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Thursday, 8 March 2012

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Government Gazette

Today is International Women’s Day:

A frank look at Lankan girls’ issues

Early marriage is a universal issue but it is widely practised in countries in the South Asian region. Every year, millions of girls, even before their teenage years, are given in marriage to older men. Young girls, most of whom are still children, are forced to take on the role of wives and mothers and are denied their fundamental rights. Early marriage often results in early pregnancy and social isolation. There is very little or no room for personal development drives, such as, education and vocational training. Thus, the girls are naturally driven to poverty and at times are driven to sell their bodies to feed their families. They are expected to perform heavy domestic work, demonstrate their fertility and often face issues which demand serious decision-making.

Ensuring the rights of women and children is the path to their empowerment. Picture by Vimal Karunatilake

Addressing this serious problem the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations (UN) Sri Lanka held a panel discussion on the study of 'Early Marriage and Statutory Rape' conducted by the Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR) in partnership with the Justice Ministry to coincide with International Women's Day theme 'Connecting girls, inspiring futures'.

The research was carried out by Prof. Savithri Goonesekera and Dr. Harini Amarasuriya. It was organized by the team to raise the question on how to motivate girls through education and to inspire their future if there is high incidence of rape, incest and violence in society. The research was backed by UNICEF.

Research sites

The study is based on seven research sites in seven districts in Sri Lanka. There were two phases of study. The first chapter comprises interviews with the service providers, including state and non-state officials, a secondary data survey where they looked at Police and court records and newspaper articles. Phase two includes a more indepth study where 10 cases of early marriage or statutory rape were chosen from each district. Around 71 case studies were conducted with 81 interviews with the children, their families and service providers involved with the cases.

There were 49 cases of statutory rape. Fourteen to 15 year olds were the most vulnerable cases, though there were victims as young as four years. There were six cases of early registered marriage prior to the girl turning 18. In three cases the couple waited till the girl turned 18 years to marry. Twenty one cases were early cohabitation where the girl and partner were living together prior to the girl turning 18. This was recognized as marriage in the community though they were not registered.

A majority of the perpetrators were over 18 years. The oldest was about 65.

“This study originated in some of the research that we did to indicate that even in the area of early marriage, there were new concerns surfacing in some areas and a growing incidence of teenage pregnancy connected to sexual violence. We had certain perceptions when we got into this research.

We thought that there is pressure for early marriage but interestingly our research did not surface that. We have to question why decades go by and these stubborn areas continue to be cause of concern in a country which has done so well for women,” Prof Goonesekera said.

Sexual abuse

She said that Sri Lanka has successfully created an ethos unlike in the rest of South East Asia where it is recognized that early marriage below the minimum age is a violation of law.

“It is a response to teenage sexuality, sexual abuse and freedom to move around. This is in a sense a legitimization of sexual abuse, an acceptance that it is ok to have sex even with an underage child. It is a matter of serious concern,” she said.

Though the initial plan was to involve Muslim communities because of the differences of the implemented laws, they were unable to get access to those cases.

“One of the difficulties we faced was accessing some of the records. Most service providers were reluctant to share confidential documents relating to these cases. Often we had to go through contacts and field researches to tap these cases. We tried to interview the perpetrators as well but often this proved to be difficult. We could not contact 33 of the men involved”, Dr. Amarasuriya said, adding that the study looks at the experiences of early marriage and statutory rape and projects a picture of what it is like for the girls and their families.

Another limitation was the time frame. The sensitive nature of the study means that ideally it should be conducted long term to build close relationships so that in depth data could be accessed.

“We were constantly aware of the very ethical issues that are involved in doing this kind of research. Many of the girls and families that we met were still undergoing difficulties. We had to make sure that our research was not going to further traumatize them. We tried to link them up with existing services whenever possible,” she said.

Early marriage is not considered a traditional practice in Sri Lanka as it is in some parts of the world. There is a high level of awareness in families in communities about the law relating to marriage. Families were often unhappy that girls had to get married at 18 years.

They often regretted the situation which lead to early marriage or early cohabitation but it was the only option available to them in the circumstance. None of the marriages could be termed as 'forced marriages'.

Young girls

Interestingly the research uncovered that early marriage and early cohabitation was primarily a response to managing the teenage sexuality of young girls. The dominant law states that sexual relations for girls can take place only within the institution of marriage. Even if there is a hint of a sexual relationship between a girl and man, the only way the girl can regain her status in the community is by entering into a long term relationship with the perpetrator. Men who had even committed statutory rape were summoned to the Police station and got to promise to marry the girl.

Often the early marriage or early cohabitation was not in the interest of the girl though families and service providers believed that it provided her with security. Apart from a very few cases most girls faced severe financial, emotional and other stresses. The girls’ natal family was very much involved in cases of domestic violence or because the men were often unemployed or later deserted the girl.

Often families and service providers would say that the statutory relationships were consensual. Out of 49 cases, 21 cases were of forced sex while 28 cases involved a prior relationship between the girl and the perpetrator. Unlike in early marriage, there were very little awareness about the laws relating to statutory rape within the community.

Families did not always report the cases and the circumstances leading to the incident such as a prior relationship between the girl and the man was a deciding factor on whether to report the incident or not because of the mistrust they had about the law enforcement authorities.

The status and position of the perpetrator also had an impact on the family’s decision.

“A problematic area was the attitudes of the service providers. They try to analyze the girls’ behaviour in terms of what it was about her that led to the situation.

Often they were critical of the girl or her family background. Instead of trying to find out what made the perpetrator act in that manner. The interest was more on trying to rehabilitate the girl", Dr Amarasuriya said.

Under the Penal Code of Sri Lanka, until 1995, the general age of consent for sexual relations was 12 years. In 1995, the Penal Code was amended and the age of statutory rape was raised to 16 years unless the person happens to be the perpetrator's wife and they are not judicially separated. Age of marriage was raised to 18 except for the Muslim community.

"Having done that there was no effort to publicize the law and this is why we found that a serious dysfunction between the law and the statistics. People who are aware of the minimal age for marriage falsify birth and marriage registers and register the marriage. Even Police are not making it clear that if you have sexual relations with a child below the stipulated age, it is child abuse. You cannot justify the case by taking in terms of marriage of the perpetrator," Prof. Goonesekera emphasized.

Speaking about the problems relating to this issues: the lack of understanding of why girls should not marry young, why it is referred to as sexual abuse and the scenario of legitimizing child abuse, she said that though the law is in place it is not understood by the democracy or authorities.

"There has to be a public campaign to make these statistics public and get public support for the reason and the rationale on why these practices should not be carried out.

We need to create an awareness of gender sensitivity among service providers so that they know not to look at the girl as someone who had been exploited and needs aid.

The strengthening of the system of registration of marriage is also important. The age of marriage needs to remain at 18 and that of statutory rape needs to be 16 despite the fact that some service providers try to lower the age of marriage because we think it is counterproductive regarding all the implications in the international standards of child marriage.

"Creating awareness among teenagers and youths about reproductive health and responsible sexual behaviour is important. That has to be carried through the schools.

Even during the period that I was on the National Education Commission, we have probed the topic and we were given various excuses like it is not cultural or suitable. Here is a study which indicates very clearly the problem of teenage sexuality. We want interventions to recognize the reality and address the issues," she noted.

 

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