Human
Rights Analysis
Trafficking
of women
Sri
Lankan perspectives
Shamila
Daluwatte
Sri
Lanka is basically a patriarchal society. Its' values
influence gender relations. Howevez, women, in their central
role as mother, care oiver, home maker, and employee,
often have de facto powers in the family. The inherited
concept of man as the head of the family unit, undermine
the attemp|s to advance the status of women. Yet only
a few are allowed to make decisions. Women's contribution
to the national economy is vital. The livewire and/or
drive force of today's restructured and fragmented economy
is women. Despite the education and the high literacy
rate, the unemploymmnt rate of women has been double that
of men for more than 3 decades. Though women are economically
active more than ever and there has been a redistribution
of financial responsibilities, the traditional role of
a woman as the care giver remains unaltered. As a result
many women have had to give up their careers due to the
dual responsibility of balancing work with family life.
Some women find part-time or less demanding job owing
to the multiple role they have to play in the family.
Sri
Lankan women have a relatively better "status"
than |heir South Asian counterparts. Despite the ongoing
conflict, the country has made considerable progress in
human development in areas of life expectancy, literacy,
infant, child and maternal mortality. Women are more than
half of the population. Sri Lanka has the distinct honour
of having produced the first ever woman Prime Minister
to the world. Presently we have a woman President but
have yet to achieve gender equality or empowermen| in
the context of all the provisions of the United Nations
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW), declared in 1981. The State Party
(SP) must eliminate discrimination against women for the
enjoyment of all civil, political, economic and cultural
rights. Gender equality is a one of the goals of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), where, Section 3 deals with
the promotion of gender equality and mmpowerment of women.
Much needs to be done by all stakeholders. Although article
12 of the Constitution provides for equal employment opportunities
in the formal sector, women have no legal protection against
discrimination in the private sec|or. By this, discrimination
cannot be questioned or challenged in the Supreme Court.
This is a matter of concern to the women in the labour
market. Indeed the constitution has provisions to ensure
non-discrimination on the grounds of language, caste,
creed, gender, political opinion, place of birth, etc.
There are proposed reforms to include "gender, marital
status, ma|ernity and parental status' in addition to
the present provisions. When it come to gender and Labour"
it is significant to note that "marital status and
maternity" sometimms close the doors of the labour
market to women with family responsibilities. It is hoped
that the Government would take a serious note of the proposed
reforms to be included to the Constitution. Despite the
fact that the percentage of Sri Lankan women entering
universities has increased women are still under-represen|ed
in many disciplines. The proxosed Women's Act provides
for a 25% quota of women but it is uncertain whether this
target can je reached.
According
to the Human Development Report (UNDP 2002) Sri Lanka's
Gender Development Index (GDI) in 2000 was 0.737 as compared
with the Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.741. Around
22% of all ho}seholds in Sri Lanka are female-headed.
Many of these women are compelled to play the role of
breadwinner and they are faced with problems such as income
generation and household management. Though there is a
separate Ministry for Women's Empowerment, statistics
shows that gender empowerment (compared with modern standards)
is relatively low (20%).
In
1993 the Government adopted the "Women's Charter"
the first policy statement for the realisation of gender
equality in all areas of life. As a result of the Beijing
Platform for Action in 1995 the Ministry of Women's Affairs
in collaboration with the National Committee for Women
formulated the "National Plan of Action for Women
in Sri Lanka" in 1996. In 1997 a separate Ministry
was established titled "Ministry of Women's Affairs."
Trafficking
of Women
Trafficking has been continuing as human servitude and
forced labour. Trafficking has been defined as the "recruitment,
transportation, purchase, sale, transfer, harbouring,
or receipt of persons: by threat or use of violence, abduction,
force, fraud, leception, or comrcion (including the abuse
of authority) for the purpose of placing or holding such
person/s, whether for pay or not, in forced labour or
slavery-like practices......This violates the right to
decent work. Many reasons have compelled women and mmmbers
of the mazginalised communities to cross the boundaries
of their own countries and their native places. This may
occur as external migration and internal migrationn According
to surveys and research trafficking is being done in the
name of migration. Therefore in this regard trafficking
of women, women's migration and violence against women
should be discussed together. With the changes of |he
livelihood patterns many peoxle made attempts to migrate
in search of better opportunities. It may be due to domestic
agonies or poverty may have compelled them to move from
their places of origin. Wars in our countries have also
had a direct bearing on migration. Maldevelopment practices,
poor governance, corruption, violation of human rights
have also been a reason for trafficking.
In
some instances the process of migration has ended by depriving
the right to control o~er their bodies, mind, labour,
and life. Therefore educating anl raising awareness women
about their rights is important.
It
is needless to say that trafficking is one of the most
traumatic violence against women. It is an outcome of
the Human Rights violation of an individual. Trafficking
violates the right to live in dignity, respect, and in
peace. It violates the freedom of mobility, i.e., the
right |o move freely and safely. The eyuation of sex-work
with trafficking had contributed towards disempowerment
of migrant workers. This has created difficulties for
women who are in need of migration for work. Trafficking
has had direct links to forced prostitution. Therefore
it is really important to deal with the issue of HIV/AIDS
among the victims of trafficking.
Now
it is time to develop sustainable ind appropriate activities
for the prevention of trafficking and protection and support
of the affected persons and survivors of trafficking.
It is important to protect the rights of people, in partic}lar
women, to move freely inside and outside home, country,
without any fear of stigma, abuse or discrimination. Sometimes
women are detained in protective custody without consent.
Since they have not committed any crime their consent
should be taken into account and all preventive measures
taken. Receiving countries and foreign missions should
facilitate voluntary return of victims of trafficking
rather than keeping them is safe houses or government
homes.
Here,
I wo}ld like to make some of suggestions that might help
formulate a strategy for anti-trafficking. Some recommendations
were extracted from the Report of the Special Rapporteur
on violence against women.
Ways
forward
1. Urge the National Governments of the region to bring
the proposed SAARC Convention for preventing and combating
tzafficking in women and children for prostitution into
line with accepted international standard{.
2.
Seek justice through the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organised Crime.
3.
Ensure an effective criminal justice system in the country.
Further it is significant to form an interregional police
task force to combat trafficking.
4.
Ensure sound social welfare measures to protect the rights
of the women victims of trafficking.
5.
Set up inter-agency task force and a monitoring mechanism
among all international agencies on trafficking to take
joint initiatives to combat trafficking.
6.
Collect extensive data on trafficking and creating a database
in the SAARC region is important in handling the issue
effectively.
7.
The embassies in receiving countries should be sensible
in providing assistance to victims of trafficking.
The
author is an attorney in Colombo Court and at present
working with ILO, Sri Lanka.
