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January 5, 2005

Rape, gang rape reported in Sri Lanka

Topics: Southeast Asia Earthquake and Tsunami

Reuters via Times of India

COLOMBO: Rapists are preying on survivors of Sri Lanka's tsunamis, taking advantage of lax security at refuge centres for the victims of the disaster, a women's collective has said.

The group urged the authorities to urgently beef up security at refuge centres and establish a means for victims to press charges against their assailants.

"We have received reports of incidents of rape, gang rape, molestation and physical abuse of women and girls in the course of unsupervised rescue operations and while resident in temporary shelters," the Women and Media Collective group has said in a statement.

Most of those in the refugee centres are women and children, while male survivors are largely attempting to pick through the rubble of their shattered homes and businesses.

The group said that while it had no firm data on attacks, the mobility of women "continues to be restricted due to fear of sexual violence".

Domestic abuse and sexual crimes against women are a growing social problem in Sri Lanka, and the country's highways are dotted with government billboards exhorting men to show more respect to women.      Times of India..

Posted by Hyscience at January 5, 2005 4:10 AM

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