Sri Lanka's conflict-affected Tamil women still seeking justice - report

Eight years after the end of Sri Lanka's armed conflict, Tamil women in the war-torn north and east are still seeking justice and truth for wartime violations, a report released by a non-governmental organization committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict says.

The International Crisis Group in a report released today says the promises by the government to the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2015 have failed to materialize and the urgent economic and psychosocial needs of all conflict-affected groups remain unmet. The report notes that the legacy of war continues to impose hardships, particularly on conflict-affected women: lack of information on missing relatives, displacement from their land, economic deprivation, psychological trauma, vulnerability to sexual violence and exploitation, plus a militarized environment that reinforces much of the above. Despite their agenda-setting activism, women have been given little role in shaping transitional justice policies, the ICG says in its report. The conflict-affected women's most urgent demand is to know the fate of missing relatives but they also insist that the truth and justice they seek must be part of a broader approach to meet their economic, social, psychological, and security needs. The ICG urges the Sri Lankan government to prioritize the needs and rights of conflict-affected women if Sri Lanka is to address the past in a way that reconciles its communities and builds lasting peace. The ICG among the recommendations made to the Sri Lankan government urged to make the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) operational immediately with independent staff, offices and give sufficient resources to set up branches in the north and east. "Addressing the specific needs of conflict-affected women and involving them more fully in the design and implementation of transitional justice programs are essential steps, both for reducing the rising tension in the north and east and for restoring hope that the political transition promised in 2015 can still be realized," the report said.