Let the rape victims speak

“The rape story of this woman calls for mechanisms to set up in the international level guarantying security, safety and confidentiality of the rape victims to reveal their ordeals without fear.”(Image: Krishanthy Kumarasamy gang raped by the soldiers in 1996)
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By Rajasingham Jayadevan

(October 10,London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The government of Sri Lanka is very successful in suppressing its brutal war efforts to vanquish the LTTE and also the inhuman sufferings of the war victims. By suppressing the avenues that monitor and control abuses and reporting the facts, it is extending the impunity for the security forces.

Following publication of series of articles on rape, I had some important contacts from reliable sources. One of them was a reputable figure (identity withheld) in Sri Lanka that had in-depth knowledge of the situation in the IDP camps. He said: ‘there is enough evidence that the soldiers are forcefully removing the Tamil women on the charges of weeding out the LTTE elements and raping them outside the camp’.

I was also approached by a relative of a rape victim. According to him, one night in (July 2009), few soldiers entered the camp (name withheld) and removed five young women on the charges of links to the LTTE. They were taken to the nearby army camp and assaulted and repeatedly gang raped. His relative was brought back to the camp on the following morning. The young lady was highly traumatised and almost reached the psychotic stage following the incident.

The contact said, the military permitted the relatives to take away the victim from the camp and she did not have much difficulty is having a safe passage out of Sri Lanka (place withheld).

In the very difficult conditions imposed by the government for the victims, media and the independent functionaries in Sri Lanka, the truth is not coming out and the social shame for the victim is compounding the situation further and helping the security forces to extend their freewill on the women.

Rape is considered to be the worst of all the crimes committed by the government forces. They too take the social stigma attached to violence against the women. The relative approached the brother of the rape victim to tell experience of his sister to the international human rights organisations confidentially. The brother had apparently said ‘we are highly traumatised over what had happened to our sister. We had enough. Just leave us alone and we want to help our sister to settle in whatever way’.

He also had said: ‘we do not want to put other people in the camp in a difficult situation by telling our sister’s story’.

This is just one of the many stories that are finding their way out in a limited way. The government is providing all the safeguards to the soldiers to enjoy the impunity by not creating mechanisms to prevent such violations taking place.

According to sources there are no mechanisms within the IDP camps to safeguard the interests of vulnerable women and children. There is no record keeping of persons removed by the army and these are not monitored independently by reliable bodies.

The rape story of this woman calls for mechanisms to set up in the international level guarantying security, safety and confidentiality of the rape victims to reveal their ordeals without fear. The victims fear retribution on them and others from the security forces and this must be considered in any international effort.

When the government is preventing due process to reflect accountability, such international effort from the relevant UN agencies or the International Human Rights Organisations would permit victims to tell their experiences without fear and the charge of impunity enjoyed by the forces can be established strongly.

-Sri Lanka Guardian