WOMEN’S
CONCERNS AND THE PEACE PROCESS
Recommendations
International
Women’s Mission to the North East of Sri Lanka
12th
to 17th October 2002
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a welcome first step towards seeking a just and sustainable solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict. The resultant ceasefire provides a respite from armed confrontation and war, which the country and its peoples so desperately need. Two rounds of negotiations have now been concluded between the GOSL and the LTTE with the facilitation of the Government of Norway and it is to be hoped that this constructive process will continue, for the benefit of all the country’s peoples.
Peace negotiations are never simple and all members of society must share the burden of peace making and peace building. Agreements reached in any peace process must be transparent and address the concerns of civilians and civil society. A peace process needs to have the active participation of the people most affected by conflict, the people who have paid the price of war.
Among those who have been most deeply and traumatically affected by the conflict are women: women who have lost family members; who have been forced from their homes to live impoverished lives as displaced persons; who have found themselves as heads of households as a result of their losses. Such women are often the most marginalized amongst the many who suffer the consequences of war. It is thus all the more important to ensure that the voices and needs of women will not be ignored or forgotten during these early stages of the peace process, and that their needs will be addressed.
Women are often portrayed as
passive victims of violent conflict, but at times of war many women in fact
adopt new activist roles. Civilian women often become providers for their
families, assuming sole responsibility for family welfare and holding
fragmented communities together. In Sri Lanka many women joined the LTTE and
became part of their fighting cadre.
As displaced people, as
refugees, as survivors of military offensives, landmine injuries and sexual
violence, as mothers and girls, and as soldiers and combatants, women
experience conflict differently from men.
Women are affected disproportionately by the consequences of war and
need to be involved in shaping the contours of peace. Yet women have had very
little influence over the decision-making processes that determine the course
of conflict and they continue to have little influence over peace processes. We
believe that women must have the right to participate in and help shape the
making of peace.
It is in this context that a number of women’s
organizations in Sri Lanka, co-ordinated by the Women and Media Collective,
facilitated an international women’s mission to the north east of Sri Lanka
with the following objectives:[1]
The various teams constituting the international mission visited the following areas of the north-east: Jaffna and Kytes, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Puttalam, Mannar and border villages[2] in Polonnaruwa District. Members of the mission talked to a wide range of women and men from different communities and different walks of life in these areas.
This document does not attempt to report on the mission’s findings in full. Instead, it concentrates on the recommendations for both the peace process and for policy formulation that flowed from these findings. It is intended as a first step towards highlighting the need for a gendered and rights-based approach to peace making, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
The recommendations are divided into two main sections. The first is addressed to the two parties to the peace talks: the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and addresses issues pertaining to the Memorandum of Understanding and the formal peace process itself.
The second section addresses all those involved in policy formulation and implementation relating to rehabilitation, resettlement and reconstruction.
To
the Parties
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, conflict and peace building (October 2000) recognizes that “civilians, particularly women and children, account for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed conflict, including refugees and internally displaced persons”, and stresses the importance of women’s equal participation and full involvement in the prevention and resolution of conflict and in peace-building.
As recommended in Resolution 1325, a gendered approach to peace building, conflict-transformation and reconstruction is essential in contexts of transition. Such an approach works on many levels to support and develop local capacities of women and men, while working to transform structures of power from structures dominated by violence and militarization into ones that promote a just and sustainable peace, protective of the rights of all people irrespective of ethnic, gender, class, caste or religious identities. Such an approach recognizes the power disparities built into and reinscribed through official processes of peace building and humanitarian and development assistance and calls for programming to be transformative in nature. In so doing it facilitates a move away from charity or social welfare paradigms to a model that works, with guidance from and in collaboration with local women, to support self-reliance and social justice.
A gendered approach to peace building is also recommended by the CEDAW Committee in its Concluding Comments pursuant to the review of the 3rd and 4th periodic report of the Sri Lankan Government in January 2002. Paragraph 299 of the CEDAW Committee’s report (A/57/38 (Part I) reads “ The Committee calls on the State party to ensure full and equal participation of women in the process of conflict resolution and peace building.”
In order to
develop a gendered approach to peace building, conflict transformation &
reconstruction, we provide the following recommendations:
1. The Memorandum of Understanding
Findings
In the context of the fact that the MOU
is between the government and the LTTE and essentially a contract between two
combatant parties, we note that it does not adequately include civilian
concerns. We also note that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission's role is in the
monitoring and implementation of the ceasefire. Civilian complaints regarding
conduct of the parties, on the other hand, are yet to be adequately addressed
by any mechanism set up since the signing of the MOU.
Recommendations
The process towards peace and all future agreements between the parties must:
1.1.1 incorporate international standards of human rights (including women's rights and children's rights) and humanitarian law;
1.1.2 recognize that these standards must remain fundamental as the process continues;
1.1.3 ensure that these standards are not compromised in the negotiation and the implementation of peace agreements;
1.1.4 guarantee that the interests of the civilian population receive the fullest attention.
1.2 A parallel process to the MOU, focused on human rights, must be established and a body with the specific mandate of resolving complaints from civilians regarding violations of human rights standards by the parties must be set up to monitor this agreement.
Findings
The Mission found that most people had little or no knowledge or understanding of the peace process, the substance or implications of the Memorandum of Understanding and the role of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) or the Local Monitoring Committees (LMC).
Recommendation
2.1 Accurate information must be disseminated about the MOU and the peace process at a community level, using both formal and informal channels of communication which can be easily accessible.
Findings
The mission found that women, irrespective of ethnicity, expressed some level of doubt and skepticism about the prospects for lasting peace. Such sentiments were shared by men as well and appeared to be heightened by the July incidents in Oddamavadi-Valachchanai and the October incidents in Ampara and Trincomalee. A sense of insecurity, a fear of personal danger and a sense of distrust were still prevalent in the north east, among all ethnic communities, inhibiting both mobility and the confidence to speak out.[3]
Recommendations
3.1
The parties to the peace process
must end and no longer tolerate the continuing
threats and
harassment of the civilian population and must immediately condemn and follow
up on such incidents.
3.2
All military
check points near residential areas should be removed to enable women to travel
with a greater sense of confidence and security.
3.3
Conduct
continuous review of the need for "high security zones"
3.4
Conscription
of children for combat or forced labour must be halted immediately.[4]
3.5
The parties
to the peace process must consider setting up a mechanism to deal a process of
truth and reconciliation to record and acknowledge the history of suffering and
to deal with issues of accountability and justice.
Findings
Members
of the mission discussed issues relating to women’s resettlement,
rehabilitation & reconstruction with both government administrators, the
head of the LTTE women’s political wing and other LTTE representatives. The
LTTE women appeared to be aware of the importance of these issues and the need
to adopt a gender focus. They were
setting up Women's Development Centres in the north east. Government officials met expressed little
sensitivity to gender issues, with some administrators denying that there was
any benefit in adopting a women’s perspective and claiming that there was no
need for programs targeting women.
Recommendations
4.1 The
institutions created to carry the peace process forward,[5]
must be sensitive to gender issues and take steps to ensure that women
participate effectively at the level of policy-making. They must liase with women’s organizations
representing the many constituencies of women throughout the island to develop
and implement programmes which are appropriate to the needs of these different
constituencies.
4.2
Officials and
representatives of both the GOSL and the LTTE setting up and working in
community level institutions responsible for implementing rehabilitation and
reconstruction policies must ensure that both the implementing processes and
the implementers are gender sensitive and that women and women's concerns are
equitably represented.
4.3
All statistics
compiled in relation to peace and reconstruction should be dis-aggregated
according to gender.
4.4
Existing
institutions responsible for public security and welfare must be made aware of
gender and human rights issues and compelled to put in place effective
mechanisms to address women's concerns.
4.5
Both parties
must develop plans for the demobilization of armed personnel and the
reintegration into civilian society of former combatants.
4.6
Former
combatants should be offered full support in readjusting to civilian life, and
be given access to appropriate training and employment opportunities.[6]
4.7
Continuous
monitoring of the above must be undertaken in order to guarantee the principles
underlying these recommendations.
B. Policy Recommendations Relating to Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction
5. Women and displacement
Findings
Thousands of people have been forcibly displaced from their homes because of violence or the threat of violence associated with the war or with episodes of communal violence. The majority of displaced persons are women and children, many of whom have been displaced repeatedly over the years. The Government and the LTTE were identified, by those met, as the parties overwhelmingly responsible for forcing people out of their homes through intentional attacks on civilian populations or more generalized war-related violence. The displaced population includes Muslim and Sinhala people, although the great majority are Tamil. All of the Muslims met insisted that they had been forcibly evicted from their homes in the north east and their return must be viewed in this context. Many of them claimed that their community had been subjected to ethnic cleansing.
Recommendations
5.1 People who have experienced prolonged displacement must be given the choice of returning or staying in their current location. The consultation process must be structured in a manner so as to ensure that women's views are heard.
5.2 Displaced people living in camps and temporary settlements must have access to reliable, up-to-date information about conditions in their place of origin and the options available to them. This must be provided in forms accessible to women and include information on the political situation and security considerations, the monetary and other assistance they will receive and how they can access it, the physical conditions they will live in on their return, training and employment opportunities and the access they will have to basic infrastructure such as clean water, sanitation, health care, education and transport.
5.3 Effort must be made to resettle displaced people living in camps swiftly, whether in their host community or as returnees. Until such effort are completed, camps must remain open and improved facilities to provide them with privacy, dignity and security. Women in these camps need services which include proper sanitary facilities, safe access to clean water and cooking fuel, reproductive health needs and the reduction levels of domestic violence in the camps. Women must have the right to be included in camp decision-making bodies.
5.4 People who choose to remain living with the host community or to resettle in locations other than their place of origin must be ensured full voting rights in their place of residence.
5.5 Policies on displacement must be multi faceted and responsive to the varying needs of the different groups of displaced and be based on full consultation and responsive to their differences.
It cannot be
assumed that everyone who has been displaced from their home wishes to
return. The mission met many displaced
women who wished to return, and many who did not. Many – including displaced
Muslims – wanted strong guarantees that they would never be evicted again and
that they would be secure before contemplating returning to their original
homes. Others have chosen to return
before adequate infrastructure and material assistance is available placing
their faith in the continuation of the peace process and desperate to leave the
intolerable conditions in camps for the displaced. Many of them are women heads of households and widows. They
desperately need assistance.
Recommendations
6.1 Returnees or people who are resettled elsewhere must be guaranteed adequate assistance and personal security. This must include basic infrastructure in place before re-settlement is effected. Returnees should be monitored to ensure their safety and that the most needy are provided with appropriate assistance.
6.2 All members of families of displaced including their natural increase should be given equal consideration in resettlement plans.
6.3 Rehabilitation and resettlement programmes must take the special circumstances of female heads of households into account and meet their needs.
6.4 Funding must be made available to provide for those who have already returned to their homes since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.
6.5 Alternative resettlement options must be provided to displaced persons who cannot return to their homes because they are being used by the military or the LTTE.
6.6 Resettlement plans need to take into account the particular vulnerability of widows and female heads of households in the allocation of lands.
6.7 Priority should be given to ensuring mobility for women, but with safety, in all areas of the north east.
6.8 Women should be encouraged to participate in the planning and reconstruction of their settlements, so that they can help shape the development of local infrastructure.
6.9 Reconstruction and development strategies must be developed in a way that does not fuel communal competition for resources and works to address basic needs and rights. Women must be included in the development and implementation of these strategies.
7. Land Rights
Land
rights appear to be one of the most difficult and contentious issues throughout
the north east. The displaced need to
recliam their land and property and receive compensation for loss and
damage. Those who cannot return must be
resettled elsewhere. Those occupying
land and property abandoned by the displaced or evicted must vacate such
property and be re-settled. Women and
in particular widows and women heads of household must be given titled to land
and property. Issues of inheritance for women must be clarified and women's
right to land & property protected.
Recommendations
7.1 Land laws must be reformed to ensure equal rights of women to inherit and dispose of land and property.
7.2 Where necessary, lands must be surveyed to establish boundaries.
7.3 Ownership rights should be respected, and persons living in houses owned by others should be provided with alternative accommodation.
7.4 Widows and relatives of the disappeared need assistance in accessing the documentation they require to prove their rights to property and inheritance.
8. Compensation
Families who lost property
and belongings due to conflict and those displaced by conflict need immediate
and urgent assistance and compensation to resume some semblance of normalcy in
their lives.
8.1 Systems for payment of compensation and resettlement benefits must be transparent and well-publicized so that women cannot be pressurized to give bribes or sexual favours in order to receive their dues.
8.2 Women should be paid their entitlements directly, and not through a male family member.
8.3 Family benefits should be allocated jointly to both spouses where appropriate, and lands allocated to families should be granted equally to both spouses.
9. Health
Findings
Health infrastructure and health services need urgent improvement in most areas of the north east and health services for women need immediate upgrading.
Recommendations
9.1 Primary and reproductive health care throughout the north east must be greatly improved, including provision for women who have been subjected to sexual violence.
9.2 Women should be encouraged to participate in health education and the planning and allocation of health resources.
9.3 Health education should promote condom use as a means to prevent HIV/AIDS.
10 Education
Despite
long drawn out conflict and war a high premium was always placed on education
and schools functioned and some continue to function in extremely difficult
conditions.
Recommendations
10.1 Schools must be reconstructed as a matter of urgency and provided with sufficient teachers and resources to enable students to continue their education to higher levels, and to cater for the needs of displaced students in host communities.
10.2 Measures must be taken to reduce the worryingly high drop-out rate among such pupils including upgrading district schools to offer science, arts and commerce streams in order to enhance educational opportunities for the youth of the north east.
10.3 Any schools which continue to be occupied by the military should be vacated forthwith, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding.
10.4 Adult education and functional literacy classes should be offered to women where necessary.
10.5 Public education programmes are needed on concepts on equality, pluralism and human rights, and these subjects should also be taught in schools.
10.6 Volunteer teachers who have helped keep schools running during the years of conflict should be offered appropriate training in post and absorbed into the permanent teaching staff.
11. Landmines
Findings
There
is an urgent need to put in place a comprehensive de-mining programme so that
re-settlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction can be effectively
implemented. Women were particularly concerned about the dangers of
landmines.
Recommendations
11.1Mine awareness and de-mining programmes must take into account the different relationships that women, men and children have with land use as gatherers of water, food and firewood and as farmers.
11.2Adequate training, insurance and compensation must be made available to those who clear landmines and international standards maintained in the de-mining process.
11.3The Government and the LTTE must be urged to sign the Oslo treaty banning the use of landmines and other ordnances as a matter of priority.
11.4Victims of landmines need access to appropriate rehabilitation programmes. The special needs of women and their ability to deal with the social consequences of the loss of a limb/s must be taken into consideration.
12. Women’s Livelihoods
Findings
The mission met
a large number of women from all communities who were living in conditions of
extreme poverty. International labour migration is increasingly common amongst
among women from displaced communities and border villages, but many migrant
women were reported to suffer violence, abuse and non-payment of salaries. In
addition, inflated dowry rates, often fuelled by remittances from relatives
working abroad, caused concern to many families without access to such
funds.
Recommendations
12.1 Women must be given access to all existing and emerging employment opportunities on an equal basis with men. A full range of appropriate skills training should be offered to women, free from any gender bias.
12.2 Women must be given direct access to credit, raw materials and markets.
12.3 Particular attention should be paid to the needs of female heads of households in these programmes including official recognition of female heads of households.
12.4 Child-care services must be provided.
12.5 Remaining restrictions on fishing should be removed, enabling women, to benefit from traditional means of forward employment in the processing of fish and prawns.
12.6 Women migrant workers needed support to invest their earnings and re-integrate into the local workforce on their return.
12.7 Women working overseas need safe workplaces and secure contracts of employment secured through registered employment agencies and the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.
12.8 Public awareness programmes designed to dispel negative images of widowhood are needed to enable widows to gain in self-respect and participate fully in the economy as valued, autonomous citizens.
12.9 If women are ensured equal property and inheritance rights with men, as recommended above, the practice of giving and taking dowry on marriage should be banned.
Findings
The Mission is deeply concerned by the lack of women's participation in political bodies at local and provincial level. The Mission noted that except in areas that are specifically reserved for women (Ministry of Women's Affairs, LTTE Women's Wing, etc), there were very few women holding positions of political decision-making and responsibility.
Recommendations
13.1 Women must be allowed opportunities to participate in political decision-making in all party political structures and should be encouraged to contest for political office at local, national and provincial level.
13.2 Affirmative action should be taken to ensure women at least 30% representation in local government bodies.
Recommendations
14.1 Women must be able to move freely and in safety to conduct daily chores, engage in income earning activities and access health care and other welfare services.
14.2 Freedom of association must be guaranteed and there should not be any restrictions or ideological barriers on membership of autonomous women’s organizations carrying out legitimate activities.
15. Disappeared and Missing in Action
Findings
The Mission found that women continue to be badly affected by the uncertainties in relation to family members' disappearance or are still considered missing in action. There continued to be a demand for acknowledgement by the authorities of the fate of these people.
Recommendations
15.1All parties responsible for disappearances must acknowledge their roles in such disappearances and make available to family members all information regarding the fate of persons considered disappeared.
15.2Parties must make all necessary effort to clarify the fate of persons currently considered to be missing in action and make such information available to family members.
15.3Special attention must be paid to families and family members of the disappeared including families of armed forces personnel and homeguards and missing in action.
16. Violence against Women
Findings
Violence against women continues to be an issue of concern for the Mission. The parallel systems of authority between the LTTE's and the GOSL's law enforcement authorities have caused confusion regarding responsibility. This may result in the issue of violence against women receiving low priority by both groups. Women reported significant levels of domestic violence in camps for the displaced as well as among populations affected by conflict. There were also reports of sexual harassment, particularly in public places. Women also spoke of the need to deal with psycho-social trauma and to have support structures for women who have suffered sexual violence and incest.
Recommendations
16.1 Addressing violence against women must be considered a serious and integral part of the peace process.
16.2 Clarity in relation to areas of authority vis a vis law enforcement and justice must be established as a matter of urgency.
16.3 Law enforcement authorities must be encouraged to continue to liaise with victim support groups.
16.4 Programmes must be put in place to support women victims of violence
including the provision of shelters, medical and counseling fac