WUNRN
Sri Lanka - Rape, Marital Rape, Incest, Law Issues, Shame +
By Vijita Fernando
Colombo (Women's Feature Service) - Rape in its various manifestations -
statutory and marital, incest, in conflict situations, among displaced women
and those who migrate overseas - has been a continuing topic of research
studies presented at the biannual conventions of the Centre for Women's
Research (CENWOR), Sri Lanka. The only organisation in Sri Lanka devoted
exclusively to research on women CENWOR organised its eleventh and most recent
convention early this year in Colombo.
As a result of the research and recommendations of other women's groups, such
as the Women and Media Collective, which translates women's articles into
Sinhala, Women In Need (WIN), a crisis-centre for battered women that offers
legal aid, and individual activists, the government amended the existing Penal
Code, in 1995, taking into account rape, age of consent and incest. According
to the amendments, the punishment for rape was enhanced to 10 years'
imprisonment, while the age of consent was raised from 12 years to 16 years.
The insistence on evidence of women having resisted their attackers was also
deleted in the new laws. Incest, which had so far not been regarded as a
criminal offence, was also included in the amendments.
Soon after the amendments came into force, the nation's heartthrob - the young
and handsome actor Kamal Addararchchi - was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment
and slapped with a fine of a million Sri Lankan rupees. Addararchchi was
charged with raping a minor girl in his apartment where she had gone to ask him
for a role. Justice Shirani Thilakawardene's verdict in the Addararchchi case
became a landmark judgement in implementing the amended laws on rape.
However, the amended laws do not cover marital rape. In cases of marital rape,
the perpetrator can be brought to trial only if he is judicially separated from
his wife. As Jezima Ismail, President of the Muslim Women's Congress in Sri
Lanka, says, "There is no tradition of legal separation in Sri Lankan
society... women live separately from abusive husbands, and they go to (the)
law only when they want a divorce."
Ruhani Perera, lecturer and researcher at the University of Colombo, quoting
WIN in her research on marital rape, says, "A sexually abused woman does
not associate 'rape' with her experience of sexual violence at the hands of an
intimate partner. Also these cases are not filed as 'marital rape' cases as
they are dealt with as domestic violence issues that can be settled between the
parties with counselling."
Adds Perera, "Within the Sri Lankan context, the reality is that sex in
itself is a taboo subject and rape within a marriage is regarded as a domestic
or private matter in the legal system. The victimised woman takes her cue from
the legal and social climate and opts to suffer in silence. A variety of
reasons prevent such women from addressing this issue - social stigma, fear,
shame, community and family disapproval, fear of losing children, negative
attitudes and possible harassment at the hands of the police."
In cases of rape - of young women, prepubescent girls, and old women well past
menopause in camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) - it is an expression
of power and aggression especially in situations in which women are almost
completely helpless. In the case of young girls, the loss of virginity is a
deterrent to a future marriage, a slur on their character. Incidents of young
girls, raped by soldiers, committing suicide by jumping into wells have been
recorded during the ongoing conflict in the North and East of the country. All
rape victims are ostracised, not only by society but even by their own families
and certainly by their husbands if they happen to be married.
When young Selina, 24, ran away from her Saudi Arabian employer during her stay
as a housemaid in that country, she alleged that both the man of the house and
his teenaged son had raped her almost every night. Her agony was compounded by
the fact that when she complained to the mistress, she was slapped and told
that she had been brought to that house for this very purpose!
The tragedy is that most complaints by Sri Lankan domestic workers in foreign
countries - the Middle East and Singapore - are disregarded by their agents and
by the Sri Lankan authorities as well. There have been numerous cases of
runaway maids seeking refuge in half way houses and leading meaningless lives
waiting for better days.
There have been cases, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch reports
of 2004, 2006 and 2007, where housemaids, who had been repeatedly raped by
employers, were returned to the same families by the police.
Samanthi, 25, was arrested by the Saudi Arabian police when she gave birth to a
child at a hospital in that country because she could not prove that her
employer had raped her and that the child was a result of that violation. The
police considered her a party to the act of rape in a country where the law
punishes rape victim.
Another tragic but common form of sexual abuse within families in Sri Lanka is
incest. According to a study by Voice of Women, a radical women's publication
and advocacy group, the commonest incidence of incest are by fathers and
step-fathers and in families where mothers have migrated for jobs leaving
behind young daughters in the care of their fathers.
Says Eva Ranaweera, editor of 'Voice of Women', "In 327 cases of sexual
abuse among girls we studied, four step-fathers, four brothers, two
grandfathers and 18 fathers were found to have committed the crime. Of the 18
cases where the fathers had raped their daughters, 15 of the mothers had gone
abroad for employment. We came across a case where the father had raped his
three daughters repeatedly... there was also an instance of two brothers of 18
and 15, respectively, raping their younger sister." These figures speak for
themselves.
Courtesy: Women's Feature Service
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.