Elimination of violence against women; Never again Noori

Today is the international day for the elimination of violence against women and it is significant that the Avissawella High Court will today deliver the much awaited verdict on the alleged horrors in the Noori village where a gang, reportedly backed by an area politician, allegedly tortured and raped scores of women and girls.  

According to first hand reports from the area the agony of villagers in Noori for the past decade would have been difficult to understand with newly carpeted roads and a booming town. But we now know that for most people in the village it was real life and not a horror movie. A gang alleged to be operating with the backing of an area politician, ran a “rape centre” and torture chamber. They allegedly burnt people’s houses and businesses. Parents were forced to hide their daughters, brothers were protecting their sisters: praying that they would not be the next victims, while the Police allegedly did not take notice of their complaints.   

The whole horror drama was exposed when the Noori Estate superintendent Nihal Perera was killed after refusing to bow to the demands allegedly made by the Deraniyagala Pradeshiya Sabha’s former chairman Anil Champika, also known as “Atha Kota”, and his gang. Mr. Perera was attacked by a gang of about 20. They were allegedly dealing in illicit liquor and drugs. Those who dared to challenge them were stripped and beaten in public or raped. The gang that allegedly killed Mr. Perera came in a luxury jeep on July 5, 2013. They are alleged to have cut his mouth, beaten him with poles and dragged him on a rope tied to a vehicle. The American company running the estate, announced it was pulling out while thousands of villagers signed a petition accusing the police of aiding and abetting the alleged killers and rapists.   

The United Nation in a statement to mark this day says violence against women or girls is a human rights violation, a consequence of discrimination against women, in law and also in practice, and of persisting inequalities between men and women. Violence against women impacts on and impedes progress in many areas, including poverty eradication, combating HIV/AIDS, and peace and security. The UN says violence against women and girls is not inevitable, prevention is possible and essential but violence against women continues to be a global pandemic.  

UN Women, an organisation set up by the General Assembly to work for gender equality and the Empowerment of Women, says that around the world one in three women experiences violence in her lifetime, often at the hands of someone they know, love and trust. Of all women who were victims of homicide globally in 2012, almost half were killed by intimate partners or family members. It says violence against women and girls, devastates lives, causes untold pain, suffering and illness.   

Beyond the direct medical and judicial costs, violence against women takes a toll on household and national budgets through lost income and productivity. In Vietnam, for example, expenditure and lost earnings resulting from domestic violence was estimated at 1.4 per cent of GDP in 2010. In Britain, the cost of domestic violence in 2009, including service-related costs, lost economic output and human and emotional costs, amounted to GBP 16 billion.  

In Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed a special Task Force headed by women’s rights activist Prof. Savithri Gunasekara to work out a stable legal mechanism towards the creation of a safe environment, free from violence for women and girls.  

The Task Force has handed over its report to the Prime Minister outlining the tasks allocated to each ministry. We hope this is implemented effectively because women and girls, comprising more than 51 percent of our population, need to be in the centre and frontline of the eco-friendly, all-inclusive development strategy in the coming years. We also hope that horrors like those in Noori will never 
be repeated.