Sri Lanka

2014
Pancio K. Barriers to Implementing VAW Law Against Domestic Violence in Three Asian Countries (China, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), in Initiative on VAW, March 2014 Research Briefing. Carr Center for Human Rights, Harvard Kennedy School of Government ; 2014.Abstract

Subject: This research memorandum presents key findings from desk research conducted in January and February 2014, on the barriers to instituting appropriate VAW laws against domestic violence (DV), and to effectively implementing them in three countries in Asia (China, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka).

Background and Cross-Cutting Findings: China, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have all ratified CEDAW; however, both China and Pakistan have not passed the Optional Protocol to CEDAW. Research found four cross-cutting barriers impeding the institutionalization of appropriate VAW laws against DV in these three countries:

1)  The predominant public discourse on DV is fragmented. As a result, an overall sense of urgency and severity of the problem is not felt among key stakeholders in all 3 countries.

2)  Other national policies regarding housing, marriage, fertility, migration, etc. undermine both the international (CEDAW) legal framework, and the national policies set up for service provision and protection across all three countries.

3)  There is an overall lack of appropriate resource allocation among all 3 countries for comprehensively implementing appropriate VAW laws against DV. A large body of evidence suggests multiple root causes for VAW-DV, and States disagree on where and how to allocate resources to VAW-DV (prevention, intervention, prosecution, and protection).

4)  Incomparable and unreliable data is the 4th major barrier to instituting appropriate VAW laws against DV both internationally through CEDAW, and nationally within all 3 countries. Transparency of data collection methodologies is also a noted concern. 

barriers_to_implementing_vaw_law_against_domestic_violence_in_three_asian_countries_china_pakistan_sri_lanka_march_2014.pdf
2011
Kapur N. Everyday Equality. United Nations Development Fund for Women (part of UN Women) South Asia; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2011/12/e...

This report tracks the progress made by women in South Asia in areas such as violence against women, and economic empowerment. This was the base document for the Seventh South Asia Regional Ministerial Conference in October 2010. 

2009
Dasgupta R, Murthy L. Figure it out: Reporting on trafficking in women. Infochange Media. 2009. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://genderlinks.org.za/gmdc/research/figure-it-out-reporting-on-traff...

Media coverage of trafficking of women and children, migration and sex work is confused and inaccurate. Media wrongly uses the terms ‘sex work’ and ‘trafficking’ synonymously, perpetuating stereotypes and stigmatisation and contributing to the violation of women’s right to free movement and livelihood options, say these authors. If media reports were to be believed, there would be no young girls left in Nepal. Oftquoted figures such as 5,000-7,000 Nepali girls being trafficked across the border to India every year and 150,000-200,000 Nepali women and girls being trapped in brothels in various Indian cities, were first disseminated in 1986 and have remained unaltered over the next two decades. The report that first quoted these statistics was written by Dr I S Gilada of the Indian Health Association, Mumbai, and presented in a workshop in 1986. Subsequently, a version of this report was published as an article in the Times of India on January 2, 1989. The source of this figure remains a mystery to date. Unfortunately, such a lack of clarity is more the norm than the exception when it comes to reporting on trafficking in women and girls.

2005
Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, No.34. Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. 2005. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.parliament.lk/en/business-of-parliament/acts-bills?tab=acts&t...

An act to provide for the prevention of any act of domestic violence and for matters connected therewith or incidental in Sri Lanka.