So called ‘MRG’ INGO report :
- Relatives, neighbours offenders in most cases
- ‘Military presence connected to insecurity of women’ a myth
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) denied allegations by a rights group that its troops are responsible for alleged ‘insecurity’ experienced by the women in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Army Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said there have been repeated attempts to pin incidents of sexual violence on minority women in the North on the troops though in a majority of these cases perpetrators are of Tamil ethnicity. “In a vast majority of cases, the perpetrators had been close relatives or neighbours of the victim and had been of Tamil ethnicity,” the spokesman told the media.
He denied a recent report released by the London-based Minority Rights Group (MRG) that the “militarisation of the North and East from 2009 has contributed to continued insecurity for minority women”.
The MRG recently released a report titled ‘Living with insecurity: Marginalisation and sexual violence against women in North and East Sri Lanka’.
Brigadier Wanigasooriya said the right groups and other interested parties are repeatedly trying to draw a non-existent correlation between the security forces’ presence in the North and insecurity of women in the region.
According to the military spokesman a study of incidents of sexual offences occurred in the North between January 2007 and May 2012 had shown that during the conflict period from January 2007-May 2009, seven security forces personnel were involved in five incidents of sexual violence.
The figures were out of a total of 125 persons accused in 119 incidents reported in the entire Northern Province. The ethnicity of the victims of these cases was four Sinhalese and one Tamil. In the post conflict period (May 2009-May 2012), 10 Security Forces personnel were reported as being involved in six incidents of sexual violence in the North.
This is out of a total of 307 persons accused in 256 incidents for the entire Northern Province. The ethnicity of the victims is two Tamil, one Muslim and three Sinhalese.
Brigadier Wanigasooriya pointed out that the Security Forces personnel were involved only in 11 incidents out of a total of 375 during the whole period from January 2007 to May 2012. As a percentage, the total accused is 5.6 percent in the conflict period and 3.3 percent in the post conflict period clearly showing a decline after the war.
“The decline clearly demonstrates that the allegation that the presence of the security forces in the North contributes to the insecurity of women and girls is a myth,” Brigadier Wanigasooriya was quoted.
The Spokesman noted that the government has taken legal action in all the cases the Security Forces personnel have been involved and those implicated have been discharged or punished.
He said the Sri Lankan military does not condone such actions by its troops against women and any perpetrators will be strictly punished if proven guilty.
(Courtesy : Daily News)
