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UN survey on violence against women in Sri Lanka: 97% of rapists face no legal consequences

11 SEPTEMBER 2013 AT 12:54 LK TIME.


A UN led survey into violence against women across the Asia and Pacific region makes shocking reading for Sri Lanka. The country was one of six included in the three year long study, along with China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea and Cambodia.

The Sri Lankan section of the study was conducted in Colombo, Nuwara Eliya, Batticaloa and Hambantota, with respondents answering sensitive questions anonymously to try and ensure honest disclosure.



15% of men surveryed in Sri Lanka admitted to having committed rape, with the majority of cases involving rape of a partner. Marital rape is not criminalised in Sri Lanka unless the husband and wife are judicially separated.

65% of these men said they had committed rape more than once, with 40% committing their first rape before the age of 20. The motivation in the vast majority of cases was sexual entitlement, with another 20% saying they did it because it was “fun” or they were “bored”.

Most alarmingly of all, only 3.2% of those who admitted rape had been arrested, and only 2.2% had been jailed – or in other words in 96.5% of rape cases the rapist had experienced no legal consequences. Only 34% even said that they felt worried or guilty about what they had done. Both of those figures are the worst of any country involved in the study.

And this cannot be blamed on the sample size or the men who happened to respond – Rosy Senanayake recently revealed in parliament that only 600 perpetrators of sexual abuse had been remanded in Sri Lanka out of 300,000 cases, or 2%. There have been a spate of shocking statistics about violence against women and children in the country recently, including the fact that a women is raped every 90 minutes in the country, 95% of women who use public transport experience sexual harassment, and 3-5 children are raped every day.

Despite this, 65% of men said that the law made it too easy to bring charges against a rapist.

The research was aimed at finding out why some men committed violence against women, and their conclusion was that gender inequality, gender norms and sexual or relationship practices are the deciding factors. Men who have experienced abuse themselves or have paid for sex are more likely to commit rape, but it is “influential narratives of masculinity that celebrate toughness, heterosexual performance” and “a man’s control over women” that have the most influence over a man’s capacity for violence.



The authors of the study say that “work to prevent violence against women must expand beyond efforts to change individual men” and move towards transforming social norms related to the acceptability of violence against women, to creating masculinities based on respect and equality rather than violence and control, educating the young, and creating violence free environments for children.

However, one of the 7 main recommendations of the report was to “End impunity for men who rape”, and judging by the figures returned for Sri Lanka, that is the factor that the country needs to address most urgently.


UN survey on violence against women in Sri Lanka: 97% of rapists face no legal consequences | The Republic Square

@airpower183

Like I said, the prosecution does not have enough evidence to proceed with criminal charges.

The state cant be blamed for the occurrence of rape, this is a civil matter, but what india is lacking is a proper judicial system.

People are charged simply based on the allegation of the victim or the victims family. We have no idea if this stems out of a grudge or something else.

India is a banana republic with no respect for the law.
 
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Sri Lankan men and rape: What the Sri Lankan media missed
Soleil Noir
  • - on 09/26/2013


violence.jpg

I read with great interest this article in the Guardian about nearly quarter of men in Asia-Pacific admitting to committing rape according to a new UN study. As Sri Lanka was one of the countries that were a part of the study I looked around a little more and came across a few articles in the local media that had run with the title “14% of Sri Lankan men admit to rape”. It seemed that most mainstream print media, including Daily Mirror andCeylon Today had taken the article straight from the BBC and to my surprise not followed up with this horrific statistic.

If they had bothered to follow up with this study they would have unearthed far richer information and I cannot imagine why there has been no follow up given how troubling the rest of the findings in this study are. When mainstream media puts us through interviews about the healthy diet of well known perpetrators of different forms of violence, it would be nice if it was balanced with other equally important information.

There exists an exclusive Sri Lankan report on this study that looks at the findings in Sri Lanka in depth. When reading the Sri Lanka report, a glaring error in the UN regional study is evident. The UN survey was conducted in nine countries and in some countries it was only conducted in specific areas. The UN report states “Most of the findings presented in the report refer to the nine research sites, except where the sample was national” and “The samples are representative of the selected sites, although in most sites are not nationally representative and not designed to represent the whole Asia-Pacific region”. What this means is that in some countries it was only conducted in certain areas and therefore the findings can only be applied to that area and not the whole country.

The Sri Lanka findings in the UN report are presented as ‘National’ – which means the findings are applicable to the whole of Sri Lanka. So when they say 14.5% of Sri Lankan men admit to rape that is correct. However, this is where the problem lies – the Sri Lanka study was conducted only in four districts (Colombo, Hambantota, Batticaloa and Nuwara Eliya) and the Sri Lanka report specifically states “Under this sampling design, the findings of the survey can be generalised to it’s sample population: men and women between the ages of 18 and 49 years living in the four study districts. Even though the survey provides valuable insight into the knowledge, attitudes and practices of men and women on issues of gender, masculinity and gender based violence, these specific findings cannot be generalised to the total Sri Lankan population”. Emphasis mine.

It may look like I am finding fault with a minor error but it is not – it is a grave error to present data that cannot be applied to the whole of Sri Lanka as national data. If the study was conducted in all 25 districts the figure 14.5% could easily be far higher or far lower – and this is the danger.

What was unfortunately lost with the uproar of the 14.5% rape figure were the significant findings that accompanied the data. The Sri Lanka report makes a disturbing and yet at the same time a useful reading because it reveals attitudes and mind sets of both men and women that have long been ignored in GBV and gender related programmes.

The findings highlighted below are mainly in relation to perpetrator history, intimate partner violence and women’s attitudes – and are just a few of many vital findings that should be discussed and incorporated into any planning around GBV and Gender related policy/programming/activity.

A few of the significant findings from Sri Lanka include –

  • 17% of males who participated in the study reported ever perpetrating sexual violence (including rape) against women or girls including partners and non-partners. 60.5% of these men were between the ages of 20-29 years when they first committed sexual violence. 28% were in the 15-19 age category.
  • One in five (20%) ever partnered men between ages of 18-49 years reported perpetration of sexual violence against intimate partners.
  • One in three in ever partnered men (36%) reported that they had committed physical and/ or sexual violence against an intimate partner in their lifetime.
  • The most common form of sexual violence was physically forcing a partner to have sexual relations against her will.
  • Men’s motivation for sexual violence? 66.5% said it was their sexual entitlement, 19.6% said it was for fun or because they were bored and 13.4% said it was out of anger or a form of punishment.
  • Men who experienced emotional, sexual or physical abuse during childhood were 1.7 to 2 times more likely to use violence against a female intimate partner than men who did not experience abuse.
  • Under reporting of intimate partner violence – just 13% of women who experienced IPV and 8% of women who experienced non- partner sexual violence reported this violence to the police.
  • Two thirds of the female sample (67%), as opposed to 55% of men also affirmed that ‘in any rape case, one would have to question whether the victim is promiscuous or has a bad reputation.’
  • Women’s attitudes reflect a deeper acceptance than men of social and cultural attitudes that discriminate against women. For example, 58% of women, compared to 41% of men, believed that a woman should tolerate violence in order keep the family together.
While these figures do not represent all men and women of Sri Lanka, the data is still extremely useful to get an idea of where we are with regard to Gender Based Violence and the attitudes that allow it to continue and grow the way it does. Like data driven journalism, data driven programming is also extremely necessary and often ignored by organisations working on GBV issues. This data is an excellent starting point in addressing some crucial interventions needed – from working on both men and women’s attitudes towards GBV, gender and identity, working with youth especially to combat GBV and attitudes towards women, the importance of recognising abuse of any form, whether emotional, physical or sexual and enabling educationists from the school level to a) recognise b) intervene and direct students towards support.

The percentage of men who admit to rape is not the most important highlight of this study and in fact it is information if collected through an opinion poll should not be presented as hard data. What is important and needs to be highlighted are the findings that accompany the perpetrators – their history, their reasons for doing so, what ages they are most vulnerable to this kind of behaviour and start our interventions from there, for if this study was conducted all island, I fear the 14.5% figure may be FAR higher.


Sri Lankan men and rape: What the Sri Lankan media missed | Groundviews

@airpower183
 
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Just because you get a hard on every time a women is raped on the other side boarder is no reason to post it on PDF.
 
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Crimes against women and children of Sri Lanka
Posted on July 16th, 2013
Michelle Alexander
There is an alarming increase of crimes against women and children in Sri Lanka. It is believed that a woman is raped every 90 minutes, and 3-5 children are raped daily. It is indeed sickening to read regular articles of rapes and abuses committed by MPs, principals, teachers, officers, clergy, ordinary citizens, et al.

  • One area to gain particular notoriety is Kahawatta, with 28 murders. All of the victims were women.
  • Foreign women are not safe either. The most prominent case in recent times is that of Victoria Tkacheva, who was alleged to have been gang-raped while her boyfriend Khuram Shaikh was killed. The police subsequently confirmed that Victoria Tkacheva was either raped or sexually assaulted. This was more than a year ago. The main suspect is yet to face justice.
  • According to statistics tabled in Parliament in April 2013, in the year 2012, 1750 case of child rape, 330 cases of rape, 5475 cases of child molestation and 1194 cases of child abuse cases were reported. Of these, 173 cases of child rape was reported from Anuradhapura, 166 cases from Kurunegala, 129 cases from Colombo, 111 cases from Gampaha and Ratnapura, 106 from Galle and 93 from Hambanthota. Anuradhapura recorded 55 cases of sexual harassment against children. 48, 41 and 40 cases of sexual harassment against children were reported from Ratnapura, Kalutara and Kurunegala respectively. 143 cases of child abuse was reported in Colombo, with 116, 99, and 67 cases of child abuse reported from Gampaha, Kurunegala and Ratnapura respectively.
  • To an extent, society is to be blamed as well. Instead of helping and supporting survivors of harassment, abuse and assault, some choose to blame the survivor, or in the case of domestic violence, view it as a private family matter. Due to this shame and the fear of being ostracized, it is believed that many cases of harassment, rape and abuse go unreported. If more cases are reported, the numbers will rise higher.
  • Domestic violence was at 60% in 2011. That number is said to have increased to approximately 80% in 2013. Sri Lanka is said to be 5th among countries that have a higher rate of domestic violence.
There should be more effort put into combating these crimes, from registering complaints to conducting thorough investigation to ensuring speedy trials to passing punishments suitable to the crime. Shielding perpetrators should carry its own penalty such as loss of rank/job/governmental position, etc, and/or a prison sentence. Further, crimes against women and children should be made non-baileble offences.

Religious orders, political parties, civil society and the police should put aside their differences and come together to bring an end to crimes against women and children. A country which boasts of the phrase â┚¬Ã…“a woman could walk from Dondra to Point Pedro with a gemstone in her hand with the assurance that no harm would come to herâ┚¬Ã‚ should not turn into a land of perverts, paedophiles, abusers and rapists.


LankaWeb – Crimes against women and children of Sri Lanka

@airpower183 Save your own country's women & child from abuse, we are taking care of ours.
 
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Just because you get a hard on every time a women is raped on the other side boarder is no reason to post it on PDF.


Same applies to you, remember yesterday you opened back to back two rape threads (Indian) within a gap of 5 minutes? I didn't open any rape thread, just showing you the mirror. And this will increase unless you check yourself.
 
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Same applies to you, remember yesterday you opened back to back two rape threads (Indian) within a gap of 5 minutes? I didn't open any rape thread, just showing you the mirror. And this will increase unless you check yourself.

Ok I will stop posting rape threads.

Dont' post anymore sri lankan news, i'll take care of news posting in that department.
 
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Like I said, the prosecution does not have enough evidence to proceed with criminal charges.

The state cant be blamed for the occurrence of rape, this is a civil matter, but what india is lacking is a proper judicial system.

People are charged simply based on the allegation of the victim or the victims family. We have no idea if this stems out of a grudge or something else.

India is a banana republic with no respect for the law.

Who are you to question our judicial system?Do you know what is a fair judicial system?.Who are you to question India and its laws?SriLanka and India ,there is lot of gap between us.You are no position to question us.because Srilanka carry worst record of human rights and filled with severe atrocities.
I comment and response to a lot of people in this PDF.But I dont see a guy like you.Create score points of rape cases and use it to target a country.No one can become like this .

He is becoming intolerable, so I thought; let's pull him down from that moral high horse. :-)



Good.

@DRAY ,YOU ARE THE MAN.
 
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Ok I will stop posting rape threads.

Dont' post anymore sri lankan news, i'll take care of news posting in that department.


You are such a wimp. A few Indians gang up against you and you beg for mercy. Grow some b@lls man. :D
 
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