Advocacy for the protection and promotion of women’s rights in Batticaloa District (Eastern Sri Lanka Province)

Status: Completed | Number of beneficiaries: 12450 people

 

Local partner

ESDF (Eastern Social Development Foundation), a Sri Lankan civil society organization that has been developing human rights development and promotion projects since 2008 in the District of Batticaloa.

Manifestation en faveur des droits des femmes (Batticaola)

The problem

In the eastern province of Sri Lanka, violence among minority women has increased since the end of the armed conflict (2009) and the military presence:

  • The insecurity is very strong: the army is involved in many exactions of rapes, tortures, sexual assaults
  • Religious extremism targets Muslim and Tamil minorities, especially women
  • Women suffer from a disastrous economic situation: unemployment twice that of men, exploitation at work
  • Communication problems: the majority of administrations and hospitals communicate in Sinhalese, language they do not master, they are thus unable to verify the content of their complaints or understand the diagnosis of their health problems.

Objectives / Activities

The project provides:

  • The creation of a network of women’s affairs groups (WAS), community organizations that will enable the identification of cases of sexual violence, the social and medico-psychological care of victims and the promotion of women’s rights
  • Capacity building of the justice sector to improve the judicial response to cases of gender-based violence
  • Strengthening public institutions for the establishment of a system of treatment of cases of violence.

Beneficiaries

The total number of beneficiaries is estimated at 12,450.

Direct beneficiaries:

  • 10,380 women members of “WAS”: creation of a federation allowing the sharing of knowledge and experiences
  • Awareness raising and training of 1000 civil servants (police, medical examiners, social workers, members of the educational, judicial and medical sectors)
  • 70 women activists from rural areas (training and capacity building)
  • At least 1000 victims of sexual violence: they will receive legal advice and psycho-social assistance, even medical.

Indirect beneficiaries:

All women in Batticaloa District (political changes in favor of women’s rights and the development of social, political and economic opportunities).