New Delhi, April. 1 (AP): Many women who were made homeless by the 2004 tsunami continue to live in poverty and face violence at relief camps in South Asian nations, including 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 created by Action Aid International, whose 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 physical, sexual and emotional violence against them has intensified in the aftermath of the disaster more than two years ago, the report said. It didn't include any statistics on such violence.
Discussions with over 7,500 tsunami-affected women in five countries revealed that failure to involve women and girls in decision making on relief and rehabilitation fueled their plight, it said.
``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.
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.
States have to guarantee appropriate access to education and health facilities for girls and women in post-disaster situations, the report stated. Also, governments have to ensure women's rights to land and their access to adequate housing.
In December 2004, deadly tsunami waves triggered by a powerful earthquake in the Indian Ocean killed nearly 230,000 people in Asia and Africa.