Sri Lankan Combatants Rape Women to Terrorize

Mannar has now become the battle ground between the Sri Lankan Navy and the Sea Tigers. Women here are afraid of being raped by the armed forces in retaliation for any attacks. This note from Mannar Women for Human Rights and Democracy adds that this has happened many times in the past and things could only get worse, since the forces are now officially allowed to wear face masks in order to protect their identity as happened, for instance, at the Pesalai church on June 17^th.

When Truth is replaced by Silence, the Silence is a Lie

Ida Camelita, Kantharasa Jeyamalar, Bahiya Ummah, Ehambaram Nanthakumar Wijakala, Sinnathamby Sivamani and now Mary Madeleine share something awful in common. They were all allegedly raped and tortured (four of them were brutally murdered) in Mannar by the Sri Lankan armed forces. On June 8th 2006, a young mother, Mary Madeline, her husband, Moorthy Martin, son Dilakshan and daughter Lakshika were brutally tortured and murdered in their home in Vankalai, Mannar.

Neighbors saw three Sri Lanka military personnel near their house around the time of murder but, while the soldiers have acknowledged that they were there carrying out a routine check up, the Mannar army commanding officer has ruled out any possibility of his men being involved in the murders. This suggests that the military authorities won’t help with any investigation of the alleged perpetrators. There will, of course, be a protest or two and a few petitions of this nature.

The Sri Lanka military, despite the eyewitnesses, will continue to blame it on the LTTE or on paramilitary groups. The LTTE, while denying allegations of its involvement, will continue to point its fingers at the Sri Lanka military. The international community and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission will issue a statement condemning the evil act. By the end of this month Mary Madeleine’s case will rest without peace in some archive.

In this context, we would like to highlight similar previous incidents in Mannar, including the rapes of Ehambaram Nanthakumar Wijakala and Sinnathamby Sivamani, allegedly by members of the Mannar police's Counter-Subversive Unit, on 19th March 2001. Wijakala was pregnant at the time of the rape and Sivamani, mother of three children, had her younger son witnessing the cruel sexual assault committed on her while she was under police custody. Despite threats to their lives, both these courageous women filed fundamental rights cases for unlawful arrest and detention and custodial rape. They identified three police officers and nine navy personnel as the perpetrators of these crimes.

The accused, who were transferred from Mannar after the incidents, filed a petition requesting the transfer of their cases to Anuradhapura due to alleged threats against their lives. Since then both victims and their family members underwent continuous harassment at the hand of the military and repeatedly received death threats.

The case dragged on for over four years, in the course of which Wijakala has gone missing and Sivamani received many threats to the effect that she will be killed if she comes to Anuradhapura for the court hearings. The case was listed to be heard in Anuradhapura High Court on September 21, 2005 but both the victims did not turn up.

There are many women like Wijakala and Sivamani who suffer and bear the scars of such brutal crimes while their violators enjoy amnesty and continue to commit such malicious war crimes against minority women. We are fully aware of the fact that sexual harassment and assault, torture, mutilation, rape and murder are not mere misfortunes of armed conflict, but strategic weapons of war that have been used against us for the dreadful purpose of spreading terror, destabilizing societies and breaking resistance.

We wish to highlight here that rape is amongst the gravest of all human rights violations and, under international law, has been deemed a crime against humanity and a war crime. It was alleged that Mary Madeleine (27) was raped and stabbed in her chest and her daughter Lakshika (9) was stabbed in her vaginal area. Madeleine and her family had fled Sri Lanka and lived as refugees in India for many years. They returned last year when there was some hope for peace and settled down in Vankalai only to be killed in this despicable manner.

We, Mannar women, are calling on the Sri Lankan government to immediately launch a thorough, independent, and impartial investigation into the killing of Mary Madeleine and her family. We demand that such an investigation be conducted with the participation of members of independent human rights organizations.

We also call upon the President make sure that all reported cases of murder, torture and sexual violence committed by the armed forces against women are investigated properly and prosecuted where necessary.

We further call on international donors to provide special support to help protect survivors of state sponsored sexual violence and increase the victims’ access to the justice system locally and, if necessary, internationally as well.

Lastly, while strongly condemning all attacks on civilians Tamils, Muslims or Sinhalese, we call upon all the warring parties in Sri Lanka to immediately stop hostilities and resume peace talks with a genuine commitment to finding a lasting political solution to the conflict.

Note By Mannar Women for Human Rights and Democracy (mwfhrd@yahoo.com)

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Posted by collective at June 18, 2006 08:56 PM