Womens Cross-Cultural Consultation Giritale, Sri Lanka

July 29-31, 2010

Womens Cross-Cultural Consultation: Giritale, Sri Lanka | 1

(C) Women and Media Collective, 2011 ISBN: 978-955-1770-08-2

Edited by Sunila Abeysekera Cover designed by Kusal Gunasekera Pages designed by Damayanthi Muthukumarage Published by Women and Media Collective 56/1, Sarasavi Lane, Castle Street, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka Tel : +94-115632045, 5635800, 5635800 Fax : +94-2690192, 2690201, Email : wmcsrilanka@gmail.com Web : www.womenandmedia.org Printed by Globe Printing Works 5, Stoke Place, Borella.

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Contents
page Introduction Context Organizing the Consultation The Participants The Process and Methodologies Day 1 Priority issues District snap shots Day 2 Shared Priority Concerns Proposed Strategic Interventions Livelihoods, Safety and Security Displacement and Resettlement, Detainees and Ex-combatants Political Participation and Decision-making Structures DAY 3 Information-sharing Advocacy Forums Womens initiatives in the current context: the philosophical and political framework Discussions on Strategic Interventions Strategic Interventions that can help to improve the situation of women Strategic Interventions for each District Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Amparai Mannar, Jaffna, Polonnaruwa Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Puttlam, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi Follow up Conclusions: a collective response 4 5 7 8 8 9 14 19 21 21 21 23 24 24 25 26 27 28 28 29 30 32 33

MAPS District Map of Sri Lanka District Maps: Anuradhapura District: Horawapathana, Mannar District Amparai District, Vavuniya District Puttlam District Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts, Polonnaruwa District: Welikanda Jaffna District, Trincomalee District

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Introduction

his report contains some of the key areas of concern identified by a group of over 80 women from all ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka, from 9 Districts in the northern and eastern parts of the island, who came together in the small town of Giritale in the North Central province in August 2010, fifteen months after the conclusion of the military conflict in the country in May 2009. It was the first meeting of its kind, bringing together diverse groups of women working for rights and dignity in a post-war environment in Sri Lanka and providing a space for active and interactive dialogue and exchange of ideas and experiences.

Visakha Dharmadasa, Nimalka Fernando, Janaki Gunawardene, Anberiya Haniffa, Sepali Kottegoda, Annie Kurien, Sumika Perera, Kumudini Samuel, Shanthi Satchithananthan, Saroja Sivachandra, Sherine Xavier and Shreen Zaroor. Sarala Emanuel helped develop the programme. Sunila Abeysekera and Sherine Xavier took on the responsibility of facilitating the Consultation; Visaka Dharmadasa looked after hotel logistics; Anberia Haniffa and Dulcy de Silva oversaw the finances; Sunila worked with the Rapporteurs to finalise the Report and Kumudini Samuel worked with the WMC team to ensure overall co-ordination and facilitation.

Organizing the Consultation was a challenge because of many concerns regarding the safety and security of participants as well as because of the logistics, for example, the provision of three way translation in English, Tamil and Sinhala - throughout the process. The report attempts to record and transmit the substantive issues that emerged through the discussions in Giritale, while respecting the confidentiality of some of the proceedings. We are aware that only a selected group of women were able to attend the Consultation. We will devise methods of sharing the outcomes and deliberations with womens groups and civil society groups that share our commitment to womens rights and to a just and sustainable peace in Sri Lanka. The team that organized and conducted the Consultation primarily consisted of: Sunila Abeysekera, Shamila Daulwatte, Dulcy de Silva,

Women and Media Collective Association of War Affected Women Viluthu Womens Development Centre, Jaffna

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Context
ri Lanka is a South Asian island nation which gained independence from the British in 1948. It is a multi-ethnic, multireligious and multi-cultural society which for many years enjoyed the distinction of having the best quality of life indicators for the entire South Asian region, especially for women. Despite the fact that Sri Lanka gave the world its first woman Prime Minister, it remains a country in which the status of women is still largely determined by patriarchal norms regarding womans role within the family and the home and a country in which a range of laws and practices that discriminate against women persist. Since the 1970s, the island has been convulsed by two southern insurrections in 1971 and in 1988/ 1989, and a separatist war in the north and east from the late 1970s onwards. These social and political upheavals have led to heavy and widespread militarization, as well as persistent cycles of displacement and refugee outflow. The impact of the protracted conflict has been disproportionately experienced by members of the Tamil community, the largest minority group

in the country. The situation has also resulted in a steady erosion of democratic rights and institutions in general; frameworks of governance that emerged do not reflect the aspirations of all Sri Lankan people and do not effectively respond to their needs. Repressive legislation that set out to curb terrorism has paved the way for a cycle of impunity and lack of accountability for human rights violations for over two decades. The impact of this instability has been deeply experienced by women, especially those living in the conflict-affected areas of the island; Tamil women have been particularly affected. The conflict has led to an increase in all forms of violence against women and also a resurgence of conservative and traditional views on women in all communities. The protracted war between the armed forces of the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam came to an end in May 2009, with thousands killed and wounded and over 300,000 persons displaced from their homes in the Vanni in northern Sri Lanka. In the months that followed, the process of resettlement in the

Tamil civilians fleeing through Vellamullivaikkal during the last battle between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan forces, 2008. photo: www.army.lk

War effected IDP women Chettikulam hospital, in Vavuniya, 2009 Photo: Sachini Perera

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conflict affected areas proceeded slowly and without adequate consultation with affected groups. Feelings of anxiety and insecurity continue to predominate in the Tamil community, especially in the north and east, and the government has been unable to develop democratic processes and structures that could move Sri Lankan society towards reconciliation and healing. Many womens groups in Sri Lanka have worked consistently to call for an end to the war in Sri Lanka and for a peaceful and negotiated political settlement that would meet the democratic aspirations of all communities in Sri Lanka, with a special focus on the rights of minority ethnic and religious communities to live free of discrimination, since the 1980s. Since the end of the military offensive in May 2009, they have called for effective and appropriate humanitarian assistance to the hundreds of thousands displaced by the conflict as well as for human rights protection including guarantees of the safety and security of civilians in the war affected areas of the island.

Due to the security situation, areas of the Vanni most affected by the conflict in 2009 remain inaccessible to most civil society actors. Reconstruction of infrastructure is proceeding with little or no consultation with affected communities, and the widespread presence of the military, especially in the north, continues to create a heavily militarized environment within which the civilian population, especially women and girls, feel extremely insecure and vulnerable to violence and abuse. The absence of a focus on reconciliation, healing and psychosocial interventions within the resettlement and reconstruction programmes means that any long-term perspective of rebuilding lives and communities is missing from these processes. Identifying key concerns for women in those areas and reaching out to rebuild and strengthen alliances that can engage in advocacy for the promotion of womens rights and empowerment in the process of resettlement and reconstruction become serious challenges in this context.

War effected village people in a rally to celebrate the International Womens Day in Kaduruwela, Polonnaruwa, 2001 Photo: Women and Media Collective

People in a peace rally to celebrate the International Womens Day in Colombio, 2005 Photo: Women and Media Collective

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Organizing the Consultation

n 2010, womens groups working in Colombo as well as in the war affected areas of the island began a discussion about how to move forward in the policy arena to ensure that womens voices and concerns would be heard and taken into consideration in the resettlement and reconstruction process. The need to create a space for face to face dialogue and discussion on the post-war situation and on potential processes of reconciliation, healing and transformation came about as a result of these discussions. Some of the groups involved were working on developing collective and strategic interventions that would strengthen the principles set out in UN Security Council Resolution 1325, while others were engaged in promoting a deeper awareness of the Resolution. Four womens organizations - the Women and Media Collective, V iluthu, Womens Development Centre, Jaffna and the Association of War Affected Women took the lead to coordinate with FOKUS, a network of womens organizations in Norway, to obtain the necessary financial support for the Consultation. A broader team of womens organizations and individual women committed to the goals of the Consultation were involved in preparing the Consultation and organizing the event. The primary aims of the groups organizing the Consultation were: to create a safe space for dialogue among women from different ethnic and religious identities, and from diverse geographic locations; to share information about the situation in the conflict affected areas;
Participants of the Womens Cross-Cultural Consultation held in Giritale, Polonnaruwa, July 2010 Photo: Kuhanithy Kuganeshan

to identify shared priorities, available mechanisms and appropriate advocacy strategies at the national and international level; to design individual and collective strategies to ensure womens participation in processes of reconstruction and resettlement at both policy and political levels, looking at both short term and long term trajectories. The Consultation was held in the midst of a host of very complex factors including a difficult political environment, problems of travel and communication and anxieties relating to the safety and security of the participants. The fact that so many women, especially from the north and east, participated in the Consultation itself bears testimony to the commitment of the many women and womens groups who participated to sustain and strengthen a culture of collective action for peace as Sri Lankan women.

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The Participants
nsuring the participation of women from all conflict affected areas, sectors and communities was a key challenge in organizing the Consultation. It was agreed that the criteria for selection should include diversity of experiences and of working in specific sectors. It was decided to draw in women from 9 Districts Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Amparai, Puttlam, Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura. In addition, it was decided to invite some women from the Colombo-based organizations that had been consistently and continuously working with women from the conflict affected areas throughout the conflict. Because of the need to restrict the number of participants, it was decided to organize a meeting with national womens groups following the Consultation, once the report had been finalized. A District Coordinator was selected from each District to recommend names and also to coordinate participation including travel to and from the venue of the Consultation. There was also a process of preparation for the Consultation which was devised as a way of ensuring a sense of inclusion among those women who could not travel or participate in the Consultation. This included formulating a presentation of key points and concerns from the District concerned, and the District Coordinator had the task of ensuring that this was done. 75 women from all parts of the north and east as well as from Colombo and the north-central and south-western Provinces participated in the 3 day Consultation held in Giritale, in the North Central province of Sri Lanka. They represented all ethnic and religious communities and were diverse in terms of age and experience.

The Process and Methodologies

The sessions began informally on the evening of the day on which everyone arrived at the venue. Through a process of sociogramming, the participants got to know one another and also shared personal information. The first day was spent on learning about each others experiences and identifying priority issues. On the second day, there was an information sharing session in which participants learned about national and international forums where their issues could be taken. The Consultation concluded with an extended discussion on future initiatives and strengthening of alliances and partnerships among the various groups that had been present at the Consultation. Throughout the Consultation, there was emphasis on participatory methodologies and a focus on working in small groups based at times on geographic location and at other times on issues of concern.

Participants of the Womens Cross-Cultural Consultation held in Giritale, Polonnaruwa, July 2010 Photo: Kuhanithy Kuganeshan

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DAY 1
t the introductory session on the morning of Day 1 of the Consultation, Kumi Samuel traced the history of women organizing for peace in Sri Lanka, remembering the trajectory of the Womens Action Committee and Women for Peace in the 1980s to the present. Even though the guns had been silenced, the people of the north and east continue to confront a range of difficult and complex situations in their daily life. As women, we want to come together to understand the specific problems faced b y women from conflict affected communities. This Consultation would, we hope, provide an opportunity for us to devise some collective actions that could lead to a resolution of some of the key problems being faced by women in the conflict affected areas of Sri Lanka at the present moment. While we wanted to focus on the national level when considering questions of strategic advocacy to improve life on the ground, we did not want to neglect the specific problems that each of us is facing at the local and community level. We also wanted to share our experiences and strengthen our alliances so that we can stand firm and united against the various forces of discrimination and division that challenge our efforts at collective action for a sustainable and just peace in Sri Lanka. In group work that followed, participants were asked to identify priority issues and also to articulate their expectations of the meeting.

Priority Issues
In the feedback, it became clear that demilitarizing the north and east and guaranteeing non-discrimination and equality were common factors emphasized by almost everyone present. Everyone emphasized the need for a political resolution of the conflict, including guarantees of equal rights for the minority communities. This was seen as the only way of preventing a return to war in the future.

Some of the womens groups felt very strongly that there should be a campaign calling for the removal of army camps from the north and east. Others argued that there was still a question of maintaining security in the war affected areas and that there should be a campaign to ensure that the military adhered to human rights standards and practices. This was not an issue on which consensus could be reached.
The importance of sustaining processes such as this Consultation, that enabled an exchange of ideas and experiences, was also emphasized. Many referred to the need for ensuring that the government of Sri Lanka used the framework in SC Resolution 1325 to ensure the participation of women in all peace building and conflict transformation processes that it initiates and undertakes.

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Among the priority issues that related to the general political, social and economic environment were: identifying obstacles to womens political participation, as well as ways of overcoming these obstacles and ensuring the full and equal participation of women in decisionmaking processes at all levels, starting from the home and family up to national policy making and implementing bodies and national political machineries; creating an environment in which women, especially those whose lives had been affected and transformed by the war, could live safely and securely, free of violence, drawing on existing guarantees of equality and non-discrimination in the Constitution of Sri Lanka as well as in national and international law; advocating for the establishment of the National Womens Commission as the national mechanism that could ensure the protection of the rights guaranteed to women through the Constitution, and through national and international law, especially the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); advocacy for transparency with regard to the various development programmes being undertaken by the government in the war affected areas of the island; campaigning for the removal of High Security Zones and for the restoration of civilian administration in the north and east; calling for more sensitive media coverage of cases of sexual violence against women in the conflict affected areas of the country; advocating for more technical training for women, observing that in the context of the immediate and urgent needs emerging out of disasters and conflicts, there has been
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increasing focus on traditional forms of employment for women; Among the priority issues related to the specific situation of women living in the conflict affected areas were: gathering reliable information regarding the situation of women and children in the war affected areas and ensuring that decisionmakers and policy-makers are apprised of the real situation on the ground; calling for increased access for civil society groups to resettlement areas as well as to IDP and detention camps, in order to ensure their participation in creating mechanisms for the safety and security of internally displaced persons, and especially to ensure the prevention of violence against women; ensuring that resettlement processes would have a strong emphasis on rebuilding livelihoods, and that womens access to

Displaced Muslim women working as day labourers in agriculture fields, Norochcholai, Puttalam, 2005 Photo: Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

economic and financial resources and to sustainable livelihoods would be a priority; developing strategies to support women and children in various forms of detention, including surrendees and those arrested in the last phases of the war, to obtain their release and reintegration into society; calling for access to detainees for family members, lawyers and civil society actors, to facilitate investigation, prosecution when necessary and early release; developing a special focus on women excombatants, especially to support them in facing the challenges of stigma and discrimination they encounter when attempting reintegration into their families and communities; developing a data base on those men and women who disappeared during the war and thereafter, and providing support for family members of the disappeared; advocating for the creation of special programmes that would give access to both informal and formal education to girls and women who had been deprived of education opportunities due to the conflict including due to displacement, closure of schools due to security situation, forced recruitment and early marriage; developing special programmes that would enable young persons under 18 who had contracted marriages during the period of the conflict to have these marriages regularized and to have documentation such as Marriage Certificates and Birth Certificates for children born to these couples issued to them; giving priority to the creation of trauma counseling and psycho-social programmes for everyone affected by the conflict;

Many participants highlighted the fact that many families in the conflict affected areas were headed by women but there was no formal recognition of this fact by policy-makers across the board. Women have been thrust into the situation of head of household due to the death, detention or disappearance of their husband during the conflict and also due to abandonment, which is a common feature in these areas. The blindness of policy makers and decision makers to the specific situation of female headed households (FHHs) in the war affected areas of Sri Lanka has led to many problems being created for this group of women in terms of resettlement entitlements, grants and allowances. Women felt that there had been no discussion with them regarding the reconstruction of their homes. The resettlement package offered to them by the government was not adequate to rebuild the lives they had enjoyed before the war. They also could not organize themselves in any way to address the problems they faced collectively, due to restrictions placed by the authorities. Women in the resettlement areas in particular described the problems they had to face in their daily lives due to restrictions on travel and transport of goods, poor infrastructure facilities, poor health and education services and lack of protection. Lack of transport and of finances for purchase of school needs meant that many children in the resettlement areas faced problems in going to school. In the field of health, there were insufficient medical personnel. Women in particular felt the lack of Family Health Workers (FHWs), who are the community based healthcare providers for women and children. They lacked nutritious food, and pregnant and lactating women as well as infants and young children were especially affected. The absence of civil society organizations that would normally provide support in such situations was deeply felt. The collapse of the community-based safety nets that women relied on for support and the breakdown of family structures and
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relationships meant that women had to shoulder most of the burdens of daily life by themselves. Women described a new culture that emerged out of the experience of displacement which changed and challenged attitudes, prejudices and values among the IDP communities. Some of the changes were positive for women, others were not. Women living in the north highlighted the fact that many of the infrastructure development projects being implemented in the war affected areas were being carried out by temporary Sinhala male workers coming from the south, who were insensitive to their situation. Any conversation or discussion with these individuals was hampered by their lack of knowledge of Tamil. This contributed to their feelings of insecurity. The north was being opened up for trade and commerce in a way that continued to disadvantage the northern communities. Women brought forward many examples in which it became clear that while the markets of the north were being opened up for traders and vendors coming from the south, northern producers faced many problems, including restrictions on transport of goods, when trying to gain access to markets in the south. Women from the northern Muslim community who had been displaced from their homes in 1990, following an edict by the LTTE, spoke of their specific situation of long term displacement and the inability to return to their homes in Mannar and Jaffna even after the ending of the war. Particular issues were raised regarding the lack of protection for women in the IDP camps and in resettlement areas, and their heightened vulnerability to violence. Women faced restrictions and potential violence, for example, when they left the camps to seek firewood for cooking in the nearby jungle. Widows and single women face violence and harassment, especially
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in the resettlement areas. Women have also been subject to sexual harassment and assault when they are alone at home; they fear to complain. The lack of perimeter fencing, lights and presence of military personnel in close proximity to resettlement homes which do not have secure doors and windows were also cited as factors in making them vulnerable to violence. In many resettlement homes, the construction is such that there is no privacy for women and girls to even change their clothes. The participants from the conflict affected areas including in the north and east and north central provinces said they continued to live with deep feelings of anxiety and fear. They felt that the security measures that were in place did not address their needs. Because of the fear of harassment, womens mobility is restricted. The presence of check points and army camps is intimidating and women and girls fear to walk past checkpoints and army camps due to fear of comments and harassment. This sometimes prevents girls from going to school. The ongoing tensions between the various Tamil political groups are also a cause of fear and insecurity. Because of fear of abductions, which often take place during the night, families tend to gather in one place and spend the night together.

Weaving Hands: Women in war affected area of Sungavila, 2001 Photo courtesy: Young Asia Television

District Map of Sri Lanka

Map: http://srilankantourswhbc.com/sl_map.html

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District snapshots
resentations regarding the situation of women in each District represented at the Consultation reflected the views and experiences of the diverse women from each District who were a part of the Consultation process. Some District Coordinators had worked with the participants to support the preparation of the presentation. In addition to common issues relating to the heightened vulnerabilities of female headed households including concerns regarding the increased impoverishment of women, lack of livelihoods and increasing levels of violence including sexual violence and harassment, there were concerns that were specific to the impact of the conflict and specific to the social and cultural environment of particular Districts.

Harvesting sweet corn: Sungavila war affected woman in Polonnaruwa, 2001 Photo courtesy: Young Asia Television

Mannar District
Sexual harassment at workplaces; resettlement programmes did not support women to return to the livelihoods they had followed prior to displacement; problems faced by those who have been disabled due to the conflict and those who care for them; insecurity of women who go to the jungles to gather firewood; lack of social acceptance of female headed households; women engage in sex work because of poverty;

Anuradhapura District: Horawapathana

Discrimination and sexual harassment of war widows; lack of livelihood opportunities for female headed households; early marriage; high levels of violence against women and abandonment of wives and families by husbands; problems created within the family because of drug use;

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Amparai District

Vavuniya District

Lack of livelihoods; poor transport system, which means that women cannot access medical attention when needed including during pregnancy and childbirth; high level of maternal death; high rate of school drop outs due to poverty, lack of security and transport; many women are in the Middle East and their children face many problems including sexual abuse and exploitation by family members and at school; use of mobile phone cameras to generate photos of girls, especially of schoolgirls, with which they are later blackmailed; women have no access to training in technical skills and so remain trapped in traditional livelihoods; number of dependents elderly, disabled - per family is high; no support for traders who have been displaced and resettled to resume their occupation; women display reluctance to vote during elections. In the Amparai District, Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities historically lived side by side. Recent proposals to redefine the borders of local government authorities on the basis of ethnicity are causing tension. Men migrate to other Districts for work and embark on informal relationships with women in those areas; this creates problems within the family. There are specific problems in the Potuvil area, related to land issues and tension between ethnic groups because of land disputes.

The high number of IDP families, displaced as a result of the 2009 offensive as well as from previous rounds of displacement, makes this District unique. The invisibility of internally displaced persons who are living in rented accommodation or with relatives and friends in official records is a factor that affects resettlement programmes and leads to discrimination against this group, within the IDP community. The IDP camps are over-crowded, with each family in a 10 x 10 space; the camps lack basic amenities in adequate quantities to fill the needs of the over 300,000 persons there; nutritional needs are not met; women and girls, especially those constituting female headed households, are constantly vulnerable to sexual harassment, violence and abuse from camp inmates and officials; even though the displacement is long-term, there is no focus on providing livelihood opportunities; men and women live together in the camps informally but then the women are abandoned once the IDPs are in the resettlement pipeline; women who go into the forests to get firewood etc. often face violence and harassment; there are disproportionately high numbers of disabled men and therefore the burden of maintaining the family falls on women; many schools in the
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area only had classes up to Grade 9; if children wan ted to study further, they had to attend schools at a distance; lack of transport and lack of security acted as obstacles to education; increase in drug abuse; early marriages; domestic problems due to migration of women for work outside Sri Lanka and irresponsible parenting by men;

registration, and the potential invisibility of this group in the forthcoming Census. increase in abductions and disappearances; dowry related issues and increase in number of women engaging in sex work; neglect of language parity by officials, with government circulars often being issued only in Sinhala, placing the Tamil speaking population of the District at a disadvantage; the opening of the Mannar road reduced the traveling time for those who regularly travel between Puttlam and Mannar, especially traders and IDPs who go there to work; the government decision to close this road again has caused a lot of unhappiness; large tracts of land that were informally occupied by landless people have been taken back by the state.

Puttlam District

This is a District which is culturally very mixed, with all major ethnic and religious groups present as well as several indigenous communities. It is historically disadvantaged in terms of basic amenities. In 1990, when large numbers of northern Muslims were displaced, most of them were first accommodated in IDP camps in the Puttlam District. There are now 146 resettlement colonies established for this community of IDPs. There are tensions between the IDPs from the north and the communities that have traditionally lived in Puttlam over sharing of resources, particularly because of the inequitable distribution of scarce resources between the two groups by both state and nonstate actors. Although the end of the military conflict in the north enables Muslim IDPs from Puttlam to return to Mannar and Jaffna, there are many specific problems faced by them with regard to return. Among the key issues of this IDP community is the consistent denial of their right to vote because of problems regarding their
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Internally displaced Muslim woman outside a temporary shelter, Puttalam, 2006 Photo: Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts

to those who engage in brewing illicit liquor makes it difficult to put an end to this practice.

Polonnaruwa District: Welikanda

These areas faced the most intense impact of the conflict, especially in 2009 and continue to be the part of the island with the most complex humanitarian and human rights issues related to the end of the conflict. The establishment of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) to oversee all humanitarian and relief initiatives in the Vanni and proliferation of rules and regulations that govern access and mobility of humanitarian agencies to areas within the Vanni act as obstacles to IDP communities who want to access assistance and support that is normally available to them through a range of civil society organizations including religious and social welfare organizations. There is a false notion being created in the minds of those outside the Vanni regarding the re-housing programme. People only see some of the projects on the two sides of the main A9 road on television news programmes but these are the exception rather than the rule. high number of female headed households because men are dead, disappeared or in detention; inadequate provision of housing for IDPs who are being resettled; resettlement sites lack water and sanitation; there is no focus on livelihood options for women heads of household; locating military checkpoints at every turn in the road increases the feelings of insecurity among women; there are at time about 20 checkpoints within 1 kilometer stretch of road; most government institutions do not have enough Tamil speaking staff; lack of transport; special problems in IDP camps include the availability of liquor and domestic conflicts due to alcoholism; the support given by the army

This is an area on the border of the Batticaloa District where there are indigenous communities as well as Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities who have been settled there under government sponsored land grant schemes in the 1960a and 1970s and under the Mahaweli Development Programme of the 1980s. Poverty among women is high; there is a general sense of insecurity; the creation of separate Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim villages under the Mahaweli Authority has created divisions among the communities living here; there are land issues specific to female headed households within the Mahaweli B Zone which are to do with denial of title to the land grant to women, when male head of household is dead or missing ; women who have traditionally gone into the forest areas to cut cane, or go fishing in the tanks face difficulties because of security restrictions on access to the forests and tanks; early marriage; low levels of education; the indigenous communities who have traditionally lived in these areas are neglected by the state and by non-governmental agencies. Women of the Tamil and Muslim community in this area face specific problems. There are a large number of widows and women who have been
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disabled due to the war who need support to establish their households, maintain their families and engage in livelihood and income generating activities. Getting documentation that was lost during displacement, including Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates and National Identity Cards, remains a complex process. Many are in fact informal IDPs who have settled in this area but have no official status. Muslim and Tamil children who study in Tamil as the primary medium of education can only attend school up to Grade 5. After that, they must travel over 25 km to go to school; parents cannot afford the bus fare and are also anxious about the security of the children traveling to and from school. This is a reason for the high school dropout rate among Tamil students.

to escort them when they have to leave the house; there is as prevalence of violence against women, including sexual violence, within IDP camps including by officials; stigma and ostracization of women who have been victims of violence, by the community; close proximity of army camps to residences creates insecurity in women who live in such houses; lack of support for the disabled; there is some focus on widows but not enough attention is paid to the wives of the disabled; orphans, especially girls, are subject to discrimination and exploitation by extended family members.

Trincomalee District

Jaffna District

People in the District have experienced militarization and intense conflict over a period of over twenty years. Since 1995 the military has taken over vast tracts of arable land as High Security Zones, and owners have not been able to return to their homes and fields after the end of the war. Large numbers of abductions and disappearances have taken place and civilians in the peninsula remains vulnerable to human rights violations. There is still a large community of internally displaced persons living within the peninsula. The impact of the conflict has resulted in large numbers of widows and orphans, and female headed households. difficulties in obtaining Death Certificates for those who died in the conflict; girls who were married at an early age for fear of forced recruitment by the LTTE do not have Marriage Certificates; because of the fear of violence, women are dependent on male family members
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Poor economic conditions prevent children from going to school; fishermen still face restrictions on fishing; some resettlement programmes for fishing communities take them away from the sea; there are still many in IDP camps without any clear resettlement programme; insufficient professional help for those who need psychosocial care; increase in numbers of women engaging in sex work due to poverty and lack of options; generally poor infrastructure and services in the health and education sectors; women are used by politicians in their campaigns but the politicians never do anything towards the upliftment of women; land issues create tensions between the different ethnic groups; construction of religious sites also leads to tension.
Maps: http://mappery.com/map-of/Sri-Lanka-Political-Map

DAY 2 Shared Priority Concerns

discussion took place on the overall historical, political, economic and social context within which the group could understand the complex issues being raised by each of the Districts. Among the questions that guided the discussion were: 1. What is the context and the historical reality that has created this situation ? 2. What do we see as the common factors in the experiences we are describing ? 3. What are the factors that are specific to each of the Districts we come from ? 4. What are the areas in which we have been able to intervene and bring about some change so far ? 5. Where have we been unsuccessful ? This discussion paved the way for a process of identifying priority focus areas. The priority that emerged as an over-arching theme was that of the impact of militarization on women; the need to advocate for a return to civilian administration; issues created by the High Security Zones and the Presidential Task Force; continued presence of the military

throughout the north and east; involvement of military in trade and infrastructure reconstruction. In addition, everyone agreed that practical articulation to the Constitutional and legal guarantees of equality were essential if all communities were to live free of discrimination. Implementation of programmes to eliminate and prevent violence against women was a critical need for women in order for them to be able to live their lives fully and freely. The government should be lobbied to implement the rights and principles set out in international laws relating to womens equality and freedom including CEDAW. The government should also be lobbied for the integration of the principles of womens participation and of gender-sensitive perspectives in programming and policy making in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1325. Women should be encouraged and supported to organize themselves from the local and community level upwards, ensuring that they are not dependent on support from national and international NGOs.
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Womens groups should come forward to campaign for an end to patriarchal attitudes and values in society.

Other priority areas:

Restrictions on mobility; lack of security and protection for women; violence against women, sexual harassment, domestic violence; land and livelihood issues related to resettlement; issues related to women detainees and ex-combatants; need for psycho-social care and special attention for the disabled; discrimination in the use of language ; problems of documentation: Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates, land deeds, National identity Cards; absence of women in decision-making bodies; neglect of persons from specially disadvantaged communities such as the indigenous.

Group Discussions
The key questions were: 1.How can we identify the most appropriate forum where we can take forward the issue that most concerns us? 2. Who could be our allies? The groups divided into 5 small groups focusing on the priority issues identified on the previous day: Livelihoods Safety and Security Displacement and Resettlement Detainees and Ex-combatants Political Participation and Decision-making Structures The objective was to come up with some practical and concrete interventions that could be carried out at the District level and that could also be transformed into campaigning and advocacy actions at the national and international levels.
20 | Womens Cross-Cultural Consultation: Giritale, Sri Lanka: Participants in group discussions of the Womens Cross-Cultural Consultation held in Giritale, Polonnaruwa, July 2010 Photo: Kuhanithy Kuganeshan

Proposed Strategic Interventions

Livelihoods
strengthen programmes for providing skill training in non-traditional occupations for women; advocate for the Presidential Task Force in the Vanni to have a Gender Advisory Team; campaign for the release of land and property presently defined as High Security Zones to original owners; create networks for exchange and sale of seeds and farm produce among womens groups working in agricultural and fisheries sectors; call for provision of support services for traders in the north and east to carry out their business without hindrance and also to be able to travel and engage in trade and commerce outside of the north and east; develop credit and loan services that will respond to the specific needs of women in resettled communities and that will give them access to the material and financial resources they need to build up their livelihoods.

Safety and Security

advocate for creation of effective mechanisms to protect women from violence and guarantee their freedom of movement; work for the establishment of womens shelters for women fleeing domestic violence and abusive situations; monitor the investigation of cases of violence against women and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice because of the strong sense among women that perpetrators often get away very lightly; encourage religious communities, places of worship and religious schools to develop a positive image of women; ensure active participation of women in Mediation Boards and in other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms at the local and community level; ensure better understanding of the structural nature of violence in all programmes to raise awareness and combat violence against women.

Livelihood through firewood: women in war affected Sungavila, 2001 Photo courtesy: Young Asia Television

Heading home after a visit to the clinic, Vavuniya IDP camp, 2009 Photo curtsy : Sachini Perera

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Displacement and Resettlement

call for inclusion of women in decisionmaking bodies within the IDP and resettlement communities; call for more participatory and consultative processes for deciding the sites of development projects; at present, for example, there is a proposal to locate a power generating plant in an area in which there are many natural resources that people have used traditionally; advocate for removal of High Security Zones in north and east; ensure that conditions in the IDP camps and in resettlement areas do not make women more vulnerable to sexual harassment and violence, for example by building covered and sheltered bathing areas and toilets in locations that are easily accessible to women; draw attention to the fact that there are many issues arising because there are different groups of IDPs, including those who were displaced since the 1990s; these groups have been compensated and treated differently from one another, leading to tensions and allegations of injustice to older displaced communities; there are land disputes with those IDPs who went to India returning and

claiming land that has been used by local people for over 15 years; advocate for groups who would have offered humanitarian assistance for resettled communities to have access to these areas; at present they are unable to act because of rules and regulations imposed by the government. engage in dialogue with the authorities to point out that trade and commerce in the Vanni being almost entirely in the hands of the military creates unrest among the people; demand that the state allocated resettlement grant of Rs. 25,000 per household is given to all resettled IDPs; at present, this has not been received by many;

Detainees and Ex-combatants

engage in advocacy to call for all detainees to be brought to trial and released if there are no charges against them; ensure that organizations that provide support for families to visit detainees can continue to function freely; call for clemency to be shown to those who were forcibly recruited to the LTTE or who were forced to support the organization;

IDP women at Manik Farm, Vavuniya, 2009 Photo courtesy: Sachini Perera

Womens organizations celebrating International Peace Day on 21st September, Colombo, 2006 Photo: Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala

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take steps to ensure that there is respect for womens rights in all areas of life of detainees; for example, in the incident in which there was a mass marriage ceremony for detainees, there are reports that some of the women were forced into these marriages; campaign for establishment of programmes for psycho-social and psychological rehabilitation of detainees and also for training them in life skills; visits by family members and members of the religious community should be facilitated; create community level programmes to support the re-integration of excombatants, especially women; at present they face many problems due to being ostracized by family members and by the community in general.

Political Participation and Decisionmaking Structures

advocate for better representation of women in political and institutional structures from the village level upwards; advocate for implementation of SC Resolution 1325 to ensure participation of women in any peace building and conflict resolution and transformation processes that may take place in the future; develop and implement programmes that can support and build capacities of women from local communities to enter the political mainstream.

Former Tamil Tiger rebel couples during a mass wedding ceremony at a government rehabilitation camp near Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka, 2010 Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP

http://www.guardian.co.uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10308540

Womens Cross-Cultural Consultation: Giritale, Sri Lanka | 23

DAY 3 Information-sharing
Advocacy Forums

here were presentations on forums where advocacy for protection of womens rights and for improvement of the situations outlined on Day 2 could be carried out at both the national and international levels. This session was conceived primarily as an information-sharing session.

transformation and peace building. She also described the key aspects of SCR 1820 and its focus on violence against women in times of conflict. Kumudini Samuel of the Women and Media Collective did a presentation on the role that women and womens organizations in Sri Lanka have played so far in calling for a sustainable peace with justice in the country. She affirmed that womens groups would submit an Alternative Report to the CEDAW Committee in January 2011 during their review of the reports submitted by the government of Sri Lanka and engage in interactions with the Committee at this time. She stressed that we must focus our work to ensure that we hold the government of Sri Lanka accountable to its obligations and commitments under international law as well as national law, to improve the situation of women and guarantee the protection and promotion of womens rights in Sri Lanka. She said that we must use these normative frameworks in our everyday work and that our work must be sustained and long term instead of ad-hoc and project based.

Among the areas covered were the various mechanisms and procedures of the UN human rights system that had a mandate to protect womens rights and especially the rights of women affected by conflict. These included CEDAW and Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820. Attorney at Law Shamila Daluwatta made a presentation on CEDAW and womens activism , titled A single bangle never jangles and emphasizing the need for collective action in order to bring about change for women. Saroja Sivachandran of the WDC, Jaffna made a presentation on SC Resolutions 1325 and 1820. She focused on the aspects of SCR 1325 that enable us to advocate for the participation of women from civil society organizations in decision-making in processes of conflict
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Womens initiatives in the current context: the philosophical and political framework
Sunila Abeysekera of INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre: Women activists are engaged in working for social change. This too is a political act. Politics does not mean only working for a political party or group, or casting your vote at an election. How can we change the existing political structures in order to bring about a just social order? This is our challenge. This Consultation has enabled Sinhala women to experience what it means to be a minority in a consultative process. This has been a good learning experience. When we discussed our problems, we also identified the obstacles we face when we try to work for womens advancement. We saw that these barriers and obstacles stretch all the way from our village to the national and international sphere. Even though the military conflict has ended, there is still no discussion about a political structure within which the rights and needs of the Tamil people will be satisfied. Even though the Constitution of Sri Lanka guarantees our equality, as Tamil citizens we are still afraid to speak out about our concerns. We talk about taking our issues to the UN. But the UN is also an organization that is made up of states, including the Sri Lankan state. Our challenge is to talk about our issues within our own context. If we want to live in a democracy, then creating the conditions for democracy in our families, in our villages and in our country is our responsibility. How can we bring back energy into civil society organizations and activism? This too is a challenge.

We must first think about what it is that we can do to bring about even small changes in our daily lives, as women, in our own families, villages and communities. Getting to know how the Grama Niladhari (Village official) works in our village and bring pressure to bear on him to act fairly towards women would be a crucial first step. Organizing ourselves to do this collectively will strengthen us and our efforts. Sherine Xavier of Home for Human Rights: It is very important that we have spent our time together so far to identify what are our priorities. We have been able to talk about what are the problems and obstacles we face in achieving the goals we set for ourselves as we work for the advancement of womens rights in a post-war situation. And we have begun to talk about what could be the strategies we use to overcome these obstacles. We have discussed how we can do this at all the different levels we work in, from the local to the international. We are very fortunate that we have been able to go through this process together. We have to ask ourselves: Do we live in a democratic society? This is a question that lies behind everything that we have discussed so far. Take for example the issue that we have identified as being most important for us - the issue of the High Security Zones. This is an issue that really poses a challenge to us about democratic structures and how we can use them to guarantee our safety and our freedom. Even though the war has ended, we have still not achieved peace. Before May 13, 2009, there was a discussion about the shape and form of a political solution to the conflict. People talked about going beyond the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. But today, we are not sure whether even the 13th Amendment will be implemented fully. Even though the war has ended, the Tamil speaking people of this country have not been offered a political solution. They continue to live as a weakened minority in this country.
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The Constitution of Sri Lanka gives us a guarantee that we are all equal. Yet, as Tamil citizens, we are afraid to claim our rights, we are afraid to talk about the violations of our rights that we experience every day. If we want to build a democratic family, a democratic community and a democratic country, we have to speak out. We have to make sure that the government adheres to international standards. Two key political issues that we should focus on are: in the process of talking about devolution of power or any other power-sharing arrangement, we should call for the equal participation of women at every stage; now that the military conflict is concluded, the government should honour its commitments under international law to guarantee womens rights and equality.

Discussions on Strategic Interventions

Women presented their ideas both from a general perspective as well as from the perspective of the specificity of the District they came from or work in. General concerns: The need to decrease military presence in the daily life of people of the north and east emerged as a key and over-arching concern. Strengthening the rule of law, reduction of geographic areas defined as High Security Zones, the repeal of Emergency Regulations and of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), release of detainees being held without charges, challenging impunity with regard to human rights violations, strengthening media freedom, restoring and strengthening the civilian administration especially in war affected areas, recognition of the specific needs of female headed households, ensuring higher participation of women in all decision-making structures and
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Over 47,000 war widows - Demonstration outside the Fort Railway Station to commemorate International Womens Day on 8th March 2007. The Demonstration was organized by the Sri Lanka Women for Peace and Democracy. Photo : Velayudan Jayachithra

working with the media to create a more positive image of women and of womens activism were common issues. Ensuring full and fair implementation of the laws that prevent violence against women, including bringing perpetrators to justice regardless of political pressure and influence was also identified as a critical issue. There was also a common concern regarding the need to have a more intensive dialogue regarding the nature of peace in a multi-ethnic country such as Sri Lanka, working for attitudinal changes within all ethnic and religious groups that could enable living together with respect. We also need to understand what democracy can mean for each individual citizen in this country. Ensuring that all politicians and government officials are aware of the international obligations of the state under human rights and humanitarian law was seen a critical area to work on. Raising awareness on the practical use of documents such as Security Council Resolution 1325 was an important part of this process.

Women also proposed that we should organize open dialogues and discussions regarding ethnic identities, about Sinhala and Tamil politics based on identity and the attitudes of both communities towards each other. This would help build reconciliation. We should also ask ourselves the question: what are our hopes and dreams for Sri Lanka, after the end of the war. What is peace, what does it mean for us ?

Strategic Interventions that can help to improve the situation of women

strengthening knowledge and analytical skills of women affected by conflict to enable them to understand issues of gender and patriarchy and conflict; supporting women to develop non-violent methods of intervening in the present situation to enhance the lives of women and of all affected groups and communities; building networks to strengthen womens initiatives to improve their situation at the local and community level and to enable women to become active participants in decision-making processes from local to national level; developing methodologies for working with men to improve the status and situation of women, especially because of conservative cultural and social patterns within male behavior in all communities in the north and east.

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Strategic Interventions for each District

Responding to the question: How do we analyse our reality? What intervention do we want to make? 1. What would be the best entry point and/or platform for us to take our intervention forward? 2. Who are our allies ? Who will oppose us? 3. How can we overcome the obstacles that will confront us?

Trincomalee
We also plan to support women in the local government elections. Because we come from a District where there is an almost equal proportion of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people, we feel that we can use this process to raise awareness about the positive areas of multicultural life. We will focus on encouraging young women to come forward as candidates and build a support base with teachers, government officials, religious leaders in the District. We will develop a media and advocacy campaign. We have a question to the group: is it not possible to think of creating a womens political party?

Batticaloa
We want to support women to contest the forthcoming local government elections. We will organize meetings that bring together women who are potential candidates as well as women who work within the government, experts on womens rights and womens political participation to make sure that there is a strong support base for them. We should also mobilize this group to engage in discussions with all political parties and groups. We will build a base from which we can challenge corrupt and unfair practices at every level. We will also develop a campaign to denounce the misrepresentation of womens issues in the media, and try to change the portrayal of women politicians in the media. We will campaign on the basis that every voter should cast one vote for a female candidate. A big challenge will be to support women to raise funds for their election campaigns.

A banner displayed in Kinniya town, of a women candidate who contested in the local government elections in Trincomalee, March 2011. Photo: Viluthu, Trincomalee

Amparai
We want to do programmes that highlight issues of violence against women in the District. At present, this issue is quite invisible. It is in particular very difficult to raise this issue within the Muslim community. In general, some religious leaders of all religious groups are resistant to discussions of womens rights and do not want public discussion on violence against women. We need to build public opinion and create a support base within the official infrastructure so that women can raise these issues without fear.

Protests against the increasing incidences of violence against women, 2005 Photo courtesy: Suriya Womens Development Centre, Batticaloa

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We thought of conducting a survey on the types of violence, available mechanisms for support for women and for justice and redress. Once we have identified particular groups that are most at risk and vulnerable to violence, we will design programmes to meet their needs. We want to use alternative forms such as street theatre and art competitions to draw public attention to this situation. We will record our experiences and use that documentation to take our issues to the national level. We want to become a part of national and international campaigns against violence against women.

President through our Members of Parliament to ask for a process of resettlement that respects the rights of IDPs. We want to learn about similar processes in other countries that have gone through a conflict. Since the mainstream media does not give sufficient coverage to our issues, we will work with people in the alternative media field to get some publicity for our work and views. Comment: to both Amparai and Mannar groups: - when gathering information on violence against women you have to be careful to maintain confidentiality; it would also be helpful to build links with lawyers and medical professionals in the District;

Mannar
We want to carry out awareness raising programmes on violence against women. We will work with religious and community leaders to distribute leaflets and hold public seminars on the topic. We cannot hope to take our issues to the national level without first working at the village level.

Polonnaruwa
We want to do an awareness-raising programme on the need to have equal presence of women in all decision-making bodies. We plan to cover 1205 villages in our area and raise awareness through the use of creative means such as street theatre, posters and small group discussions. We will work together with religious leaders, youth groups and other village and community level organizations. We are aware that we may face resistance from the community and also from officials who do not want to admit that this type of discrimination against women is a problem.

Jaffna
We want to focus on the issue of resettlement of displaced persons. This covers a range of areas of concern for us, including release of lands now defined as High Security Zones to their original owners. Land is also a factor in domestic violence cases. This is because land that was promised as dowry has not been given to the woman, due to disputed ownership as a result of the conflict. Providing appropriate assistance to rebuild livelihoods is also a key part of the resettlement process. We want to address a petition to the

Livelihood : women in war affected Sungavila, 2001 Photo courtesy: Young Asia Television

Two wheels for three: Post War Jaffna Town, 2011 Photo: Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai Womens Cross-Cultural Consultation: Giritale, Sri Lanka | 29

Anuradhapura
We want to do a campaign to eliminate violence against women in our District. In order to do this, we will initially bring together all the different government and non-government agencies working in the area of violence against women and girls, and build a network for collective action. There is quite a big opposition to this work in the District and women are vulnerable to abduction and all types of psychological harassment if they speak out.

Puttlam
We want to do public education on violence against women including domestic and cultural violence. We will use the media and also street theatre and kavi madu (a traditional cultural form of impromptu poetry recitals). We also want to focus on the situation of Muslim IDPs who have been living in Puttlam since they were evicted from Jaffna in 1990. They face very specific problems, and even the issue of resettlement in the post-conflict context is complicated because return of Muslims to Jaffna and Mannar is still a contested issue especially in terms of land rights. People in Puttlam are asking why the IDPs are not returning to their homes now that the war is over. This is a very delicate issue, we have to handle it with care.

Vavuniya
We want to raise awareness regarding the complex nature of displacement and the specific problems faced by us in Vavuniya among social activists in our District and nationally. Among the issues we want to raise are the problems faced by civilians on a day to day basis because of the close proximity of army camps to residential areas; we want to call for a removal of many of these small army camps. There is also a need for good documentation on the situation within the camps that still exist in Vavuniya. We want to work closely with the various media persons based in Vavuniya to ensure that there is a good representation of the actual situation including of the situation of women IDPs. We cannot do anything without the support of the authorities and we must work together with other groups and individuals to create a successful advocate to enable us to carry on with our work in Vavuniya.

Awareness raising through street theatre on War and Peace, Community Encouragement Foundation, Puttalam, 2008 Photo courtesy: Community Encouragement Foundation

Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi

We are the people who faced the direct impact of the war. As citizens of this country, we faced many challenges. We have seen terrible suffering. We have seen our family members killed and abducted. We had nobody to turn to. We had to take care of ourselves. We lost everything. We were left only with our lives. We have not received adequate compensation to rebuild our homes and lives in the way that they were before the war.
War affected ID woman in Chettikulam Hospital, Vavuniya, 2009 Photo courtesy: Sachini Perera

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A key obstacle we face is that people are afraid to work together or to speak out against injustice because of the climate of fear that still prevails in the District.

We want to focus on the right of women to mobility, and work together with the Tamil newspapers and media to draw attention to the problem of lack of safety and security for women. Protection of women in the camps is a special concern. Many of them are reluctant to speak about their experience and be identified because of the social and cultural environment. We have to give strength to victims of violence to speak out. During the height of the conflict nobody was able to offer us protection. We had to protect ourselves. So we must do this for ourselves now as well. We will submit petitions and letters asking for intervention from our Members of Parliament. We feel this may give some positive results. Women from the Vanni want to have stronger links with womens groups from other regions.

A personal testimony
I am a woman from the communities that faced the most horrible experiences due to the war. We lived for days in bunkers. We could not go out even for a minute. We only brought a towel and a sheet with us. There was no food. We didnt eat for 3 days. When we could buy food, we had to pay 3500 rupees for a kilo of rice. We would build the fire outside and keep running between the bunker and the fireplace in order to cook our food. Nobody cared about us then. 76 women who were holding their infants and standing in a line to get milk foods were blown up by a shell. We never want to go through such an experience again. We have to say that we have different experiences with the army. Some of them are helpful to us, others are not. There are times when the army men too have expressed their regret at what has happened to us. We have too many orphans, too many widows. We have to help them. Nobody can come to visit us without permission from the government and from the military. We really hope that this solidarity that we have built here will help us to work together to improve the situation in which we live.
- Participant from the Vanni

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Follow up

t was agreed to focus in the immediate future on 2 areas where collective and collaborative efforts may have some impact:

1. The creation of womens shelters in the north and east, taking the experiences of existing shelters into consideration. 2. Advocate with funders and with the government to set aside a specific proportion of aid received for working on areas specific to women affected by conflict. 3. We would also do some de-briefings with members of womens groups who could not participate in the Giritale Consultation for a variety of reasons.

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Conclusions: a collective response

t is interesting that all the Districts have decided to focus on two areas, violence and political participation. Although we had agreed that militarization was a key issue, we have not focused on it directly most of the time when talking about our strategic interventions. It is clear that we have to have expanded discussions on the political framework and environment within which we can talk about violence against women and about womens political participation in a democratic world. The conflict has affected all of us. All of us have suffered because of the conflict, some directly, others not so directly. Our experiences of the conflict may be different but we have all our own stories to tell about how we felt the impact of the conflict. However, there is no denying the reality of the experience of our sisters from the Vanni. There is no way that any of us who were not a part of that experience of the war can even begin to imagine what it was like. We live in a country where we are not free. In Colombo we have 28 High Security Zones. In Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, hundreds of villagers from all ethnic groups were massacred during the 1990s. During this time, the STF was involved in many massacres in the east. In many poor villages on the borders of the North Central Province, becoming a Home Guard was the only employment opportunity available for young men. For young Tamil men, taking up arms was the only perceived way to win their rights. In all our communities, we know of those who laid down their lives for the sake of their beliefs, for the sake of the fight for rights, for their own rights and for the rights of others. How can we claim that history as our own? How can we allow those experiences of the past illuminate our present? How can we build a movement for

democracy, justice and peace that can challenge undemocratic laws and undemocratic governments? How can we move beyond the use of violence as a political strategy? When we came here to Giritale, many of us did not know each other. During these days we have learned many things about each other and our experiences. The next time we meet, we will be building on this basis of trust and hopefully we can move forward with some collective strategies and solutions for our common problems. During the past years we have faced many challenges because of the conflict. Those of us from the south know how we tried to raise our voices against the conflict and against the destruction of life in the north and east. We want to tell our sisters from the Vanni how sorry we are that we were not able to extend any support to them during the last days of the war, when they were engaged in a life and death struggle. Perhaps sisters from the north and east did not hear us because our call was so faint and so hidden, even by the media. We supported a call for the creation of a humanitarian corridor, to allow the people of the Vanni to leave the battlefield safely. We petitioned the government, the international community, the UN. This call went un-heard. During the time of the tsunami, many of us worked in the eastern province, doing what we could to provide assistance and support to women who had been affected by the tsunami. We worked in Amparai, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna. But we could not go to Mullaitivu because of the situation that prevailed at that time. We were very sorry about that. But in our advocacy we did emphasise that women in tsunami affected communities under LTTE
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control should also benefit from the various relief programmes and packages that others were enjoying. Today we can join hands to see how we can influence the reconstruction process to make sure that women are treated fairly and that the specific needs of women are taken into account in providing assistance and relief. For example, we can try to make the Presidential Task Force more responsive to womens needs. We can ask the donors to ensure that a certain percentage of their aid is set aside specifically for women. In our discussions here, we have only skimmed the surface. We have not said everything that we wanted to say. We could not agree on how best we could take on the topic of militarization in this country. We come from very different circumstances and backgrounds. But we were united in our understanding that as the guns fall silent after 35 years of war in this country, we have to continue to campaign for peace, for a just and sustainable peace. This Consultation has shown us that we can sit down together, discuss our problems and talk about shared activism. We can create a strong network that can advocate with the government and with international organizations to bring about a change in our situation and to win guarantees for womens rights and equality in Sri Lanka. We are a strong group of women, with many experiences and skills. We can do this together. It is women who have in the past worked strongly for collective approaches to end the war and build a peaceful society. Now we must do it again. Of the issues we have discussed, some can be taken up in the immediate future: Issues of humanitarian assistance to the people of the Vanni, for example, or of the small steps that can be taken to make life in the north and east safer for women. We must talk about the resettlement of the Vanni people along with the resettlement of the northern Muslims. These are

complex issues but call for immediate and quick interventions because the resettlement process is going on as we speak. There are other, broader, political and philosophical issues that we need to talk about more. After 35 years, we have sat together over the past 2 days to talk together and build a bridge of trust and friendship among us. Now we can move forward to see what are the areas and topics on which we can work together to bring a sustainable peace to our country. We must work towards a future meeting at which we can talk about what kind of a political vision we want to develop and put forward as women who believe in peace, in justice with respect for rights and in a non-violent transformation to democracy.

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