CHENNAI: “The deafening silence around sexual violence is mainly due to social stigma and the fear of retaliation. The pressure from family and community is also forcing victims to remain mute. Despite awareness attempts, people feel it as a matter of disgrace”, said Sumathy Sivamohan, a well known feminist from Sri Lanka. She was addressing a seminar on Sexual Violence and Impunity in South Asia: The Search for Justice in Sri Lanka’ at the Madras Institute of Developmental Studies (MIDS) in the backdrop of Sri Lanka from the volume, The Search for Justice: The Sri Lanka Papers.’
The book is one among the eight which emerged out of a three year research project on Sexual Violence and Impunity in South Asia supported by International Development Research Centre, Canada. The main objective of the study was to develop and deepen the understanding on sexual violence and impunity in South Asia through various programmes. The broad findings of the exercise confirms that sexual violence is used as a weapon on women, some men and transgenders with impunity by ordinary men and by men in uniform.
Sumathy said sexual violence and the deafening silence around it has increased. “Not just courts, but an entire support system consisting of forums and women’s groups are needed for the victims to break their silence on the issue”, she added. The eight volumes examine a range of issues including use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in times of internal and external conflicts, looking at the ways in which women survive and engage with questions of law, evidence and the courts and considering the issues they have to confront at the level of family and community. The book was launched by renowned writer V. Geetha at Kaviko Arangam. Statistics reveal there are 90,000 widows and about 50,000 households headed by women in Sri Lanka after 26 years of violence, with no support and no resources. The study says they are vulnerable to sexual violence.
