Video Gallery

Our food is closely connected with our communities. But what is unsaid in the plates shared is our common pain. Healing requires listening to what women want as reparations.

අපගේ ආහාර අපගේ ප්‍රජාවන් සමග සමීපව සම්බන්ධ වී ඇත. නමුත් අපගේ ආහාර පිඟන් වල සඳහන් නොවන කතාව නම් අසල්වාසීන් සමග අප බෙදාගන්නා පොදු වේදනාවන් වේ. සුවපත්වීම සඳහා කාන්තාවන්ගේ අත්දැකීම වලට සවන් දීම සහ ඔවුන්ට හානිපූර්ණය ලෙස අවශ්‍ය දේ ඇතුලත් විය යුතුය.

நம் #உணவு சமூகங்களுடன் இணைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஆனால் அயலவர்களுடன் பகிரப்படும் உணவுத்தட்டுகளில் சொல்லப்படாமல் காணப்படுவது நம் பொதுவான வலிகளாகும். குணமடைவதற்கு  பெண்களின் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட கதைகளைக் கேட்பதோடு  அவர்கள் விரும்புவதை #இழப்பீடுகளாக வழங்க வேண்டும்.

කොළඹ විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ නීති පීඨයේ ජේෂ්ඨ කථිකාචාර්ය ධනුෂ්කා මැදවත්ත ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ  හානිපුර්ණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් දිනුෂිකා දිසානායක සමග පැවති සංවාදය.

දිනුෂිකා දිසානායක නීතීඥවරියක් වන අතර විවිධ තනතුරු හරහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මෙන්ම දකුණු ආසියාවේ මානව හිමිකම් ගැටළු පිළබද කටයුතු කර වසර ගණනාවක අත්දැකීම් ඇත. ඇයට අධ්‍යාපනික සහ වෘත්තීමය පසුබිම මත පදනම් වූ  ජාත්‍යන්තර මානව හිමිකම් නීතිය සහ සංක්‍රාන්තික යුක්තියා ආශ්‍රිත පියවරයන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ද අත්දැකීම් ඇත.

මෙය කොටස් පහක කථා මාලාවක සිව්වන කොටසයි.

Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law University of Colombo, Danushka Medawatte speaks to Dinushika Dissanayake on reparations in Sri Lanka. 

Dinushika Dissanayake is an attorney at law, having worked on human rights issues in Sri Lanka and South Asia for many years in various capacities. She has experience in both international human rights law and transitional justice initiatives based on both her educational and professional background.

This is the Fourth Episode in a 5 Part Series. 

மனித உரிமைகள் சட்டத்தரணி ரனிதா ஞானராஜா, இலங்கையில் இழப்பீடுகள் எனும் தலைப்பில் அம்பிகா சற்குணநாதனுடன் கலந்துரையாடுகின்றார்.
அம்பிகா சற்குணநாதன், ஓபன் சொசைட்டி பௌண்டேசன் [Open Society Foundations] நிறுவனத்தின் ஒரு உறுப்பினராவார். இவர் இலங்கை மனித உரிமைகள் ஆணைக்குழுவின் ஆணையாளராகவும் பணியாற்றியுள்ளார்.
இது ஐந்து பாகங்கள் கொண்ட தொடரின் ஐந்தாவது பாகமாகும்.
Human Rights Lawyer Ranitha Gnanarajah speaks to Ambika Satkunanathan on reparations in Sri Lanka.
Ambika Satkunanathan is a Fellow at Open Society Foundations and has served as a Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL.)
This is the Fifth Episode in a 5 part series.

CEJ’s Executive Director Shyamala Gomez speaks to Thyagi Ruwanpathirana on reparations for Sri Lankan women and the continuum of violence.

Thyagi Ruwanpathirana is a researcher (South Asia and Sri Lanka) at Amnesty International. She holds an LLB from the University of Warwick and an LLM in Human Rights from Birkbeck College, University of London.

This is the Second Episode of a 5 part series.

CEJ’s Executive Director Shyamala Gomez speaks to Professor Clara Sandoval on comparative experiences of gender-sensitive reparations.

Professor Clara Sandoval teaches at the School of Law and Human Rights Centre, University of Essex and she is a Co-Director of the Essex Transitional Justice Network.

This is the Third Episode in a 5 part Series.

CEJ’s Executive Director Shyamala Gomez speaks to Professor Ruth Rubio Marin on the need for reparations to be intrinsically reparative for women. 

 

Professor Ruth Rubio-Marín, is a Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Sevilla, Part-time Professor at the School of Transnational Governance of the European University Institute, Florence and Director of the UNIA UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Interculturalism presenting global best practices on Gender-Based Violence and Reparations.

 

This is the First Episode of a 5 part series. 

In celebration of International Youth Day 2021, CEJ presents youth from all parts of the country Envisioning Peace. Youth and women who have experienced Sri Lanka’s history of violence share the transformative change they would like to see in the future.

2021ජාත්‍යන්තර තරුණ දිනය නිමිති කරගනිමින් දිවයිනේ විවිධ ප්‍රදේශවල සිටින තරුණයන්ගේ සාමය පිළිබඳ සංකල්පනා CEJ විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්ව ඉතිහාසය සම්බන්ධ අත්දැකීම් ඇති කාන්තාවන් හා තරුණයින් අනාගතයේදී තමන් අපේක්ෂා කරන පරිවර්තනීය වෙනස පිළිබඳ අදහස් මෙහි දක්වා ඇත.

2021 ஆம் ஆண்டுக்கான சர்வதேச இளைஞர் தினத்தைக் கொண்டாடும் முகமாக “சமாதானத்தைக் கற்பனை செய்யும்” இளைஞர்களை சமத்துவம் மற்றும் நீதிக்கான நிலையமானது நாட்டின் எல்லாப் பாகங்களிலிருந்தும் ஒன்றிணைத்தது.. இந்த நிகழ்வில் இலங்கையின் வன்முறை வரலாற்றுக்கு முகங்கொடுத்த இளைஞர்களும் பெண்களும் அவர்கள் எதிர்காலத்தில் காண விரும்பும் வேறுபட்ட மாற்றத்தக்க மாற்றங்களை பகிர்ந்து கொள்கின்றனர்.

සිංහල, දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවෝ ‘කාන්තාවන් හා හානිපූර්ණය සහ ස්ථාපන කලාව කලාව’ පිළිබඳ නේවාසික වැඩමුළුවකට සහභාගී වූහ. ඔවුන්ගේ දැනුම එකිනෙකා සමඟ හුවමාරු කරගනිමින් ‘කාන්තාවන් සහ හානිපූර්ණය’ යන තේමාව පිළිබඳ ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස් සහ මතවාද ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රදර්ශණ භාණ්ඩ ඉදිකරන ලදී.

சிங்கள, தமிழ் மற்றும் முஸ்லிம் பெண்கள் இழப்பீடு மற்றும் ஓவிய கலைப்படைப்புகளை நிறுவும் பயிற்சிப் பட்டறையில் கலந்து சிறப்பித்திருந்தனர். குறித்த பயிற்சிப் பட்டறையில் கலந்து கொண்ட பெண்கள் அனைவரும் தங்களது விலைமதிப்பற்ற சிந்தனைகளை முன்வைத்ததோடு மட்டுமல்லாமல் இழப்பீடு மற்றும் பெண்கள் தொடர்பான தங்களால் உருவாக்கப்பட்ட கலைப்படைப்புகளையும் காட்சிப்படுத்தினர்.

Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim women participated in a residential workshop on women and reparations and art Installations. Combining their knowledge, they built exhibits to showcase their opinions and ideas on the subject of women and reparations.

සිංහල, දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවෝ ‘කාන්තාවන් හා හානිපූර්ණය සහ ස්ථාපන කලාව කලාව’ පිළිබඳ නේවාසික වැඩමුළුවකට සහභාගී වූහ. ඔවුන්ගේ දැනුම එකිනෙකා සමඟ හුවමාරු කරගනිමින් ‘කාන්තාවන් සහ හානිපූර්ණය’ යන තේමාව පිළිබඳ ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස් සහ මතවාද ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රදර්ශණ භාණ්ඩ ඉදිකරන ලදී.

சிங்கள, தமிழ் மற்றும் முஸ்லிம் பெண்கள் இழப்பீடு மற்றும் ஓவிய கலைப்படைப்புகளை நிறுவும் பயிற்சிப் பட்டறையில் கலந்து சிறப்பித்திருந்தனர். குறித்த பயிற்சிப் பட்டறையில் கலந்து கொண்ட பெண்கள் அனைவரும் தங்களது விலைமதிப்பற்ற சிந்தனைகளை முன்வைத்ததோடு மட்டுமல்லாமல் இழப்பீடு மற்றும் பெண்கள் தொடர்பான தங்களால் உருவாக்கப்பட்ட கலைப்படைப்புகளையும் காட்சிப்படுத்தினர்.

Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim women participated in a residential workshop on women and reparations and art Installations. Combining their knowledge, they built exhibits to showcase their opinions and ideas on the subject of women and reparations.

සිංහල, දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවෝ ‘කාන්තාවන් හා හානිපූර්ණය සහ ස්ථාපන කලාව කලාව’ පිළිබඳ නේවාසික වැඩමුළුවකට සහභාගී වූහ. ඔවුන්ගේ දැනුම එකිනෙකා සමඟ හුවමාරු කරගනිමින් ‘කාන්තාවන් සහ හානිපූර්ණය’ යන තේමාව පිළිබඳ ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස් සහ මතවාද ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රදර්ශණ භාණ්ඩ ඉදිකරන ලදී.

சிங்கள, தமிழ் மற்றும் முஸ்லிம் பெண்கள் இழப்பீடு மற்றும் ஓவிய கலைப்படைப்புகளை நிறுவும் பயிற்சிப் பட்டறையில் கலந்து சிறப்பித்திருந்தனர். குறித்த பயிற்சிப் பட்டறையில் கலந்து கொண்ட பெண்கள் அனைவரும் தங்களது விலைமதிப்பற்ற சிந்தனைகளை முன்வைத்ததோடு மட்டுமல்லாமல் இழப்பீடு மற்றும் பெண்கள் தொடர்பான தங்களால் உருவாக்கப்பட்ட கலைப்படைப்புகளையும் காட்சிப்படுத்தினர்.

Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim women participated in a residential workshop on women and reparations and art Installations. Combining their knowledge, they built exhibits to showcase their opinions and ideas on the subject of women and reparations.

සිංහල, දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවෝ ‘කාන්තාවන් හා හානිපූර්ණය සහ ස්ථාපන කලාව කලාව’ පිළිබඳ නේවාසික වැඩමුළුවකට සහභාගී වූහ. ඔවුන්ගේ දැනුම එකිනෙකා සමඟ හුවමාරු කරගනිමින් ‘කාන්තාවන් සහ හානිපූර්ණය’ යන තේමාව පිළිබඳ ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස් සහ මතවාද ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රදර්ශණ භාණ්ඩ ඉදිකරන ලදී.
சிங்கள, தமிழ் மற்றும் முஸ்லிம் பெண்கள் இழப்பீடு மற்றும் ஓவிய கலைப்படைப்புகளை நிறுவும் பயிற்சிப் பட்டறையில் கலந்து சிறப்பித்திருந்தனர். குறித்த பயிற்சிப் பட்டறையில் கலந்து கொண்ட பெண்கள் அனைவரும் தங்களது விலைமதிப்பற்ற சிந்தனைகளை முன்வைத்ததோடு மட்டுமல்லாமல் இழப்பீடு மற்றும் பெண்கள் தொடர்பான தங்களால் உருவாக்கப்பட்ட கலைப்படைப்புகளையும் காட்சிப்படுத்தினர்.
Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim women participated in a residential workshop on women and reparations and art Installations. Combining their knowledge, they built exhibits to showcase their opinions and ideas on the subject of women and reparations.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ හානිපූර්ණය සඳහා කාන්තාවන් ප්‍රවේශ වන්නේ කෙසේද? මෙම ක්‍රියාවලියේදී රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ කාර්යභාරය කුමක්ද? අපි සමහර කාන්තාවන්ගෙන් ඔවුන් රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් සමඟ කටයුතු කිරීමේදී ඔවුනොවුන්ගේ සබඳතා වැඩිදියුණු කළ හැකි ආකාරය පිළිබඳවත්, සමහර රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් දැනට කාන්තාවන්ට පොදු සේවාවන් ලබාගැනීම සඳහා පහසුකම් සලසන්නේ කෙසේදැයි දැන ගැනීම පිළබඳවත් විමසුවෙමු.

How do women access reparations in Sri Lanka? And what role do Public Officers play in this process? We spoke to some women to find out how their experience with public officials can be improved and to some public officials to learn how they are currently helping women access public services.

இலங்கையில் பெண்கள் எவ்வாறு இழப்பீடுகளை அணுகுகின்றனர்? மற்றும் இந்த செயன்முறையில் அரச உத்தியோகத்தர்கள் எத்தகைய பங்கு வகிக்கின்றனர்? நாம், அரசு அதிகாரிகளுடனான அவர்களின் அனுபவத்தை எவ்வாறு மேம்படுத்த முடியும் என்பதை அறிய சில பெண்களுடன் பேசினோம். மற்றும் தற்போது பெண்களுக்கு அரச சேவைகளை அணுக எவ்வாறு உதவுகின்றனர் என்பது பற்றி அறிய சில அரச அதிகாரிகளிடமும் கதைத்தோம்.

How do women access reparations in Sri Lanka? And what role do Public Officers play in this process? We spoke to some women to find out how their experience with public officials can be improved and to some public officials to learn how they are currently assisting women access public services.

Centre for Equality and Justice has developed a trilingual music video under the project, ‘Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) through Youth Online Engagement’. Nishan Daniel, a well-known Music Producer collaborated with CEJ on this creative production. State university undergraduates who took part in the project contributed by writing lyrics and singing the song accompanied by celebrity vocalist Umaria Sinhawansa. This trilingual song is aimed at evoking the feelings of co-existence and harmony and urges all to stand as a united nation with respect for diversity.

தாங்கள் முகங்கொடுத்த உரிமை மீறல்களுக்கு எவ்வாறான இழப்பீடுகளை வெவ்வேறு சமூகங்களிலுள்ள பெண்கள் கோருகின்றனர்? #Reparations #SriLanka #WomenandConflict

විවිධ ප්‍රජාවන්හි කාන්තාවන්ට සිදුවී ඇති උල්ලංඝනයන් සඳහා හානිපූරණය කුමන ආකාරයන්ගෙන් සිදුවිය යුතු ද? #Reparations #SriLanka #WomenandConflict

What are the reparations women from different communities want for the violations they have undergone? #Reparations #SriLanka #WomenandConflict

எந்தவொரு மோதலையும் அனுபவிப்பதானது கண்ணுக்குப் புலப்படாத மற்றும் ஆழமான வடுக்களை விட்டுச் செல்கின்றன. கலாசாரம், மதம் மற்றும் பயம் என்பவற்றால் மூழ்கடிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள இவ்வடுக்கள் மறைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. இதனைக் குணப்படுத்துவதற்கு இலங்கையில் என்ன செய்ய வேண்டும்? நாம் அடுத்தகட்டத்திற்குச் செல்வதனை எவ்வாறு ஆரம்பிக்க முடியும்? நாட்டில் முரண்பாடு மற்றும் பால்நிலை அடிப்படையிலான வன்முறைகளால் பாதிக்கப்பட்டவர்கள் இதைத்தான் கூற வேண்டும்.

Experiencing any form of conflict leaves deep, invisible scars. Swallowed by culture, religion, and fear these scars are kept hidden. What will it take for healing in Sri Lanka? How can we start moving forward? This is what victim survivors of conflict and gender based violence in the country have to say.

ඕනෑම ආකාරයක ගැටුමක් අත්විඳීමෙන් ගැඹුරු, නොපෙනෙන කැළැල් ඇති වේ. ගිලගත් සංස්කෘතිය, ආගම සහ භීතිය විසින් මෙම කැළැල් සඟවා තබා ඇත. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සුවය වෙනුවෙන් අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ කුමක්ද? අපට ඉදිරියට යා හැක්කේ කෙසේද? අප රටේ ගැටුම් හා ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ සමාජභාවය පදනම් කරගත් ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයෙන් දිවි ගලවාගත්වුවන්ට ප්‍රකාශ කරන්නට ඇත්තේ මෙයයි.

In October 2019 we took Mahadanamuththa and his friends across Anuradhapura and Kurunegala to talk about the issue of Sexual Bribery. With the assistance of the Women’s Resource Centre Kurunegala and the Rajarata Praja Kendraya, over 1000 women came to see what Mahadanamuththa and the gang had to say. #StopSexualBribery

CEJ conducted workshops with women from different communities in Sri Lanka to share their perspectives and experiences of the war. The workshops were a space to grieve, recall memories and aspire to achieve more tangible, meaningful outcomes from the transitional justice mechanisms in Sri Lanka. Their work was later complied into an album or memories and displayed in a traveling exhibition in four cities: Galle, Batticaloa, Polonnaruwa and Mannar.

Puppet show on 'Sexual Bribery of Women'

The project ‘Zero Tolerance for Sexual Exploitation of Women: A State Obligation’ addressed the issue of Sexual Bribery of women in the North, Sinhala military widows and Muslim women who have been affected by war with a view to influencing law and policy reform and to enable women victims to seek support services. In order to raise general awareness of Sexual bribery at the community level, CEJ organized a puppet show for communities in Kurunegala and Anuradhapura.

Reconciling Sri Lanka: 'What women say'

Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka has been widely discussed in the post war context. However, it fails to address the views of women. This documentary which is the only one of its kind, adopts an inclusive approach documenting women’s views from all communities with regard to Memorialization, Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka. It hopes to create awareness about the role of women in the Transitional Justice process.

Zero Tolerance for Sexual Exploitation of Women: A State Obligation

The end of the war in Sri Lanka has brought new challenges to women, especially for those in the former conflict zones. Incidents of ‘sexual exploitation and sexual bribery’ of women by state officials, semi state officials and the armed forces have surfaced and have been documented by media and human rights organizations. More often sexual exploitation takes the form of sexual bribery whereby government officials claim sexual favours from women in return for various government services. The Centre for Equality and Justice conducted a research study in the Northern, Eastern, North Central, North Western and Southern provinces of Sri Lanka and its findings were shared with the local community in the form of Forum theatre performances which successfully engaged the audience through role play providing them with an opportunity to actively think of ways to confront the issue of sexual bribery.

The Social Scar: Stigma Arising from Conflict Related Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka

Stigma is a concept that captures the negative perceptions that are generated through social, cultural and religious attitudes in a given community or wider society. Victims of conflict related sexual violence haven been identified as experiencing severe forms of stigma and due to this they rarely access essential services. Stigma pushes the victim in to a vicious and tragic cycle of violence. This video documentary is a concise representation of the findings of the study conducted by The Centre for Equality and Justice titled ‘The Social Scar: Stigma arising from conflict related sexual violence in Sri Lanka’ which addresses the compounding effects of stigma on the life of a victim survivor of conflict related sexual violence. It makes recommendations to National plans and policies and hopes to create public awareness and encourage empathetic support for survivors.

The Life I Used to Live: Realizing Reparations for Victim Survivors of Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka.

The ‘Life I used to Live’ is a video documentary capturing victim survivors’ views on reparations. The views expressed by male and female victims have been voiced over by actors in order to maintain their anonymity. CEJ will use this documentary to create awareness on conflict related sexual violence and the right to reparations for all victim survivors in transitional justice efforts in Sri Lanka.