizations and women's groups working in the tsunami-hit
areas of India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Women who lost their
livelihoods after the tsunami have been forced to take extreme measures to
secure the survival of their families and themselves, said Sriyani Perera, a
spokeswoman for the alliance.
The report highlighted the plight of one
woman, forced to sell her kidney to make money.
"We were shifted to a
place where there is no work, no food to feed our children. I sold my kidney and
got a small amount. They did not give me the promised amount. Now I am suffering
with heavy abdominal pain. I cannot work," the report quoted Kalpana, a woman
living in a camp in India, as saying.
Under normal circumstances there is
a high incidence of violence against women in South Asian countries, but
tsunami-affected women reported that violence intensified and continues even two
years after the disaster struck them, the report said. It didn't include any
statistics on such violence.
Discussions with over 7,500 tsunami affected
women in five countries reveal that failure to involve women and girls in
decision making on relief and rehabilitation fueled an increase in violence
against them, it said.
Government compensation and rehabilitation
programs most often recognize men as the heads of households, which results in
women -- particularly single, older or disabled women -- being left out of such
efforts, the report stated.
It urged the SAARC member-states, notably
India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, to eliminate all forms of violence against
women -- emotional, physical and sexual -- and ensure that their rights are
protected in the wake of all disasters. Most families are dominated by men in
South Asian countries.
The report demanded governments punish those who
perpetrate violence against women and ensure the implementation of laws and
policies to prevent violence against them.
States have to guarantee
appropriate access to education and health facilities in post disaster
situations for girls and women, the report stated. Also, governments have to
ensure women's rights to land and their access to adequate housing.
The
report said compensation and livelihood rehabilitation focused mainly on men and
neglected the situation of women.
"Women were left out of consultations,
formulation of policies and design of programs for relief operations, camp
management, damage and needs assessments, allocation of houses and land, and the
rebuilding of livelihoods," the report stated.
In December 2004, deadly
tsunami waves triggered by a powerful earthquake killed nearly 230,000 people
killed across Asia.
Copyright 2007 Newsday
Inc.