10 February 2011 The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) urges Sri Lanka to "promptly investigate, prosecute and punish all acts of violence including sexual violence" which arose during the last stages of the conflict and in the post-conflict phase. Prior to this, ECCHR submitted a report during the 48th Session CEDAW Committee on the foreseeability of sexual violence during the Sri Lanka conflict.
The paper demands new legal means to hold perpetrators accountable and calls on the UN to consider the highly frequent occurrence of sexual violence in conflicts when developing their strategy for respecting human (and women's) rights. Sexual violence, both tolerated and directly ordered, is committed during conflict by state and non- state actors. Despite this, it remains a taboo subject and is left broadly unpunished. ECCHR argues that in certain circumstances sexual violence is a foreseeable consequence of conflict. Furthermore, both the existence of sexual violence and the denial that such violence is a crime constitute clear expressions of gender-based discrimination and patriarchal systems that must be overcome.
Based on these arguments, the ECCHR submission requests that the CEDAW Committee take Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888 and 1890 (and 1960) on Women Peace and Security into close account when monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Convention). The resolutions oblige all countries to prevent sexual violence by its military staff, and to hold them accountable for these crimes during conflicts. Thus, we argued that Sri Lanka must comply with its obligations to prevent women and girls from being subjected to sexual violence by military personnel and to prosecute those crimes that have been committed pursuant to the Convention's framework.
The paper demands new legal means to hold perpetrators accountable and calls on the UN to consider the highly frequent occurrence of sexual violence in conflicts when developing their strategy for respecting human (and women's) rights. Sexual violence, both tolerated and directly ordered, is committed during conflict by state and non- state actors. Despite this, it remains a taboo subject and is left broadly unpunished. ECCHR argues that in certain circumstances sexual violence is a foreseeable consequence of conflict. Furthermore, both the existence of sexual violence and the denial that such violence is a crime constitute clear expressions of gender-based discrimination and patriarchal systems that must be overcome.
Based on these arguments, the ECCHR submission requests that the CEDAW Committee take Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888 and 1890 (and 1960) on Women Peace and Security into close account when monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Convention). The resolutions oblige all countries to prevent sexual violence by its military staff, and to hold them accountable for these crimes during conflicts. Thus, we argued that Sri Lanka must comply with its obligations to prevent women and girls from being subjected to sexual violence by military personnel and to prosecute those crimes that have been committed pursuant to the Convention's framework.
