Despite an increase in the incidence of mass sexual violence, there has been a growing, deepening silence on how sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war even as ample supporting evidence exists, said Urvashi Butalia, founder of Zubaan at the Madras Institute of Developmental Studies (MIDS) on Wednesday.
She was speaking about ‘Sexual Violence and Impunity in South Asia,’ a study coordinated by Zubaan and supported by the International Development Research Centre across five countries — Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. “The borders of the countries fell apart once we started the study — given the number of similarities that existed in the mass incidence of sexual violence. The continuing lack of accountability by the States and their governments as well as the failure to address the impunity which the perpetrators enjoy and absence of effective mechanisms to provide justice feature in the studies,” she explained.
Addressing the issues in context of Sri Lanka, Chulani Kodikara and Sarala Emmanuel, who had authored papers on the issue of sexual violence during and in the aftermath of armed conflict in Sri Lanka, spoke about the realities of the victims there in pursuing justice.
“Impunity has been entrenched as a feature of war, so much so that many victims and witnesses detail how they were harassed when trying to get justice. Even if they got compensation, there was seldom any prosecution,” said Ms. Kodikara.
Setting the context to the discussion, S. Anandhi from the MIDS spoke about patriarchy and sexual violence in Tamil society.
“While there have been many discussions about women needing security and safety, the societal evolution and processes in the last decade are not being taken into consideration,” she said.
