Friday, Jan 04, 2002
`Sri Lankan women are better off, but... ' — Ms Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Rapporteur
Rasheeda Bhagat
COLOMBO-based Ms Radhika Coomaraswamy is the only United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women worldwide. The post was created in 1994 and the Rapporteur examines the causes and consequences of violence against women. In an interview to Business Line, Ms Coomaraswamy said that though the women in Sri Lanka were better off compared to their South Asian counterparts due in part to Buddhism, better levels of education and higher literacy levels (female literacy in the tiny island-nation is 87 per cent), the criminalisation of politics and the resultant violence has prevented more women from entering politics.
Excerpts from the interview:
What kind of rights do women in Sri Lanka enjoy? Compared to the other South Asian countries, the physical quality of life is quite good. But in recent times there has been an increase in the violence against women. That may be due to the climate of war and associated factors. What kind of violence? Are women specially targeted or is it due to women being the worst sufferers in any conflict situation? There are cases of rape in the conflict areas, but we are seeing an increasing incidence of rape throughout the country. The IGP (Inspector General of Police) recently pointed out that in 1980 this number was about 170. It is now about 1,000. That is a dramatic increase. Also there has been an increase in domestic violence, which I think has to do with the conflict. What do you feel about women opting to work, particularly in the Gulf countries, in unskilled jobs and in domestic service. Many such women are abused and the impact on the family, particularly on the children, in their absence, is adverse in more ways than one... To some extent we have to realise that women migrate for work because of the limited options in the home country. That is important to recognise. If we try to stop women from migrating, we are condemning them to a particular type of life. So, it is very important that when remedies are sought for the abuse they suffer, the right of the freedom of movement and the right to choose their lifestyle is not affected. We should always allow them to migrate. But what we should do is to ensure that there is no abuse along the way. If they are trafficked, and when they reach the home country, some protection should be available. That is what we should aim at doing — making them aware of their rights and making the Sri Lankan embassies in those countries more responsive to their needs if there is abuse of any kind. What kind of a problem does Sri Lanka face when it comes to the trafficking of women? We do not have any serious problem in terms of trafficking for prostitution. At least it does not appear so, as in Nepal or Bangladesh. What we have is trafficking for domestic service. Trafficking for prostitution is more from the rural to the urban areas within the country. But it has not received the kind of attention as in India. It has not emerged as such a huge problem as in some other countries. What about sex tourism, especially from the US? There is sex tourism, but it seems to be associated with young boys. We have more paedophiles. What does your task as a UN Rapporteur involve? I go around the world and look at issues related to violence against women. This is a mechanism of the United National Human Rights Commission — I report to the Commissioner. I go on fact-finding missions to different countries. It involves a host of responsibilities. Coming to the larger canvas, what are the major issues confronting the women of the world? The UN declaration on the elimination of violence against women outlines all that. First, there is the whole issue of violence against women during periods of conflict. The main reason why this post was created was because of what happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina; the violence, rapes, the forced pregnancies and the rape of refugees. When was this post created? In 1994. Then there were also, in Western Europe and Latin America, issues of domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment and such, and the governments not redressing such issues... I have been to Afghanistan too. When was that? In 1999. But do you think the status of women will change much even now? It will be better than under the Taliban in the sense that the Taliban denied them education, health care and the right to work. I was in Brussels recently with a group of 50 Afghan women. What are their major concerns? Education and health... the adoption of a secular approach or pushing the CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women), standard laws and things like that. But they did not really want to go into Islam-related issues. What they want is that their children, particularly the girl child, be educated and get adequate health-care facilities. They also wanted the participation of women in politics and a quota system. These were the issues they raised. What did you find when you visited Afghanistan in 1999? It was horrendous. Children were denied education. Only those children between 6 and 9 were taught the Koran; there was only one hospital for women and it was understaffed; women not allowed to work... Allowed to beg but not to work. There was also this issue of dress codes, freedom of movement and this ministry for the promotion of virtue and suppression of vice. Men going around with leather bats hitting women if they showed their ankles. What powers does this post confer in terms of taking action against such barbaric practices? The UN can at the moment only expose and use diplomatic measures against such practices. There is, of course, the CEDAW committee. However, it is only a training and reporting mechanism and it can not force states to comply. Even within the UN, how seriously are gender issues taken, given that it is such a huge organisation and deals with a host of issues? Mainstreaming women's rights is a major concern. I would say in the last 10 years this issue has become quite important. There is integration of women's issues into other programmes of the UN. It is still not enough but much more than ever was done before. Coming back to Sri Lanka, what is the reason for women being comparatively better off? First is, I think, Buddhism. To some extent I think Hindu and Islamic cultures tend to be more restrictive with women, whereas in Buddhism there is at least a formal recognition of equality. Second, a strong social welfare bent in our governments since independence. Women here also have higher levels of education and literacy. Female literacy is high at 87 per cent and that is important. What about the inheritance laws? We have different systems for different people. The general system followed is the British law in which women inherit one half; both daughters and sons inherit equally. The Muslim law is the daughter gets half of what the son gets. The Tamil law (Thesawamalai) gives the wife only life interest in the property. How aware are women of their rights? Do they move the courts often? In the area of family law, they approach the courts a lot. But interestingly, there is only one case on sex equality in the Supreme Court, by which I mean issues such as equal pay for the same work, lack of promotions or discrimination against women. What about women in politics? Does having had a woman Prime Minister and woman President enthused women to enter politics? Hardly. The new Parliament has hardly 5-6 women. But why? I think it is the criminalisation of politics. There is so much violence in our political system that women shy away from joining politics. (Response can be sent to rasheeda at thehindu.co.in)
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