On May 19th 2009, the President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka declared military victory over the LTTE, the Tamil separatist group. Sri Lanka was engaged in violent conflict since 1983, when tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists erupted into war. Twenty five years of fighting followed during which over 70,000 have died.

Overview of past and present security situation

Despite past attempts to resolve the conflict, such as the 2002 a ceasefire agreement (CFA), the Sri Lanka government began a full military offensive against the LTTE in 2008. Several hundred displaced civilians from the last months of combat are housed in government controlled camps in the North East of Sri Lanka.

Despite Norway leading on the peace negotiations, there is little awareness of SCR 1325 in Sri Lanka. A tentative peace-accord proposal, drafted in summer 2007, made no mention of SCR 1325 and there were no plans to ensure that women participated in peace talks or that consideration would be given of the impact of the conflict on women and girls.

Society and Women

The Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers (LTTE) are renowned for having numerous female combatants. These women in the rebel movement are trained and empowered to fight alongside men in the LTTE camps, indeed some are trained to become suicide bombers.

As society struggles to cope with the everyday realities of the conflict, issues such as violence against women are less prioritised. Local organisations speak of the rising incidence of domestic violence, aggravated by the general violence in the country and the break-up of family units, as people are forcibly dispersed from their villages.

GAPS maintains that there are huge numbers of women and children, including widows, wives of the "disappeared", rape victims, child soldiers, whose voices need to be heard, whose roles in peace-building are crucial, and who have a right to justice, remedies, protection, and compensation.