[Charu Lata Hogg is the Director of the All Survivors Project at the UCLA School of Law and an Associate Fellow, Asia Program, Chatham House. This post is based on primary research conducted by Mirak Raheem, Deanne Uyangoda and Marisa De’Silva in Sri Lanka.]
Eight years since Sri Lanka’s nearly three-decade conflict came to a brutal end following the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the country is still coming to grips with the legacy of massive human rights violations committed by all sides. Egregious abuses by state security forces and armed groups also took place during other insurgencies in Sri Lanka, specifically during the armed insurrections in the south by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) first in 1971 and then 1987-1989. However, sexual violence against men and boys, particularly in the context of detention under a previous infamous security legislation, has only recently begun to be recognised as among the numerous abuses that have taken place within the context of the armed conflict. A proposed Counter Terrorism Act (CTA) which is awaiting Parliamentary approval threatens to continue prolonged detention without charge. If approved this counter-terrorism bill could continue to facilitate human rights abuses in detention.
A 2015 report resulting from UN investigations concluded that men were as likely to be victims of sexual violence as women within the context of detention (The investigations were mandated by the Human Rights Council (Resolution 25/1) to investigate allegations of violations of international law following the breakdown of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement to the end of the conflict. See,
Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL)), but the issue remains largely hidden and stigmatized. At the core of this silence is the lack of legal protection for men and boys against sexual violence which informs social attitudes and contributes to an environment in which violations can take place with virtual impunity. In addition to law reform, a fundamental gap in knowledge and expertise on preventing, investigating and responding to sexual violence constitutes a significant barrier. Training of all relevant government, official and professional stakeholders including members of law enforcement and security forces, the judiciary, national human rights institutions, medical and mental health professionals and humanitarian workers could provide a crucial first step.
In numerous cases of sexual violence against men and boys documented by the UN and other international organisations, victims were detained under the 1979 Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) which has been widely used to detain LTTE suspects and under which many fundamental rights and guarantees to protect detainees are suspended. There have been repeated calls for its repeal and the new government which came into power in 2015 has promised to do so. Yet, the PTA remains on the statute books and continues to be applied, permitting the administrative detention for up to 18 months with only limited judicial supervision, irregular access to legal representation, and without the possibility of challenging the legality of detention. The PTA also creates an environment in which forced confessions are effectively encouraged by permitting statements made to police officers at any time while in custody to be admitted in court as evidence, with the burden placed on the accused to prove that the confession was extracted under duress.
A complex set of factors prohibit male victims of sexual violence in Sri Lanka from coming forward to report this violation. But even if they did, Sri Lanka does not recognise the possibility of male rape under the law. Rather men are defined only as perpetrators of rape. Article 363 of the Penal Code states “
a man is said to commit rape who has sexual intercourse with a woman under any of the following descriptions…” (See Section 363 of the Penal Code (Ordinance No. 2 of 1883 as amended). Similarly, the prohibition of statutory rape applies only to girls under the age of 16 years and not to boys (Section 363(e) of the Penal Code in describing conditions for statutory rape refers to “…
with or without her consent when she is under sixteen years of age).) Similarly, the prohibition of statutory rape applies only to girls (under the age of 16 years) and not to boys (Section 363(e) in describing conditions for statutory rape refers to “…with or without
her consent when
she is under sixteen years of age” [emphasis added]). Other provisions under the Penal Code mischaracterize or define sexual violence in a way that they do not reflect the lived experience of survivors, are inconsistent with the more inclusive, gender-neutral definitions under international law, or are otherwise inadequate for prosecuting sexual violence against males.
This legal discrimination against men and boys which is so acutely reflected in Sri Lankan law also permeates other institutions and sectors and contributes to the pervasive lack of medical, counselling and other support services available to male survivors. While services for women are equally inadequate, increased attention on this issue during the post-war phase has triggered a recognition of this issue which remains entirely absent in the case of male survivors. Some medical teaching institutions continue to put forward the understanding that only women can be raped and do not recognise the rape of men. Other representatives of the humanitarian community have admitted to All Survivors Project that sexual violence against men is neither monitored nor responded to during the conflict or outside of it. Added to this is the widespread discrimination against homosexuals which is prescribed in law and the criminalization of consensual same sex acts which may also discourage male survivors from reporting or accessing services for fear that they may be accused of homosexual activity. Specifically, Sections 365 and 365A criminalize certain homosexual acts categorizing them as ‘unnatural offences’. These provisions have been used to persecute members of the LGBTIQ community and serve to reinforce discriminatory gender stereotypes.
During our research,
